Each year, I choose a word of the year to guide me—not as a resolution, but as a lens. A way to notice what matters. A way to move forward with intention rather than urgency. For the year ahead, my word is reclamation.
Instead, it quietly suggests something more honest: a return.
It doesn’t suggest reinvention or bold transformation. Instead, it points inward. It reflects a desire to come back to myself—to notice what fits, what no longer does, and to move forward with intention rather than momentum.
This Year, My Life is Somewhere Between Chapters
For more than twenty years, my days were shaped by roles I cared deeply about—raising children, supporting my family, showing up in steady, often unseen ways. It was meaningful work, and work I don’t regret. But it filled every corner of life. Only as the pace has slowed have I been able to see how completely it occupied my time, energy, and sense of self.
With children grown and life entering a very different rhythm, I find myself standing in a space that feels both unfamiliar and open (sometimes too open!). There is less structure telling me who I need to be each day. More quiet. More time to ask questions I didn’t previously have time to sit with.
That new quiet space, while confusing and even a little terrifying at times, is where reclamation begins.
What Reclamation Means in This Season (for me)
Reclamation is not about rejecting the past or wishing anything away. It is about recognizing that parts of myself were temporarily set aside—not lost, not erased, just waiting. Waiting for a quieter time.
Over time, it is so easy to become so focused on fulfilling loud, ever-present responsibilities that you stop noticing what energizes you personally. Interests grow quiet. Curiosity gets postponed. The internal voice that once felt so confident becomes softer.
Reclamation, for me, means listening for that internal voice again.
It means giving myself permission to explore who I am outside of the roles that once defined my days so clearly—and trusting that this exploration is not selfish, but necessary.
Perspective, Time, and Awareness
This past year sharpened my awareness of time in a way I did not expect. It reminded me that the years ahead are not infinite—and that awareness, while sobering, and also a little terrifying, can also be clarifying.
I feel less interested in rushing and more interested in choosing carefully.
Reclamation reflects that shift in my perspective. It encourages me to be thoughtful about how I spend my time, how I care for my health and my relationships, and how I show up in my own life—not later, not someday, but now. In each day. In each moment.
It is not about fear of what’s ahead. It is about respect for the life that's still unfolding.
Reclamation Changes My Views on Personal Growth
At this stage of my life, growth doesn’t feel like pushing rapidly forward or reaching for success. It feels more like paying attention—listening for what fits and what no longer does. When something feels off, I need to learn to pause and adjust instead of forcing myself to keep moving anyway just because that’s what I’ve always done. Because that's what I'm "supposed to do" according to someone else's "master plan."
Reclamation, for me, will show up in ordinary moments. Seeking calm over constant stimulation. Taking care of my health willingly, without turning it into another tedious job on a long to-do list. Letting go of the urge to explain or defend my choices that may not follow the mainstream. Giving purpose time to develop instead of demanding clarity right away. And, slowly, trusting my own judgment and vision again.
This isn’t the kind of growth I pictured years ago. It’s not loud and demanding. It doesn't have the same motivations it once did--but, it is actually leading me toward the place I belong.
What Will Reclamation Look Like in my Daily Life this year?
Again, reclamation does not announce itself. It shows up in small choices:
- Making space for interests that belong to me
- Allowing rest without guilt
- Saying no when something no longer fits
- Saying yes to curiosity and learning
- Being present in the little moments--not just surviving them from day to day
These choices may look ordinary from the outside. They may not even be visible to the outside world--but, internally, they feel like a return.
Moving Into the New Year with Intention
I don’t expect this year to provide all the answers or completely change my life. Reclamation doesn’t require that. It allows room for uncertainty, patience, and honest reassessment.
What it asks is simple:
What do I want to carry forward on my path?
What no longer needs to define me?
What parts of myself are ready to come back into the light?
For me, this year is about living those questions—
one thoughtful decision at a time.
What part of yourself has been quietly waiting for your attention?
What might it look like to reclaim time, energy, or identity in a small but meaningful way this year?
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