One Little Word 2013: Delight

at Two Writing Teachers!

My "one little word" for 2013 has been rattling around in my head for a couple of weeks now.  I forgot to think about it in December, so I wasn't ready at all when Jan. 1 rolled around.  Oh no!  Everyone else was posting about their words, and I had NO IDEA what mine was going to be!

I loved my word for last year: CONNECT. It was the perfect word to strive for personally and professionally. Even though I didn't reflect on it as much as I should have, and I never got around to making the cool visual reminders I wanted to make for myself, it was there.  It was in my head and in my heart, and it really helped me grow. I blogged more, I took more time to get to know my students, I got intentional about sharing more of myself with my students, and I tried harder to build relationships with other teachers in my buildings. I made more time for my parents and my in-laws, and I even made small improvements in keeping in touch with friends.  Although that was my worst area, I did see (and email/Facebook/text) some special friends more often.

Last week, I'd finally pretty much decided on my one little word for this year, but I really needed to write about something else instead. But that was ok, because it gave me another week to make sure I'd really found the right word for this year.

And I have.  This is the one!  So without further ado, my OLW for 2013:  DELIGHT.

I love that DELIGHT can be a noun and a verb, so it can adapt flexibly to whatever's going on in my life. (Hopefully, having 2 parts of speech will help it to pop into my head more often!)  I prefer that my OLW be a verb, because I feel like a verb calls me to action.  As a verb, Merriam-Webster.com defines DELIGHT in the following ways:

It's so important to recognize that DELIGHT can reflect giving joy in addition to receiving it, because I hope to do both!  I want to DELIGHT in my life, and I also want my life to DELIGHT others.

Here are the major ways that I hope DELIGHT fills my year:
1. I want to DELIGHT in all the wonderful gifts in my life, personally and professionally.  I want to find joy and satisfaction in each day.  I will try to focus on the small victories at school and revel in the many DELIGHTful moments that I'm lucky to have with my family and friends.
2. I want to DELIGHT my students.  I want our classroom to be filled with DELIGHT in learning, sharing stories, and growing together. If there is no joy and wonder in our learning, I'm doing something wrong!
3. I want to DELIGHT other people as well!  I want to treat each person in my life with kindness and strive to increase the joy in their day, whether it's a close friend or family member or a total stranger.
4. I want to DELIGHT in more reading and writing.  I've been trying hard to squeeze more of both into my life, and I hope to be more consistent with making time for both this year.
5. I want to DELIGHT in other things that are important to me, like band and scrapbooking/crafts.  That mysterious future where "I'll have more time..." is really never going to come, is it?  Even if it's only every once in a while, I need to make time for myself.

Even if it's not your OLW, I hope lots of DELIGHT finds its way into your life this year as well!