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Word for the Year // 2015

January 1, 2015August 25, 2015 Crystal // Dreams, etc. 1 comment
Word for the Year // 2015

Happy 2015! Who is excited for the new year? I know that I am!

2014 was a great year. I didn’t accomplish all that I had hoped to, but I also did something that was completely unexpected by taking a new job and leaving the company that I had worked with for almost nine years. I’ve been so blessed by that move and I’m thankful that it happened. And now I’m ready to finish a few of the projects that I didn’t get to in 2014 and start working on some new ones!
I’ll be sharing my goals for 2015 next week, so keep an eye out for those. Today I want to share my word for 2015. I’ve been contemplating my word for a little over a month now and I’ve thrown around plenty of options. Most of them have been “directives” for the year, but eventually I settled on a reminder:

imperfect

I don’t think I’d call myself a perfectionist, because I don’t try to be perfect in all aspects of my life. I realize that I am far, far from perfect. (Let’s be honest, who is?) But I still expect a level of perfection from myself in certain areas of my life: writing and art.

I want my first drafts of novels to be perfect, even though first drafts are never perfect. This expectation that they should be inhibits me while I try to write. My inner critic can be quite vocal as I write and it can slow down my progress. And my expectation that first drafts should be perfect can prevent me from taking risks. As I’m writing a scene I’ll think, “This is ridiculous! This won’t work and I’ll be told to take it out.” But that’s the beauty of a first draft; you can take risks and if a scene truly doesn’t work, you can find a way to make it work or take it out altogether. From past experience, some of the scenes that my inner critic screamed at became my reader’s favorite scenes. So why not try them out?


I also expect my drawings to be perfect and photographic, even though that’s not my talent as an artist (or even the kind of drawings that I’m capture my attention the most). I expect my sketchbooks to be filled with perfect sketches, even though they’re not supposed to be. I love getting glimpses of my friend Heather’s sketchbooks whenever we meet, because it reminds me that sketchbooks are there to try things out and to work on details that you need to practice, whether that’s a hand, a stingray or a mermaid tail.

In 2014 I displayed my word on the back of my bedroom door so that I saw it every day and this constant reminder kept my word on my mind at all times, so I knew I wanted to display my word for 2015 too. I plan to display my word in a frame on my nightstand so that I see it first thing in the morning and right before I go to bed. I haven’t put it in a frame yet, because I think I might have one that I can use. Time to dig through some boxes!

I can’t remember where I heard this or who was being talked about, but I heard about a writer who keeps a print of a Jackson Pollack painting by her computer to remind her that what can be seen as chaos can also be seen as art. Ever since I heard that I thought it was a brilliant idea, so I wanted to incorporate this idea of paint splatter chaos as art into my display for my word. I made the painting in the photo above, but realized when it was finished that it would be too dark to write my word over. I still plan to frame this one and keep it on my desk.

I redid the painting with lighter colors and wrote my word over the paint. I chose the French version of the word, because I think it’s prettier and because I’d like to brush up on my French throughout 2015. I have this in a frame on my nightstand so that I see it morning and night.

What’s your word for 2015?

I will have the book club discussion post for Landline up later tonight. The past few days have been pretty busy and I haven’t had a chance to put it together yet.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 
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About Crystal

About Crystal

Hi! I'm Crystal, a millennial learning how to live slowly and sustainably, while still seeking adventure and following my dreams, etc.

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One comment

  1. Loyal RUN says:
    January 3, 2015 at 10:51 pm

    Love this! My word would have to be "explore". I'm so tire of being stuck in this stand still that I am in. Time to get out of my comfort zone and try new things 🙂
    I would love to frame a piece of your work and put it in my home! You are outstanding!

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hi!

I'm Crystal, the storyteller behind Dreams, etc. I'm all about learning how to live slowly & sustainably, while also seeking adventure as we follow our dreams, etc.

Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I d Picture it. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. I didn’t go on my weekly dam walk earlier in the week when I was excited about it. On this day I was tired after a long week and my least favorite holiday. My bed was oh so comfortable. I forced myself to roll out of bed and journey to the dam. It was filled with people and I was pokey…taking my time to get there and even journeying down one of the other paths to avoid walking across the dam. (Which isn’t long.) I finally joined the crowd and walked across. And then came back, happy to have made my weekly journey. This is when the top layer of the water started to freeze.
From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock c From March: an old mini vlog from a bagpipe rock concert, which is mostly me trying the say bagpipe rock. Some word combinations are hard! 😂 There was a sign asking us not to film, which is why there’s no concert footage.
Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic Some of my weekly dam walks have been therapeutic and while the walks haven’t fixed the problems, they’ve help me breathe and connect with the world and relieve stress. 💕
April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. April 2023. We got more snow, but it also melted. The dam was almost overflowing. The animals are beginning to emerge. Spring is here!
Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee st Happy Independent Bookstore Day! After a coffee stop (of course) a friend and I checks out two indie bookstores that we have never been to before. I definitely want to go back to Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s! Did you do anything for #independentbookstoreday

#indiebookstore #indiebookshop
After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to After watching some shopping ASMR videos I had to try it.

#asmr #groceryshopping #groceryshop  #asmrvideos
I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Le I’m a little behind in weekly dam walk reels. Let’s go back to the third week in November when there was just a little snow on the ground and the footprints in the snow seemed notable.
Happy Easter! Happy Easter!
March 2023. You felt like a million years, but als March 2023. You felt like a million years, but also ended in the blink of an eye.
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