Find Your Word: A Simple Guide to Starting 2025 Strong

Pam Barnhill [00:00:01]:
Are you ready for homeschooling to feel joyful again? Do you long for support as you learn alongside your kids? Welcome to Homeschool Better Together, a podcast about building a homeschool experience that works for your family. I’m Pam Barnhill, and it’s time to step out of the overwhelm and into the wonder. Let’s do this. Hey there, and welcome. I am joined today by Dawn Garrett, who is our community manager over here at Homeschool Better Together. And we are gonna be talking all about kind of a fun topic and it is choosing a word of the year. Except, Dawn, you told me the other day you don’t choose a word of the year. You choose a word for the year.

Pam Barnhill [00:00:53]:
So let’s just start there. What’s the

Dawn Garrett [00:00:55]:
difference? What’s the difference? I guess it’s really the emphasis. Like, maybe I’ll give an example. My words for 2024 was watch, and I promptly broke my foot first thing in the in the year in January, but then I didn’t really walk for most of the year. So, like, my year was not about physically walking, but I did do a lot of reading and intentional I I was really intentional, but but thinking about walking or not walking throughout the course of the year. So it’s I don’t know. I guess to me, the an of the year comes at the end of the year and a 4 of the year is kind of previewing the year. So I don’t know if that makes sense.

Pam Barnhill [00:01:47]:
Okay. That’s interesting because I’ve always heard it until you said something to me the other day, I was kinda grumpy about it. I was what is the difference? You know, Don and I had been together for 8 years now. So sometimes we get a little grumpy. I do. I did. Don never does. I’m sure.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:03]:
But Oh, never. I was like, what is the difference? But I see of the year. So I’ve only ever heard it talked about as a word of the year. And I see it as, as something you are taking part in throughout the year. So, you know, I am Pam of Alabama because I always live in Alabama. I am living in Alabama. So it’s the word of the year because, you know, I’m taking part in it, but I can see. So yours is for the year because it’s what it’s what you’re, like, looking forward to.

Pam Barnhill [00:02:38]:
You’re

Dawn Garrett [00:02:39]:
is that it? It’s the intention of, yeah, what I’m going to be contemplating, thinking about, growing in. Yeah. It’s hard to in Spanish, I think of and 4 are the same, the same. Right? Day? So

Pam Barnhill [00:02:57]:
So okay. Interesting.

Dawn Garrett [00:02:59]:
Yeah. I don’t remember my high school Spanish

Pam Barnhill [00:03:03]:
enough to know, but maybe so. Okay. So we don’t care which one you say. We don’t care if you say word of the year or word for the year. I will probably say of the year and Dawn may say for the year and that’s okay. We can agree to disagree because that’s what we do around here. We love each other anyway, even when we don’t agree with each other. Okay.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:21]:
So how long have you been doing a word for the year, Dawn?

Dawn Garrett [00:03:26]:
I have done I was looking it up and 6, 7, 8. I’ve been doing them for a long time. 2015, 2016.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:41]:
Yeah. So at least 8 years, maybe even closer to 9.

Dawn Garrett [00:03:45]:
Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:03:46]:
Okay. Yeah. What got you started? Why did you decide that you were going to start doing a word for the year? What was it? Do you remember?

Dawn Garrett [00:03:56]:
I started to see people, like, talking about the idea online, And I saw some word for the year generators, and I was like, that’s not really for me. And the word revel or e v e l just kept popping up. And I was like, my life doesn’t have a lot of reveling in it. Maybe I need to think about that for this upcoming year. And so I did, and it was a great year. It was really interesting to think about kind of how to be joyful when how to choose to be joyful. And I really wanted a verb that it was an action. It was something that I was going to do.

Dawn Garrett [00:04:43]:
So, like, the word just kept popping up. So I was like, oh, I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes. And it went pretty well, so I’ve done it ever since.

Pam Barnhill [00:04:51]:
Okay. That’s interesting. So is your word for the year always a verb?

Dawn Garrett [00:04:56]:
Mine has always been a verb. And sometimes that’s caused a little bit of, like, that’s a weird word to have for the year. But, yes, I’ve always chosen. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:05]:
A couple years ago, you had a really strange one.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:07]:
What was it? Oh, I’ve had I’ve had a number that you were like, really? Conform.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:13]:
Yes, ma’am. One of them.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:14]:
I did pacify 1 year.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:17]:
I think it was pacified. Yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:19]:
Because I wanted to there is not a word in English to make peace. That’s one word. That’s one word. Right. That’s one word. And I wanted a verb. And so I was looking at, you know, what’s the difference between pacify and mollify? And, there there there are there are various precise definitions that you can think about with some of these things and see how they apply. Yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:05:44]:
So I’ve had some I’ve had some weird ones attend. In 2020, it was engage.

