It’s that time of year: time to choose a word as a beacon to guide me through 2025.
I chose the word listen as my One Little Word three years ago, and for the past two years I have chosen the word pray to guide me through the years. My former words won’t leave me – I still keep them as my own – especially pray. Once a new word has been chosen, former words don’t vanish, turning down some dark alley lurking between the minutes of the midnight hour of New Year’s Eve. They stick like blood kin that want more words to come to the table in the family of chosen words, much like siblings wanting more brothers and sisters.
I’m not abandoning listen or pray. But a strange word took hold of me a few weeks ago, and I don’t fully know why. It’s an adjective and adverb and, according to the dictionary, can also be used as a pronoun and is sometimes used interjectionally, too. This is not an actionable verb as my former words have been.
My One Little Word for 2025 shall be enough.
It seems an unusual choice to me right now, but I know it will become clear once the year gets going. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that once we pray for the right word, we must listen hard enough when it comes alongside us with the pick me! pick me! promptings.
I felt tears welling a couple of years ago when I discovered I was a one on the Enneagram – an overachieving perfectionist whose own worst enemy is…..well, …… ME. I can’t ever seem to live up to my own bar – it’s been set far too high for far too long. I often feel I fall short, even when I succeed. I need to be able to say that I am enough – – and to believe me when I do.
If I do a thing, I overdo it.
I cook for an army rather than for the two of us at the table. I own too many books and too many shoes. I need to learn to appreciate the blessings of having enough– without having too much. I need to find my library card more often than the Amazon cart. I need to learn what is enough and to be a good steward of the management of it.
My sense of adventure is insatiable. I want to explore every GPS location on the globe and don’t quite know what to do with myself when I get there, while under-appreciating that the exquisite beauty of my own town is a unique world all its own – enough to keep me fascinated right here where I am if I only see it with the wonder-filled eyes it deserves.
And my world gets out of whack. I work long hours, and I’m feeling my bones and my soul tell me that doing too much in one place leaves too little in another. More balance would bring enough to both the professional realm and the personal one. I’m often rushing my husband through the extra glass of iced tea he likes to have at the end of a meal if we are in a restaurant, even at times when we have no hurry or particular place to be. I envy his ability to amble where I can’t seem to slow down and fill my lungs with enough air to take the time to relax and breathe a little.
There are gestures where I fall short: phone calls, birthday cards, random text messages to say I love you to those who mean the world to me. I fail to do enough to let my family and friends know how frequently I think of them.
The first word that appealed to me for 2025 was less. I almost chose it – then, I realized that less may not always hit the marks I need to hit. I could eat less, I could weigh less, I could spend less. I could check a few boxes and say I did less. But the real challenge will be sorting what needs more and what needs less to find the just-right balance of enough.
If you have chosen a OLW, please share it in the comments. I love the stories of how words manifest themselves to the people they choose. This is the first word that has me scratching my head about its reasons for knocking at my door. But here we are.
Happy New Year, and happy word finding!
Common Threads 
Kim, I love your word and your relfection as to why this word is choosing you now. I have a feeling it will create some actions in you, even though it is not an active word. I wish you a HAPPY NEW YEAR and a great year of doing enough!
My word is BLOOM and I plan to blog about it for next Tuesday!
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This is such a deep OWL, and the imagery you created was appreciated throughout the entire piece. A favorite smattering of sentences was “…turning down some dark alley lurking between the minutes of the midnight hour of New Year’s Eve. They stick like blood kin that want more words to come to the table in the family of chosen words, much like siblings wanting more brothers and sisters.”
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I love the word bloom! We chose it as a poetry month theme once in my town, and I didn’t want to see it end – such a lovely word to take through the year!
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Kim, your thoughts have been intense throughout your slice. Enough is a word not often chosen so I look forward how it plays nicely with your life. The following line will stick with me: “I need to learn to appreciate the blessings of having enough– without having too much.” May your 2025 journey be filled with just enough love, faith, hope, and happiness to fill your OWL bucket. Happy New Year.
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Kim, I chose enough a few years ago and still wear my “enough” bracelet. It reminds me that “I am enough.” I need to hear that message. Your reflection resonates with me. I understand the need to say “enough.” We are both getting to that time of life when we don’t need to keep reaching for the next good thing. We have it. I will be posting my reflection for Spiritual Thursday. I hope my word finds me by then.
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Kim,
”Enough” feels like a Goldilocks word to me. It implies “just right.” That sounds perfect. When I saw your word my mind went to things like “I’ve had enough of that nonsense,” but I like the “I am enough” thinking more. I understand being a perfectionist. I always feel like an imposter, and we do live in a world that tells us we as women are not enough. It’s a do this, don’t do that treadmill of existing and trying to be enough. I just discovered a wonderful poem that speaks to these ideas. There’s a YouTube video: “When I Die Will You Finally Shut the Fuck Up” by Hollie McNish. You May see here when I host a day of poetry in January.
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Glenda, I love your hosting days and can’t wait to see what you do with the poem. You are reading my mind – – I am seeking out that YouTube right now. I have stories about the need for silence.
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Kim, what a great post. It has convinced me that “enough” is the perfect word for you, the word to go along with listen and pray at your family table of chosen words. Lovely image, that is. I hope you have a successful year of feeling and being enough in all areas of your life.
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Thank you, Denise! I pray blessings for you and your family in 2025.
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Kim, I was teary reading your post. I have felt many of those feelings. Thank you for sharing your word and your journey. It meant a lot to me to read your words today.
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Thank you so much! I wish you a wonderful new year and hope that 2025 brings unexpected blessings.
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Kim, Your word – enough- resonates. We seem to be programmed to achieve, achieve, achieve. I love the idea of stepping off that treadmill and simply enjoying NOW. Thank you for this post! Blessings for the coming year.
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