One Word Challenge

Recently, I’ve received a challenge to select one word to sum up how I’m feeling or to choose one word as my focus for the new year. This challenge was new to me and honestly, it’s a bit intriguing, too. Hmm…just one word, huh? When we reflect on 2020, there were many new words and phrases introduced, wasn’t there? Bear with me a bit while I list through some words that have frequently surfaced in news headlines or social media posts.

Pandemic.

Unprecedented. Over-abundance of caution. Social Distancing. Mask. Work from home. Toilet paper shortage. Hand sanitizer. Essential worker. COVID-19. Hoax. Chinese-virus. Vaccine.Public Health.

Frontline doctors and nurses. PPE. Flatten the curve. Quarantine. Stay at home. Shelter in place, lockdown, curfew, mental health, social bubble.

Distance Learning.

Learning Pod, hybrid learning, blended learning. Asynchronous and synchronous learning. Opportunity gap. Zoom, Zoom fatigue. Google Meet. WebEx. Google Classroom, hotspot.

Racial Injustice.

Justice for George Floyd. Justice for Breonna Taylor. Black lives matter. Protests, Rioters. Central Park birdwatcher. Karen.

Politics.

Census 2020, Elections, Voter fraud, Electoral College, Stimulus checks. Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Kamala Harris. First female, black, Asian American Vice President of the USA.

And yet, despite all that surrounds us, the human spirit continues to rise above adversity. Consider these powerful human descriptors and attributes:

Generosity

Yearning

Motivation

Integrity

Joyful

Courage

Zealous

Hopeful

Determination

Inspired

Blessed

And so, dear Reader, I pose the one word challenge to you: what is one word that sums up how you are feeling? Or one word that will be your focus for the new year? What is one word that you might add to my list?

Wishing you a wonderful new year,

Jaime

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