Pam Barnhill [00:05:50]:
Oh, the iron. Okay. So let’s just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Your word in 2020 was engaged and we all know happen what happened with that. And then your word for last year was walk. And Mhmm. In January, you broke your foot, which I still feel horrible about because you were at our beach retreat when you did it.

Dawn Garrett [00:06:09]:
I didn’t wanna say that.

Pam Barnhill [00:06:10]:
You know, like over a 1000 miles away from home. But like, it was it was just so bad. What do you do when very quickly during the year? You’re like, woah, wait a second. This was my word for the year. And now due to circumstances, I can’t control something very different is happening.

Dawn Garrett [00:06:32]:
Well, I think I have a blog post that I wrote where the words of the year is something that I wanna learn about. And sometimes what you learn about the best way to learn about something is to look at it from the opposite. And I I guess I just I’ve it’s providence. I mean, god works to teach us different things. Not saying the 2020 was my fault for choosing the word engage, but, you know,

Pam Barnhill [00:06:57]:
just blaming it on you.

Dawn Garrett [00:06:58]:
We are complaining on me. Great. That’s what I need. But, like, the opposite that not walk really helps to clarify what it means to walk. And so it’s not like I’m gonna give up my word for the year because of circumstances, but it causes me to cling to Christ. It causes me to think about what am I what am I really supposed to be learning here in this situation? How can I encourage others, you know, when I’m thinking about, oh, I have to sit here with my foot up because I can’t walk? Well, how am I actually continuing to walk? I’m still walking with Christ even if it’s not on my 2 feet. You know? Like, the so it causes you to turn the gemstone and see a different piece of the cut. What’s the word I’m looking for?

Pam Barnhill [00:07:51]:
A a different side of the coin, I guess, maybe.

Dawn Garrett [00:07:53]:
Side. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:07:54]:
That we’re looking for. Yeah. Yeah. So when you chose the word walk, it was not your intention to, like it was not necessarily your intention to be like, oh, this is the year I’m gonna get super fit because I’m gonna be walking like 20,000 steps a day. There was, even though I know that you have been motivated to get back to consistent walking because you, you were really like fabulous at that at at 20 and 21. And maybe it’s been a little more difficult past couple of years. Mhmm. Even though that might have been part of it, that wasn’t the whole thing.

Pam Barnhill [00:08:27]:
Right?

Dawn Garrett [00:08:27]:
No. A lot of times my word for the year comes out of my Bible reading from the previous year. Like, I just start noticing where you know, I just start noticing these words or these ideas that I want to explore. So I was noticing the word walk and and how people in the old and new testaments traveled and what their how they went from place to place. And then that really led me on a whole study of, you know, thinking of transportation. Our bodies are, you know, how where do we dwell? Where do we live? Where do our bodies fit in the world? Where how do we clothe our bodies? I mean, walk expanded to be this great, big, huge idea about human physical bodiness that I could not have anticipated, But it came out of my reading in 2023 about the idea of what it what does it mean to walk.

Pam Barnhill [00:09:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And so you never considered giving up on your word after you broke your foot? No. Alright. That’s good. That’s interesting. Okay.

Pam Barnhill [00:09:35]:
So quick opinion break before I talk about my experience with word of the year. What do you think about people who can’t just choose one word and they have to choose a bond? Because this annoys me. Like this big one. K. So

Dawn Garrett [00:09:49]:
I already said that I chose my word last year for the end of the year, but I was starting to notice it in say August. And this year, I’m pretty sure I chose my word for 2025 in, like, June or July.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:03]:
Okay. But Interesting.

Dawn Garrett [00:10:05]:
But sometimes, like, I keep a little list of I have a Post it note on my desk, and I keep a little list of possibilities. And one just kind of rises to the top, but I have the my Post it note probably has 4 or 5 words on it right now. Glimpse is one of them. I don’t remember what it’s all they were. But then it’s noticing or paying attention is is often a part of what I’m looking for. So, yeah, I don’t know. I have only ever just had one, so I’ve never really thought about choosing multiples. Dawn’s way more diplomatic than

Pam Barnhill [00:10:41]:
I am. Pick one word, people.

Dawn Garrett [00:10:44]:
I mean, I I only choose one. I think it’s sufficient.

