As we finish up the first week of the new year, my mind is flowing with ideas and plans for things I want to make happen. At times it feels overwhelming because there are so many possibilities, but I’m ready to take on this year with as much focus and clarity as possible (and a lot less endless scrolling – who’s with me?).
Part of my plan to stay focused comes from the word I’ve chosen to guide me through the year: connection. I want to use this word as motivation, inspiration, and clarity to help me make intentional and mindful decisions.
Connection is a topic that’s meaningful for many of us. Whether it’s connecting more deeply with yourself, making time for self-care, or simply connecting with others, wanting to feel connected in life seems to be an important focus for this year.
Today, I want to share what connection means to me and why I chose this word for 2018. If you want to create more meaningful connections in your life, I’m hoping this post will give you insight and inspiration to make it happen.
Why I Chose Connection as my Theme
Originally, my word for 2018 was community. To me, community means a group of people who come together, usually around one thing that they have in common. Of course, feeling a sense of community is so important and it’s something I want to work on this year.
However, I took a step back and thought about what made community appealing to me in the first place. It turns out that what I really want is to feel connected with people in a deep, meaningful way. I want to have those connections with people that make me go ‘yes, this person gets me!’.
When I look back on all of the meaningful things that have happened in 2017, they all involve other people. Sometimes I think I can get by in life just doing my own thing and never asking for help. Or being my typical introverted self and not making the effort to go out and meet up with people.
But really, connection is where the good stuff happens. Our relationships with others encourage growth, insight, and new ways of thinking.
This is also a time where I want to connect with myself more and do things help me stay grounded. This could be simple things like journaling for self-reflection and emotional processing, making more of a priority to exercise and eat well, and continuing to explore how I want to live my life and not get caught up with what other people are doing.
The Four Elements of Connection
Once I decided that connection was truly what I wanted to focus on this year, I figured I should define what connection means to me (otherwise it would just been an abstract term that I’d thrown out there). I broke down my word of the year into four different categories which essentially sum up what connection means to me. Here are those categories:
Community
The first word for me is community, which means feeling included and including others. It also means meeting new people, getting involved in groups both online and offline, and feeling like I can contribute to something that doesn’t revolve around me.
Conversation
I also chose the word conversation because I want to have meaningful, deep, beyond the surface level and inspiring new conversations this year. That means stepping out of my comfort zone and finding people who I can have those conversations with. I also want to make sure that I’m taking care of the relationships I already have in my life by staying in touch and being a good friend.
Compassion
Another element of connection is compassion. To me, compassion means being less judgmental, more open-minded, and more supportive and encouraging towards myself and others. Sometimes I judge others before I really know them, and I judge myself for my weaknesses, so I want to be kinder and more compassionate in this area of my life.
Contemplation
I also chose the word contemplation, which I’m using to mean reflecting often and finding time to be with myself. Whether that’s through journaling, reading, meditating, or taking long walks, I want to spend time with myself and not feel the need to jump on social media or distract myself with unnecessary tasks. I want to continue learning about myself, getting to know my strengths, and spending time doing what I love daily.
P.S. I didn’t mean for all of these words to start with the letter C, but I actually love that it turned out that way. #AlliterationNerd.
How To Feel Connected In Life
These are a few of the things that I am doing to connect more with myself and others this year. If you’re also on a journey to feel more connected to your purpose, to yourself, and to others, I encourage you to think about these four elements and how you can make them happen in your life too:
- Community: How can you build or find more community in your life?
- Conversation: How can you enhance communication and conversation?
- Compassion: How can you be more compassionate towards yourself and others?
- Contemplation: How can you make time for contemplation and quiet moments alone?
Watch the Video
What helps you feel connected in life?
Please leave a comment below and share what you are focusing on this year!
13 Responses
As a fellow introvert, Catherine, I also find it so interesting how important my connections are to me. Although most of my preference is to stay in my apartment, I always feel the urge to be commune with my closest friends. We were not meant to live life alone. Although solitude calls us at times. I believe that success coming in connecting, not stepping over or on.
P.S. I love the ‘w’s in this font.
Exactly, Crystal! As much as I think I can get by with no one’s help, it makes life much more enjoyable to have those people you can share your life with.
I love reading your insights on a subject that I strive to continually improve – myself and my character. Ive found myself distancing myself from negativity and has meant leaving some relationships behind. I have never been happier but weirdly have less of a.sense of community. I love my alone time and my husband & I spend a lot of time enjoying each other’s company.. Fortunately, I am in the midst of rekindling past strong friendships that had been put aside while those friends had their families (I’m not really keen on kids or being around them). These friends are the kind that it doesn’t matter how.much time has past, seeing them or speaking in the phone is as if no time had past. I hope that this will be my renewed sense of community. Thank you for the article.
Thank you for sharing, Graeme! I love those friendships where you can just be yourself and it doesn’t matter how much time has passed since you last spoke.
Thank you for your easy to understand ideas!! I will try some, if not all suggestions. I live 60 miles north of Seattle in Mount Vernon. I was born and raised here and would not live anywhere else. I am now retired and focus on learning new things and spending time with friends.
Hello Neighbor! Small world I must say!
I randomly came across your comment and notice Mount Vernon!! I’m from Sedro Woolley!
Hello, fellow Washingtonian! Thanks so much for reading, Nancy!
I really like your blog! Living mindfully is something we can all benefit from. I study sociology at Bristol University, UK, and plan on doing my masters in Health and Wellbeing. Your blog has definitely given me some ideas!
All the best,
Glenn
We sound so alike, Glenn! I studied sociology during undergrad and then got my master’s in Health & Wellness Coaching :)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for these words. It was exactly what I needed to read. Today. In this moment. I’ve felt very disconnected lately and needed a good encouraging reminder!
So glad this came at the right time for you, Gini!
I agree that connecting on a meaningful level with other people is an important part of life, but connecting in modern society can be extremely difficult. I think that we as human beings evolved in smaller communities where, although not everyone got along, most people had a sense of belonging. And interdependency force people to learn how to resolve conflicts constructively, and compromise.
These days, it’s too easy to abandon an interaction the minute someone says or does something that we don’t totally agree with, unless there is a genuine interdepency to motivate us to work through it. I also think that too many of us are too easily offended, but that is a topic for another time.
Now that most of our basic needs (food, shelter, etc.) are provided by people that we will never meet, it has become a different world. And for many of us, our ‘support systems’ are strangers that we pay for a service.
I recently saw an interview with the author of a new book called ‘Lost Connections’ which addresses the problem. Not sure if any real, practical solutions are offered, as I haven’t read it.
I guess ultimately it is up to each of us to get out of our ‘comfort zone’ (I prefer the term ‘familiar zone’, as when something is comfortable, why change it?) and try to make meaningful connections, but it is tougher since the societal mechanisms aren’t as prevalent as they may have been for our ancestors IMO.
While writing this, I thought of a line from the old Grateful Dead song “Truckin'”:
“Most of the cats that you meet on the streets speak of true love,
Most of the time they’re sittin’ and cryin’ at home.
One of these days they know they better get goin’
Out of the door and down on the streets all alone.”
And that was written fifty years ago.
Keep up the thought provoking blogs Catherine.
Hi Catherine, I am so thankful to have found this blog post! Your words brought me to tears. Every word and description for the word resonates with me and vocalizes my hopes and desires for this year exactly. I have so much clarity for the path I need to take from here.
Thank you again, Soul Sister! :)