Hi all, and thanks Angie for sparking this awesome topic and practice! Sorry for the long post to follow

This year, my word will be EMBRACE and my colour will be PINK.

The word comes from the fact that my personal original sin is worry and doubt. I worry about the state of the world. I worry about my kids getting clipped by cars when they walk to get bubble teas. I worry about sinkholes and tsunamis (I live nowhere near the ocean). When I was a kid I worried that rabid skunks would get in the house and bite us. My sister jokes that she's never seen a more worried baby than in my baby photos - my little forehead was already wrinkled with concern.

And I doubt. Myself, our world, my choices. You've all seen the play out stylistically on the forum. Doubt, doubt, doubt.

And here's the thing - I don't want to change these things. I've fought my battles with anxiety and know how to manage it when it becomes disordered. But my worries are also a manifestation of my conscientiousness, and that is a gift. That is why I was the one with the cold pack in the first aid in my car when a kid gets hurt at the park. Adventurous people are why humans progress, but worry-warts are why we are still alive

My doubt is what keeps me balanced in my opinions. The world could do with a few more people who doubt their own beliefs a tad. Religion and politics certainly could!

But I don't want to stay stuck there either.

Enter the late Kobe Bryant's wonderful quote, which I stumbled on the other day: "We all have self-doubt. You don't deny it, but you also don't capitulate to it. You embrace it."

Yes.

This year is one to embrace. Embrace who I am, the good, the bad, the neurotic and the spinny. And it is the year to embrace others, in their messy, imperfect perfection too (and optimistically, maybe we'll be able to really embrace by the end of the year - because I miss hugs!)

And pink, because when I thought of my word, that's the colour that came to mind. So rather than doubting and worrying about it, I'll just embrace it!