Pam Barnhill [00:10:50]:
Well, okay. So and I’m gonna okay. Good. I’m I’m kinda kidding here. So let me talk about my experience with word of the year, which was for the longest time, I thought it was really kinda woo woo. Right? Like, oh, you know, like, what? So I went through that phase and then I was really kind of intrigued by the idea of a word of the year. And I think part of what stopped me was perfectionism. Right? It’s like, how can I choose one word? What if I choose the wrong word? You know, that kind of stuff.

Pam Barnhill [00:11:26]:
And so I’ve seen you do this through all the years. And and at first I really kind of poo pooed the whole thing. You know, I was like, this is not for me. I would rather set some goals and have it be tangible and concrete. And and then I came to the realization I could do both if I wanted to. I could set a word and goals and that they could be related to each other. Right? And then I can choose it in my own fashion. Like, I didn’t have to choose a word in the same way that you chose 1, and I also didn’t have to live with my word in the same way, you know, that I saw other people online, not just Dawn, but, you know, other people who I mean, it’s all over YouTube and in different places.

Pam Barnhill [00:12:04]:
I didn’t have to do any of that stuff. I could approach it in my own way. And so I really kind of got intrigued, but I do think perfectionism stopped me for a while. What if I choose the wrong word? How can I choose just one word? And finally, it’s so interesting because last year you told me that you find often, and I’m good just gonna paraphrase this because I might say it wrong. But you said you find often that you choose a word and like God shows you that in some way that it wasn’t what you thought it was going to be. Like, you know, kind of like with walk and you breaking your foot or with engage and then like being stuck at home and stuff like that. And my response to you was, oh, I hope not. Because my word of the year last year was beloved.

Pam Barnhill [00:12:55]:
And it was all about my identity as a child of god. I needed to know that he loved me, not just for the things that I do, but just because I am his child. And so Mhmm. That was my very first time actually narrowing down and choosing a word of the year. So it’s not a verb. It’s actually an noun. Now my verb my word next year that I’m I’m playing with for 2025 can be a verb and an noun. Mhmm.

Pam Barnhill [00:13:23]:
Right? Mhmm. And so it it does have multiple meanings. But last year it was very much, you know, what is my identity? And I didn’t want my word. I didn’t want god to come down and say, okay.

Dawn Garrett [00:13:35]:
Yeah. No. No. As if he would.

Pam Barnhill [00:13:41]:
He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t. But so me, it was about it was about an identity, exploration last year about something I needed to study so that I could so that I could feel, you know, lean into that identity, my identity as a child of God and things like that. And so it was a fabulous year for me, but I was very specific about bringing this word into my life often. Right? You’re doing things with my word, using things with my word. Actually, I’m looking across my office right now and there’s a little wooden plaque hanging on the door over there, and it has the word beloved on it. So I, you know, I got myself a a couple of visible reminders of my word.

Pam Barnhill [00:14:29]:
And so do you do that?

Dawn Garrett [00:14:31]:
In the past, I’ve gotten a bracelet with my word on it and yes. So that and I’ve kept 1 year, I kept a notebook where I copied down every verse that had the word seek or sought in it. Seek was my word for the year. So I copied down every bible verse that that used my word for the year. I’ve done yeah. For sure. I try to keep it in front of me as much as I can just so that I keep thinking about it.

Pam Barnhill [00:14:59]:
Yeah. And I think that’s such an important thing is that, like, you know, you don’t just choose a word, but you choose a word and then you find different ways to live that word, you know, and and bring that word into your life. And it’s gonna look different for different people, but I, I do think that’s a very important part of the process. So you say that your words kind of bubble up for you. Through the course of the year, I get way more intentional and, and maybe it’s just because I’m kind of more of a word of the year newbie. Whereas, like, in June, I’m not necessarily thinking about next year’s word. But, you know, like, I’m like, okay. Now we’ve hit November.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:40]:
Now we’ve hit early December, and it’s time to start thinking about the word of the year. What’s the latest you’ve ever chosen your word?

Dawn Garrett [00:15:49]:
I don’t even know. Probably at sometime in December. I don’t know. It’s the latest I’ve chosen my word.

Pam Barnhill [00:15:57]:
Have you ever worried that you weren’t gonna be able to find a good one?

Dawn Garrett [00:16:00]:
No. No. I thought that with Pacify, I struggled with it because I knew what I wanted it to be, but I didn’t want it to be Pacify. You know? Like Yeah. I knew I I knew I wanted to talk think about making peace, but I didn’t know how to talk about it. So that one was a little bit of a struggle. But they’ve always just kind of been, oh, yeah. That’s what it’s gonna be.

