I can’t believe that this is the second to last blog post for 2022! It feels like this month just started and we are already at the end. And since it’s the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting on the things I declared at the beginning of the year. Tomorrow, I’ll go over the goals I set for the year. But for this post, I just want to look back at my word for the year.
For 2022, I decided the best word for the year would be worthy. I don’t think I realized at the beginning of the year how much I needed this to be the word to use to guide how I got through a few things over the last 12 months. I know that I still am dealing with some confidence issues and standing up for myself, but I also think that I did better at that this past year than I did in the past.
The biggest place I think I used the word worthy was in my dating life. For far too long, I believed that I wasn’t worthy of what I wanted or thought I deserved. I had been told I should be grateful that anyone would consider me in any way, and that I should accept what is presented to me without complaints. I think I started to really rethink this during the start of the pandemic and think about who I was considering having in my life, both as friendships and as dates. I needed to make sure that I put my health and safety first and that meant setting boundaries that I wouldn’t back down from. That was great practice for me to set boundaries for things that weren’t about safety.
It would have been very easy for me to fall into old patterns and try to play cool while dating instead of stating what I wanted. But I also know that if I did that, I would be getting something that doesn’t fulfill me. I think being alone and not dating is a better place to be than being in a situationship that makes me question where I stand or what is going on. And unfortunately, there are guys that I went out with who only wanted what they wanted and didn’t want to consider what I wanted. But I know better now that I am worthy of having the type of relationship that I want and I stood my ground about this. I had to end things after a few dates with different guys because they weren’t looking for the same thing that I was looking for. Or they wanted to keep things casual for a long time and then maybe they would consider something more serious. I know that things can’t be serious right away, but I’m also not going to date someone who might not ever want something serious. If I’m going to date someone, I need to know there is a reason we are dating other than just having someone you can call when you are lonely or bored.
Making sure I knew my worth and being strong about that meant I didn’t date as many people this past year as I did before, but I’m ok with that. I’ve always wanted to find quality over quantity, and this was the first year where I think I really implemented that idea. It was frustrating at times when I was hopeful about someone only to find out they couldn’t meet what I wanted, but I also know it would have been worse if I let things go on for months before saying I needed to end them.
I think I also showed my worth with my job. I have been in a new job position for a while now and getting to that position required me to show the executive team why they should create this position for me. I didn’t have to necessarily prove myself, but I did need to show them where as a company we were lacking and how I was the right person to fix that. I’m not someone who likes to brag about myself, but I had to do it in this case because it was the only way to prove to the team why this was the right move for the company. And I’m so grateful I was able to do that and didn’t just hide in the shadows. The work I’m doing now uses my skill set a lot more now and I’m much happier in my day job than I was before.
And I think the last big place I had to show I was worthy was the condo renovation. I know the contractor wasn’t trying to take advantage of me or anything like that, but there are things that aren’t exactly right and I had to stand up to say that these things needed to be fixed. There are still some things that aren’t perfect and they will need to come back to correct them. In the past, I probably would have accepted something that was less than perfect. But this is my home and we paid them to do this work. And if there are things that don’t seem right, I want them fixed before we sign off saying the project is over. My parents pushed me with making sure I spoke up about these things, and I don’t know how I would have done things without them pushing me. But I know it’s for the best and they are right because a renovation shouldn’t require us to fix things after they are done to make sure the work is perfect.
I’m so glad I picked worthy as my word for 2022. It really was the perfect word to help me have the best year possible this past year. I had to get out of my comfort zone, but it paid off. And I know that just because this year is over it doesn’t mean that I won’t be using this as a guide going forward. It’s just going to continue to help to guide me as I interact with others and make sure that I don’t forget that my worth is considered in decisions.
You Might Also Like
Reflecting On My 2019 Word (or Did I Trust Enough Or Too Much?)
Finding My Worth (or My Word Of The Year)
Was I Patient Enough This Year (or Reflecting On My Word For 2021)
My 2019 Word (or Finding Trust)
Believing I’m Worthy Of Effort (or Still Learning More While Dating)
My Word For 2018 (or Time To Be Fearless)
