Writing Momentum: One Word 2025 💡

For eight months during 2024, I worked with an amazing therapist who taught be about Internal Family Systems, or Parts Work. During our sessions, she would often ask me what made my soul light up. This question haunted me for most of the year, and as the weeks waned on I wrestled with motivation, purpose, and meaning.

As December dawned, I discovered the Japanese word, ikigai. This concept caused me pause. You see, I've battled professional restlessness since I left the classroom in 2017. As I've hustled to learn new roles and responsibilities within the education system, I've yet to find a place where I belong. Ikigai eludes me.

So like every year before, I patiently waited for my word to arrive. During a recent conference, the keynote speaker, Anthony Mohammad, asked the audience to think about our "Soul Stories". He defined a soul story as the pursuit of your moral good in order to create good in others. He challenged us to reconsider the the noble, ethical, and inspiring reasons we chose this profession. When he asked, "How can you relight your pilot light?" I immediately pictured the old rusty furnace in my childhood home. Thoughts of my grouchy grandad flooded my mind. I could see him squatting down on the living room floor and cussing up a storm as he tried to ignite the flame. My word had arrived!

Multiple meaning words are my favorite, and this one seems to fit just right. In 2025, I'm hopeful the universe sheds some light on my next steps professionally. As I continue to unburden the parts of me that need integrated and healed, I am also hungry to feel a little lighter mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Per the usual, I would like to lighten the scale and move more.

Back in 1993 my big sister was part of a youth choir at her church. I can vividly remember them singing this song, later popularized by Chris Rice. She and her peers swayed on the stage as the votives in their hands flickered and they belted out the words, "Take your candle, and go light the world." I've come to understand that we cannot fully appreciate light until we've tangled with darkness. In order to let the light in, we must be willing to reckon with the shadows of our past.

My 2025 Anthem

In a world full of hate, be a light
When you do somebody wrong, make it right
Oh, don't hide in the dark, you were born to shine
In a world full of hate, be a light