Pam Barnhill [00:16:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think I’ve been a little like, as I, as I chose a word last year, and then as I started thinking about choosing a word this year, I was a little more intentional about, I’m sitting down like it as is my way. I’m gonna sit down and I’m gonna figure this out. Out. Right? As you Mhmm. Because that’s that’s the way I do things. So do you make goals at all and do they fit with your word of the year?

Dawn Garrett [00:16:53]:
I’m not much of a goal center setter. I have occasionally made goals that fit on my fit with my word for the year. 1 year, my work was attend. And so, like, all of my all of my goals started with the word attend, attend to such and such, attend, you know, to those kinds of things. So those were habit goals. Those would have been habit goals. Yeah. So not much of a goal setter.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:21]:
Yeah. So I did have goals for last year. They were not specific to the word of the year. Right? So the they were separate. But I think you could. I did and it you’re For sure. The perfect example where you could have you could say my word’s gonna be attend, and then I’m gonna have some habit goals that are related to that this year. So I do think it is possible to set it like that, and I do think it’s possible to have both.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:46]:
So very interesting. For sure. For sure, you can have both.

Dawn Garrett [00:17:50]:
That’s just not necessarily my personal way. Yeah.

Pam Barnhill [00:17:54]:
What do you think is the biggest benefit to you of choosing a word for the year and living that word for the year?

Dawn Garrett [00:18:03]:
Well, my words never seem to actually go away. So I have this collection of words now that every time it pops up, it, like, grabs my attention. And so that’s one of the big benefits. But I do try to choose verbs of things that I think would improve my life, improve the way that I live my life, to improve like, I wanted to to actually find joy in more things, so I chose Revel. I wanted to pay better attention to things, so I chose attend. I wanted to engage better with other people, so I chose engage. I wanted to walk more and think about my walk with Christ, so I chose walk. And so they definitely are things that I want to improve.

Dawn Garrett [00:18:52]:
And that’s part of why I choose Verb, I think.

Pam Barnhill [00:18:55]:
Yeah. Because then it’s something you feel like you can do.

Dawn Garrett [00:18:59]:
Yeah. It’s an action. Yes.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:01]:
Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn’t say probably from I I do think for me, it’s, it’s a way to explore kind of who I am, you know, at the risk of sounding woo woo. So I do have goals for my actions, but for me, it’s a way of exploring, like, you know, what is my identity? Who am I? And and that kind of thing. And so that worked really well for me. I don’t know that that’ll be the way I go for next year. Mhmm. I’m not ready to talk about my word for next year because I’m not 100% sure that that’s my word.

Pam Barnhill [00:19:34]:
I’m kind of leaning towards it, but I can talk about that a little later. But I have actually done a little research and, and started looking. So do you do that? Do you, do you start. Researching your word. And playing with it when you, before you 100% decide.

Dawn Garrett [00:19:54]:
Well, I I do keep that list. So, yeah, I mean, I’m like, yeah. This seems like a good possibility. And I do I do think about it as the year is winding. You know, the last the last half of the year is winding down. I don’t I don’t do much with it. Like, in my bible reading, I highlight my words for the year or or synonyms often. And so and I’d and it’s in a different color.

Dawn Garrett [00:20:25]:
Each year has its own color. So I’ve started to notice my word as I’m doing my Bible reading, but I’m not doing anything. I’m not highlighting it. I just know I’ll get back to it eventually in my reading, that kind of thing. But I don’t I don’t do a whole lot before then. I do I do blog some about my work for the year. Sometimes some years more and some years less. So there is some writing that’s involved with it, which that that makes me do more.

Dawn Garrett [00:20:53]:
And I and, usually, in December, I post what my word for the year is going to be. So there is a little bit of interaction with it in December, but

Pam Barnhill [00:21:02]:
I don’t know. Whole lot. Yeah.

Dawn Garrett [00:21:04]:
Not a whole lot.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:04]:
Which it just, like, it’s so reflective of our personalities, you know, in the way we do things.

Dawn Garrett [00:21:10]:
Type a?

Pam Barnhill [00:21:12]:
Type z? I don’t think you’re type z, but, yeah, you’re down. You’re down the alphabet a little bit more than I am for sure. Oh, I love it. I love it so much. Yeah. I just think it’s a great focus for the year when you actually use it. And I think that’s one of the saddest things when, and, and maybe this was a reason too, that I was reluctant to do a word of the year in that middle portion was because it’s like, okay, what am I gonna do with this? Is this going to be something that I just quit again? And then when I sat down last year and really made a plan for, this is my word. This is how I’m going to use it.

