What word will define your year?

Some of Substack's Most Brilliant Women Answer

Tap the ❤️❤️❤️ and leave a comment with your word for 2025 and I’ll comment back with one of my “movement snacks” that matches your theme.

“There are years that ask questions and there are years that answer.” Zora Neale Hurston

Right now, your inbox is probably flooded with language like “resolutions” and “new year, new you.” I stopped making resolutions years ago — we’ve all read the statistics that 80-90% of adults don’t follow through on them and it’s disheartening to start the year off with a miss. “New Year, New You” also doesn’t resonate; it implies that there’s something wrong with the “old me” and that feels like a disempowering way to flip the page on the calendar.

In my search for an alternative, I came across the above quote from Zora Neale Hurston from her novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” It creates the perfect amount of distance that helps me observe the ups and downs of a year as cycles rather than as “good” or “bad” and as something to be expected and embraced rather than judged or feared.

In retrospect, 2024 was a year of milestones – many of them incredible ones – that have punctuated my year with a question mark instead of a period. In moments of contemplation on my yoga mat, before work begins each morning, I’ve been thinking about how to set a vision for the upcoming year that will help me discover those answers

Choosing a word was popularized by the book One Word That Will Change Your Life. I haven’t read it, but I’d love to know if you did!

The practice of choosing a word as a theme for the year is new to me, though it has its roots in many spiritual traditions, I’m told. If it’s new to you too, the beauty of it is that it’s exceedingly simple: After some reflection (perhaps journaling, meditation, a walk, or good old-fashioned couch sitting), pick a word that you’d like to define your year. A theme you can use as a filter for decisions, big ones and small, and something you can come back to as you determine how to spend your time.

There was one word that was particularly “sticky”; I kept coming back to it while I was in the shower or on long runs, which was a good sign that it was the right one.

My word for 2025 will be (drumroll please): REPLENISH.

Caretaking has been a theme in my life. First as a therapeutic yoga/Pilates instructor, then to my kids, and now to extended family members facing health issues. (Fellow sandwich generation members, I know you can relate.) I spent four years nurturing a business that launched this year, and I realized that if I want to spend many more watching it grow it’s time to nurture myself a bit.

The word replenish is also about me learning to set better boundaries that guard my personal time so I can show up as my best self. For example, it’s easy for me to keep working in the evenings because there’s always more to do. I tend to just keep working so it will be less for me to do the next day. But that mindset eventually leads to burnout (and the stress-induced, very annoying perioral dermatitis that my dermatologist just diagnosed) because you never get a break.

Journaling is another practice that helps me find clarity. I’d like to treat myself to a new one — any favorites?

I’ve spent the last couple of mornings daydreaming about what I’ll do to reclaim my nights. Calligraphy? I’ve taken a few classes over the years and would like to get back into that. Puzzles? My brain finds it soothing to create order from chaos. Reading? It’s a great source of pleasure for me. Which Jane Austen book should I re-read first?

As I mentioned, I also plan to use my word as a filter as I decide how to fill my calendar. Does this activity replenish my energy or drain it? For me, sitting down and thumbing through the pages of my favorite book restores my energy. A large gathering will likely drain some of it. Prior to perimenopause, it felt like I had about a gallon of energy to burn through each day. That gallon was magically replaced each morning when I woke up. These days, I may only have a cup of energy sometimes, so I want to be more discerning about how I use that cup.

Tell me: What word speaks to you and your goals, thoughts, needs, and desires for the next 365 (ish) days? As I mentioned in the intro, if you leave a comment with your word, I’ll comment back with a movement snack that matches your 2025 theme.

Words With Friends

One of things I like best about this year is the community of women I’ve cultivated right here on Substack. I’ve met brilliant women – many of whom are dedicating their brilliance to finding joy and vitality in midlife. I asked some of my new friends what their word for 2025 will be hoping that it may further inspire you.

