Word of the Year 2009: Accomplishment

A friend and I went to the fitness studio yesterday afternoon. While we walked down the steps into an almost empty studio, she says, “Look and weep! As of tomorrow (Januray 1st), this studio is going to be completely full of people with their water bottles and New Year’s Resolutions. And, we are going to have to wait until February or March before they give up and we have the studio to ourselves again.”

I almost had a moment of smugness for not being one of those people with New Year’s Resolutions. Instead I have a word. This year, 2009, I’ve decided upon the word Accomplishment.



If you want to know about the whole Word of the Year deal, you’ll have to go to Christine Kane’s blog and read this article. Basically, Christine wrote,

“Several years ago, my friend Kathy and I decided that, instead of making resolutions, we would pick a word that would guide us throughout the year. It would be our touchstone. It would remind us of living our lives at the BE level.”

This past December many of her readers wrote about their words of 2008 and their motivations and experiences with the words. On December 12th, in Christine S. blog entry, she wrote,

“I am now treating “accomplishment” as a noun rather than a verb, having it serve as a reminder to stop and give myself a mental pat on the back and encouragement to keep up the good work.”

This post was published on a day that promised to be mad with activity at work; for we were holding a large public event. I knew the day would be crazy and I wasn’t sure about the outcome. Yet, one thing I was certain about was that no matter what happened during the event, the fact that it happened at all was an accomplishment. Not only that, but it was my accomplishment. Something I would not have realised if I hadn’t read Christine S. words that morning.

So, this year’s word is accomplishment:

noun

1. the reduction of inflation was a remarkable accomplishment
   achievement, act, deed, exploit, performance, attainment, effort, feat, move, coup.
2. a poet of considerable accomplishment
   expertise, skill, skillfulness, talent, adeptness, adroitness, deftness, dexterity, ability, prowess, mastery, competence, capability, proficiency, aptitude, artistry, art; informal know-how

I must say I get dizzy reading some of those words. Uncomfortable even. Well, this promises to be a good ride.

What is your word for this year?

The collage above is dedicated to various people who have taught me much these last six months about how easy it is to accomplish good work and true purpose.



There are a lot of you, but I’d like to particularly mention Romina, Rev. Wasike, Rev. Teh, Birgit, and Julika for all their humble kindness and perseverance.