Pam Barnhill [00:21:51]:
This is what I’m going to do with it. Then some of that kind of, oh, this is not just gonna become another thing that I quit at.

Dawn Garrett [00:22:00]:
Mhmm.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:00]:
Some of those fears went away, and I knew that, you know, it was gonna be something that would serve me.

Dawn Garrett [00:22:06]:
I think the intentionality is really what matters. There are lots of random word for the year generators. There are lots of, like

Pam Barnhill [00:22:14]:
Oh, and you don’t like I’m kind of Tell me about the I’m

Dawn Garrett [00:22:16]:
I’m kinda I’m kinda judgy about those. I I think those would be easy to give up. Like Yeah. Somebody else gives you your word for the year. Yeah. That that and and they’re always the same words. So I’m a little judgy about, like, I think dwell is a great word, but is it everybody’s word for the year? I don’t know.

Pam Barnhill [00:22:37]:
Right. Right. Yeah. And I do think, I do think it absolutely has to be something that’s meaningful to you. Yes. For it to be something that you can actually explore and live and spend time with, you know, in the following year. And I think that’s the thing. I think too, another thing that comes up for people is they’re like, oh, well, let’s say you chose, you know, you chose walk and you’re like, okay, now I’ve gotta get like 10,000 steps a day every single day of the year.

Pam Barnhill [00:23:04]:
I mean, that’s not the point. Right? That’s not the point of choosing the word. The the point is is to see how that word is speaking to you and to, you know, to live into that word. And so, yeah, I hate to see people get stuck up. Not stuck up. Hung up is the word I’m looking for on. I can’t be perfect with this word. And so I’m not going to choose this word.

Dawn Garrett [00:23:30]:
Yeah. And, and I think having it be very personal makes it more meaningful and makes it easier to stick with. Yep. And weird words. And weird words.

Pam Barnhill [00:23:42]:
I’m just trying to find the verb version. Like the word peace is a great word, but this is a little bit, then I’ve got to go find the verb version. So, yeah. Interesting. It worked out. Well, thank you Dawn for joining me to talk about word of the year, we do have a word of the year workshop that we have. This was something I was just so blessed by my particular word of the year. And I thought it would be so much fun to do a word of the year workshop.

Pam Barnhill [00:24:13]:
So we’re going to be doing that live on January 2nd, which for some people that may be a little bit late to start thinking about a word of the year. I will probably still be messing around with mine at that time. And I think, oh, okay. So this is another big point. We’ve talked about some of the sticking points that people have with words of the year. If you don’t have it figured out by December 31st, it’s okay. Like, if you don’t start your word of the year journey until the end of January, like, it is much better to, like, feel like you’ve got the right word for you as opposed to going to a random word generator on January 1st because we can help that you don’t have a word of the year yet. But what we’re gonna do in the workshop is we are gonna do 3 very specific exercises to, if you don’t have a word of the year, help you figure out exactly what your word of the year is.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:03]:
And then we are going to give you a ton of different ideas for how you can live into your word during 2025. And so it’s not a super long workshop. It’s probably gonna be, I would suspect since we’re running it live on January second, it’s gonna be about an hour and a half. Our people love to chat, so we’ll probably get a lot of questions. And then there is a fabulous little workbook that comes along with it that is not like, you know, your 3rd grade English teacher gave you. It’s it’s you’ll enjoy the workbook. That also includes, like, a monthly review sheet that you can print out and put in your planner. So you can, revisit your word every single month and, reflect upon how you’ve used it.

Pam Barnhill [00:25:46]:
But there’s a lot of other ton of really great stuff in there. And so the workshop is called align a year guided by one powerful word, and it will be on January 2nd. And the way you get in the workshop is by joining our, elevate homeschool program for 2025. And so we will link to the page so you can get all the information about that. And we would love to have you join us live. And then Elevate’s just gonna have all kinds of really fun stuff in it for next year as well.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:17]:
I’m really excited about next year’s Elevate. It should be really fun.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:21]:
Yeah. I’m excited about it too. So alright. Look for more details about that one. We’ll be talking about it. And Dawn, thank you so much for joining me. You word of the year, Expert Yu. I appreciate it.

Dawn Garrett [00:26:32]:
Expert might be a strong stretch, but, always glad to come chat.

Pam Barnhill [00:26:37]:
That’s our show for today. Be sure to follow, subscribe, and leave a review so you never miss out on the wonder of homeschooling better together. To stay connected and learn even more about the homeschooling better together resources and to join our free community, visit hsbtpodcast.com. Until next week, keep stepping out of the overwhelm and into the wonder.