Stay Afraid

This quote from Carrie Fisher resonated with me and my choice for the #OneWord2017 challenge.  I have resolved to say yes more often to opportunities instead of getting bogged down in all the what ifs.....


But I had struggled with choosing "yes" as my word.  Everyone else's choices seemed to be better somehow.  But "fearless" and "brave" just didn't ring true.  I like what Carrie is saying here.  This is more me - it's not that I'm fearless or even particularly brave.  I am still afraid but I resolve to do it anyway.  And perhaps as I say yes more often and do things anyway, in spite of being afraid, the confidence will build.

Image from Fusion.com

I've been thinking about how the One Word Challenge would be a great activity with students next week when they return to school.  I haven't find any resources online for doing this with students, but I did find this online template from Amazingmess.com that could be modified for use with students. I would simply delete the section that says scripture since I teach for a public school board.  You could easily do this activity without the template which is what I usually prefer to do.  Just have students fold a paper into thirds and label the sections: Brainstorm Words, Define 3 Words and My One Word.  You could have students create an image for their one word using visual arts materials or computer graphics which they could  keep at their desk or on a notebook as a reminder.  For our youngest students in kindergarten, it might be fun to do this with a small group or even as a whole class to create a vision for our class community.  So many possibilities and no wrong answers!

I'm downloading this image to use as my computer wallpaper this month:

Image from Dreamtime.com

One Word Challenge

On Twitter I noticed a lot of people posting their one word for 2017 and wanted to learn more about this idea.  It is based on a book by motivational expert Jon Gordon called One Word That Will Change Your Life.    The premise of the book is that most people give up on their New Year's Resolutions by the end of January.  By focusing on just one word and remembering WHY you chose that word, you are more likely to stick to your resolution.  Here's a brief video of Jon Gordon explaining the idea behind One Word That Will Change Everything.

After some reflection, my one word for 2017 will be 'YES.'  I wrote about this on my blog a few days ago and this is one more way to commit to this approach to life.  Some people had chosen fearless but this didn't seem like a good fit for me.  There's still fear, but I want to move on in spite of the fear.



Below are some other ideas for #oneword2017 shared on Twitter.  What will your word be?

@maryhadley8

@saccoeric

@vroom6

@kasnelson