For the past few years, I’ve been choosing three words to guide my year instead of New Years resolutions. As much as I love goals (and I think the start of a new year can be a great time to reflect on your life), New Years resolutions often seem a little empty to me. I believe in making goals all year round! Not just January 1st.

So yes, I do still have a bunch of goals for 2018, and I try to pick one a month to focus on.

But at the beginning of the new year, I think about my life and chose three words to help guide my growth through the year. They can be qualities I want to embody or actions I want to do more of. This year, however, I decided just to chose one word. In the past when I’ve chosen three words, one always seems to surface as more important, anyways.

It’s always hard (if not impossible) to anticipate what the end of a year will look like and what my priorities will be judging from January 1. That’s the thing I love about choosing a word (or three) — there are no rules as to what they need to look like in my life. I can grow through whatever situations happen to pop up. A word to guide my year allows me to focus on who I want to become rather than specific goals that may become out of date. If I am becoming the right person, the right things will follow.

For 2014, I chose strength, release, and complex.
For 2015, I chose love, blossom, and fearless.
For 2016, I chose balance, fullness, and detachment.
For 2017, I chose dare, light, and adapt.

For 2018, I chose Pursue.

Pursue.
Knowledge.
New experiences.
Different perspectives.
People from different walks of life.
New opportunities.
Pursue.

I’m not quite sure what 2018 will look like. I’ll be coming back to the States — at some point. A new life to start all over again. But I don’t want to let uncertainty to stop me from pursuing my goals. Especially if I’m in Europe a little longer, I want to take advantage of the free time!

Pursue.

It’s an active verb. You can’t pursue something sitting on your hands or twiddling your thumbs. I want to be intentional. To set goals and actually achieve them. And check some things of my bucket list while I’m at it.

What areas do you want to grow in in 2018? I’d love to hear about your intentions for the new year!