Hello Friends!

Happy New Year!! I hope you had at least a few days of rest and relaxation over the holidays, and that your New Year is filled with health, hope, and optimism! 

How did 2022 start for you? I was very fortunate to spend the first week of the year at my favourite place and have a week off with my family. Traditionally we start the New Year at the cottage and after two years of missing that, it was magical to be able to start the year with windy walks on the beach and (a lifetime premiere) a polar bear dip!! Even CNN has declared Amrum one of the world’s best beaches, and I can wholeheartedly concur! 😄

WORD OF THE YEAR…

One of my favourite New Year traditions of recent years has been to choose a Word of the Year. A word that describes the feeling and focus I want to have for the coming year. And in fact, I don’t so much choose the word as let the word choose me. When I think about the coming year, what is my focus? What do I want to accomplish? How do I want to feel? 
 
“I don’t know about you but I love the idea of choosing a Word of the Year vs. New Year’s Resolution because it helps bring focus and clarity to what we want to create in our lives.” 
 
Do you choose a Word of the Year? If you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, this article helps walk you through the process!

THE YEAR OF JOY…

My Word of the Year for 2020 was Growth. 2021 was Fulfillment. And 2022 is the Year of Joy! 💜
 
It’s been a challenging two years. Not the worst years [that title remains with 2017, the year I got every illness under the sun, at the same time!], but challenging. They were more about surviving than thriving. And now I’d like to thrive! 
 
And as always tends to happen, once I landed on JOY as my Word of the Year, I started hearing about it and seeing it everywhere! A friend recommended a wonderful TED Talk on Where Joy Hides and How to Find it! It was so inspiring that I immediately bought the book. Joyful has been my first read of 2022 and it is wonderful. It really makes you stop and take note of where you personally find joy, and compels you to start looking for it in your everyday.

I even gave myself a rainbow manicure after Ingrid Fetell Lee’s inspired me and made me smile in her TED Talk. And I’ve downloaded an app (1 Second Every Day) to collect my daily moments of joy into a movie! I am trying to be more mindful, more grateful, and more aware of the little moments of joy around me. And to create them myself. If you’re so inspired, this was a lovely article on 100 Ways to Improve Your Life Without Really Trying!

WHAT I’M READING…

Nothing is better than having a few days between Christmas and New Year to lie on the couch in the light of the Christmas tree reading a book. Absolute heaven for me! In my family, Boxing Day is very officially the Day of Doing Whatever You Want, and that usually means PJs all day, the Globe & Mail annual crossword puzzle, lots of chocolates, and sinking into a good book!!
 
And I devoured two over the holidays! Both fast-paced, engrossing and compelling stories. Nothing complicated or too deep about them; sometimes you just need a good story to escape into!
 
The first was A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight. It’s a great whodunnit about a lawyer named Lizzie who is contacted by an old friend accused of murdering his wife. As the story develops, everyone’s alibi and motive shifts and changes and although I started out convinced I knew who had killed the wife, the book was far less formulaic than I expected. There were multiple twists keeping me surprised! A fun read.
 
I had also heard multiple recommendations for Seven Weeks in June by Tia Williams. And it did not disappoint!! I raced through this one. The story was excellent and the writing really solid. It’s a sexy love story about two high school sweethearts reuniting 15 years later. Definitely not what I was expecting, and certainly not an idealized backstory, but it was very engrossing!

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO…

The True Crime podcast binge series continues! 😉  After listening to the final episode of Bad Women: The Ripper Retold, I was searching for a new listen when multiple sources recommended Sweet Bobby. In the vein of Who the Hell is Hamish? Ziele zu definieren und diese auch zu erreichen. Do You Know Morechai?, Sweet Bobby is the true story of faked identity and a woman falling in love with someone who isn’t who he says he is. It’s a crazy story – all the more so for being true! The podcast is brilliantly narrated and investigated, and it is all the more powerful for being told directly by the woman at the centre of the story. 

I would love to hear about your Word of the Year! Let’s inspire each other to make 2022 a year to thrive and not just survive!!
 
Wishing you a happy, healthy, joyful 2022!
 
Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,