Jess Mujica, Substack: Women’s Cycle Awareness (post I recommend)

Note: Jess’s family was deeply affected by the recent hurricane that flooded areas of North Carolina. Her family was without potable water for months, and I awed by the strength it must have taken to continue to write and create during exceedingly difficult circumstances. Please join me in sending her (and all those affected) lots of love.

“For me, I tend to look back and see what my year was. I find the theme seems to follow me as opposed to making a projection. This last year the word that comes to mind is "resilience".

Since I seem to find the theme follows me instead of leads the way, so-to-speak, a word that has been coming to mind lately is to look for the synchronicity of God intervening as this was something I started to experience front and center during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

I hope to see more synchronicities through this next year. God have mercy that it isn't always through suffering.”

Alisa Kennedy Jones, Substack: The Empress (post I recommend)
”I was reading Calling All Heroine’s the other day and her word this year was “transform” and she had all these examples of how her life and writing had changed during the year.

I think this year, my word for 2025 is going to be “heal” because I have been through some traumatic events between health stuff, family stuff, and then China… and I just need heal from that, let it go, and get strong again — if that makes sense? I know it’s a little boring… It’s just been such trial by fire and I also want to heal some longstanding relationship rifts that I’ve been too afraid to even touch, so it’s calling on to me to have more gumption and grace. And in order to do that I have to heal my rag & bone heart, lol. :).”

Dr. Heather Bartos, OBGYN, Phosis Advisory Board Member, and founder of Menopause Rocks
1. Let them. ( a la Mel Robbins)
2. Whatever
3. Voice
4. Flow
5. Chill

As you can see they are all somehow in the same “genre” but with different “essences” behind them.”

Mary L. Tabor, Substack: Only Connect … (post I recommend)
“My word is “resolve” –a musical term that I use in the novel I’m currently writing. In music theory—I’m no expert—it means the move of a note or chord from dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance—meaning a tone that needs resolution. I use this idea in my memoir in the chapter entitled “Deceptive Cadence.”

MaryAnn Jacobson, Substack: Midlife Strong (post I recommend)
“My word for 2025 is "visible." I tend to play it safe and often hide behind my work and writing. This year, I want to push myself to step out and put myself out there. The first step is finishing my book, which has been a challenging process. But more than that, it's about not letting fear stand in the way of sharing the important messages of health for midlife women.”

Nancy Fisher, Substack: Zevah (post I recommend)
”The word on which I've definitely been pondering more recently is "curiosity." It's one of the 8 c-words that the therapy modality IFS or internal family systems uses to describe the big "S" Self. Here's my issue: 8 words is too long a list. It's hard to remember and it's a tall order, even for the big "S" Self. And all 8 happen to begin with the letter "c"? That seems too convenient (Gah! another C word!).

Moreover, I think curiosity might entirely encompass or at least, facilitate the other 7 words IFS uses to describe our all-compassionate, calm, creative, connected, clear, confident, and courageous Self that lives within us and loves us. Unrelenting curiosity about ourselves, the world around us, and all the people in it, might be the greatest thing we can aspire to. It might be our single purpose and solve all our problems. But I'm not making any claims here. I'll remain curious.

The problem is, that curiosity doesn't always lead to the same place. The more we dig deep into something, the easier it is to see that we don't know as much as we thought and that ultimately, we can't know everything, ever. Isn't it lovely to be relieved of the need to know in the face of its impossibility? Curiosity invites us to live in embodied wonder rather than intellectualized knowing. Your Instagram algorithm likely tells you whether you're landing in fear and rage or awe and wonder. That's something to be curious about.”

This Week’s Movement Snack

This week’s movement snack is about exploring eagle arms. (It’s that twisty pose where you cross your arms in front of your body by stacking your elbows and touching the back of your hands together.) By changing the position of the arms for traditional poses, you invite a whole new perspective and level of challenge. Enjoy!

Cheers to look and feeling your best,

Susan
Susan Campbell
Founder & CEO, Phosis