Word for the Year .:. Resilient

Flying in Spite of Everything, 2008

re-sil-ient   [ri-zil-yuhnt, -zil-ee-uhnt]   adjective 

1. springing back; rebounding.

2. returning to the original form or position after being bent, compressed, or stretched. 

3. recovering readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyant.

I went through quite a list of words this week, wrote some down, said a bunch out loud with my husband, laughed at more, and had fun with all of them. There were several, that I thought were going to be The One and then I got up this morning and was making coffee, looking out at the soft, misty rain, and it came to me: resilience, resilient.

This year I want to be all about making art, creating new connections, deepening the ones that exist, and opening up to brand new adventures, as well as resurrecting some of the old ones that still need a chance to be completed. 

I want this year to be about taking the chances I need to with my art and with my life, and going out a little further on the limb. Letting go a little more of my need for validation and affirmation from outside. Validation and kudos are awesome, but one can't live on them, they are not total nourishment, they will not feed the soul that creates, they will buoy, but the fire needs to be stoked from within.

Yeah, resilient:

airy

buoyant

effervescent

elastic

expansive

hardy

irrepressible

plastic

pliable

quick to recover

rebounding

rolling with punches

rubbery

snapping back

springy

stretchy

strong

supple

tough

volatile

OK, here comes 2009....