The fact of the matter is: New Year’s Resolutions are out. Especially in the aftermath of the holidays, it can be hard to truly feel motivated to overhaul your lifestyle and habits.
Whether you’re setting goals on January 1 or another time, you need a simple tool that will make you feel energized and grounded, and resolutions have a tendency to make us feel… not that.
There are surely better ways to start a new year with fresh ideas — without making yourself feel bad.
Enter: Your word of the year.
A word of the year is a single word you choose that can guide you through your year and be a north star to come back to when you might feel like you’re faltering from your goals or values. It can be something that feels empowering, comforting, or even a little daring.
However, there are so many words out there that it can be hard to find the perfect one in all the nooks and crannies of your brain. We’re here to help.
Here is a curated list of words that we hope provide some gentle, compassionate direction and encouragement in this exciting new year.
Inspirational Word of the Year Ideas
- Abundance
- Acceptance
- Action
- Activism
- Adventure
- Alignment
- Ally
- Allyship
- Ambition
- Appreciation
- Aspiration
- Attitude
- Authentic
- Awareness
- Balance
- Be
- Beauty
- Believe
- Belong
- Bliss
- Bloom
- Boldness
- Boundaries
- Brave
- Bravery
- Breathe
- Bridge
- Bridge-building
- Build
- Care
- Celebrate
- Change
- Clarity
- Comfort
- Commit
- Community
- Compassion
- Compliment
- Compromise
- Confidence
- Connect
- Connection
- Conscious
- Considerate
- Consistency
- Contentment
- Contribute
- Courage
- Create
- Creativity
- Cultivate
- Curiosity
- Dare
- Daring
- Deliberate
- Delight
- Depth
- Determination
- Discipline
- Dream
- Education
- Elevate
- Embrace
- Emerge
- Empathy
- Empowerment
- Encourage
- Encouragement
- Energy
- Enlightenment
- Enough
- Enthusiasm
- Environment
- Equality
- Equilibrium
- Example
- Expansion
- Explore
- Faith
- Family
- Fearless
- Finish
- Flourish
- Flow
- Focus
- Forgive
- Forgiveness
- Forward
- Free
- Freedom
- Friendship
- Generosity
- Gentle
- Give
- Glorious
- Glow
- Good
- Good News
- Good Trouble
- Grace
- Gratitude
- Grounded
- Grow
- Growth
- Happiness
- Happy
- Harmony
- Healing
- Health
- Heart
- Here
- Hero
- Hobbies
- Honesty
- Hope
- Humble
- Humility
- Imagination
- Imagine
- Improve
- Increase
- Independence
- Inspiration
- Inspire
- Integrity
- Interdependence
- Journey
- Joy
- Justice
- Kindness
- Laugh
- Lead
- Leadership
- Learn
- Learning
- Less
- Light
- Listen
- Look for the Helpers
- Love
- Love Your Neighbor
- Loyalty
- Magic
- Meditate
- Mindful
- Mindfulness
- More
- Move
- Nature
- New
- Now
- Nurture
- Observe
- Open-mindedness
- Optimism
- Organize
- Partnership
- Passion
- Patience
- Pause
- Peace
- People
- Perseverance
- Persevere
- Persist
- Persistence
- Perspective
- Planet
- Play
- Playfulness
- Positive News
- Positivity
- Possibility
- Pray
- Present
- Priority
- Progress
- Prosper
- Purpose
- Recycle
- Reduce
- Reflect
- Reinvent
- Relationships
- Relax
- Renew
- Repair
- Represent
- Resilience
- Resolve
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Rest
- Reuse
- Rise
- Rizz
- Routine
- Seek
- Self
- Self-care
- Self-confidence
- Self-discipline
- Self-love
- Serenity
- Service
- Shift
- Shine
- Silliness
- Silly
- Simplicity
- Simplify
- Slow
- Smile
- Social Justice
- Soul
- Sparkle
- Spirit
- Start
- Stillness
- Strength
- Strive
- Success
- Sustainability
- Synergy
- Teach
- Therapy
- Thoughtful
- Thrive
- Today
- Transform
- Trust
- Truth
- Try
- Understanding
- Unity
- Unlimited
- Vision
- Vogue
- Volunteer
- Vulnerability
- Wake
- Walk
- Wellness
- Whole
- Wisdom
- Wish
- Wonder
- Work
- Worth
- Worthy
Plus, explore more positive words articles:
- Positive Words That Start with A
- Positive Words That Start with B
- Positive Words That Start with C
- Positive Words That Start with D
- Positive Words That Start with E
- Positive Words That Start with F
- Positive Words That Start with G
- Positive Words That Start with H
- Positive Words That Start with I
- Positive Words That Start with J
- Positive Words That Start with K
- Positive Words That Start with L
- Positive Words That Start with M
- Positive Words That Start with N
- Positive Words That Start with O
- Positive Words That Start with P
- Positive Words That Start with Q
- Positive Words That Start with R
- Positive Words That Start with S
- Positive Words That Start with T
- Positive Words That Start with U
- Positive Words That Start with V
- Positive Words That Start with W
- Positive Words That Start with X
- Positive Words That Start with Y
- Positive Words That Start with Z
- and…
- Positive Words To Describe Someone
- Positive Words From A-Z
- Word of the Month Ideas
P.S. If you do want to still practice a few New Year’s resolutions — we did put together a thoughtful guide of ideas. It’s worth checking out.
