My Word of the Year

Last year, my word was DO, and I did ok for a while, but by March I kinda got weighed down by my fears and insecurities, and let the DO-ing slip. This year, I've chosen a word, and given myself some actionable steps to make sure I stick with it!

My word is DARE.

Do it!
Assert yourself!
Risk failure!
Experience success!

Jacqueline has planned to do 5 special things with her word throughout the year, 5 each month, and I think 5 each day, but for me, 3 is the magic number, so I've chosen to do 3 big DAREs over the year, 3 DAREs each month, and 3 each day.

I've not yet chosen what all three of my big DAREs are for the year, but the first is to do Julie Hedlund's 12x12 Picture Book Writing Challenge. I can't afford to actually join, but I'm going to push myself to create 12 picture books this year; I've even got some ideas for the first few already! I'll likely choose the other 2 DAREs for the year before the month is out.

My daily DAREs are smaller, but somewhat challenging for me. The first and scariest for me is to call someone every day, my mom or dad, a friend, a potential employer... ANYONE. I just need to get over the anxiety I get whenever I think of making a phone call. Second is a challenge only because it's one of the first things I stop doing whenever problems arise and I think it's one the most important things I can do: CREATE something; draw a picture, paint, sculpt, whatever... just make sure I work on art EVERYDAY. And last is preparation for something I hope to do someday soon: Do one French lesson minimum on Duolingo. This way I hope to improve and expand my French speaking skills for a trip to Paris!

And then, each month I plan to choose 3 important things I need to DARE to do. This month I need to 1) contact a local school district I sub in to find out why they haven't been calling me, 2) call another district I used to sub in to see about getting calls from them again, and 3) by the end of the month send out subbing applications for more local districts. I am just not getting enough calls!

By the beginning of each month, I'll have listed the DAREs and the actions I need to take to call them done, and by the end of this week, I'll have more actionable steps for each of these DAREs. Have you got a Word of the Year or any resolutions at all? Feel free to share them with me in the comments! For now, I must go watch that ball drop! Hoppy 2013 Everyone!