Have you ever been curious about words of the year? In this episode of Everyday Happiness, we discuss the history of words of the year and how we chose them. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in about 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat, and after all the chatter about resolutions, I wanted to pivot and have a conversation about another concept:  Word of the Year. 

This concept started by the Oxford dictionary choosing a word of the year.  Oxford editors track trending words and phrases as they rise during the calendar year.  This year, in 2022, Oxford opened up the voting to the public and we chose “goblin mode.” The term is defined as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations,”   I guess I need to brush up on the English language because I had not heard of this word.

Last year’s winner was “vax,” and other past winners include “selfie” in 2013 and “climate emergency” in 2019.  

Merriam-Webster also announced its pick for 2022 word of the year, it is “gaslighting.”  

All this to say that people are now using this concept to choose their own word of the year as an alternative to creating a New Year's resolution. They are thinking about words they want to embody in the coming year, using them as a filter or guardrail to keep them on track. 

I like the word of the year.  In fact, in my community we all discussed our words, from growth, care, sustainable, bloom, space, nurture and so many more. 

Perhaps if making a resolution doesn’t light your fair on fire, maybe a single word feels more doable and approachable. 

Give it a whirl, think about this concept today and see if a word comes to mind. Until next time, remember, Kindness is Contagious. 

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