The Word of the Year, 2019

Brain cancer is...

 ...ready for the year with our new word.

In lieu of making resolutions on New Years, we choose one word to serve as a compass, providing direction for how we'd like to live our lives in the coming year.  Our 2019 Word of the Year is perspective.

We seem to have hit a rhythm in selecting our words. First, we reflect on the lessons we've learned under the guidance of last year's word, and then we think about where those lessons can take us next.

Our journey from lean, to open, to story leads us to perspective.  (Links to past Word of the Year posts are below, if you like.)  Here's our journey to perspective:

• Our perspective has changed. With Darrell's GBM diagnosis, our mental horizon for lifespan changed from an imagined point way off in the distance to a point quite possibly much closer. With 34 months between us and the diagnosis, the horizon has been shifting again for us.  Managing a moving horizon has required emotional flexibility made possible only through  sustained effort.  (We know, that's a great problem to have!  Work! Work! Work!) 

• We now expect our perspective to change.This year, through frequent reflection on Darrell's cancer adventure, we have learned that how the world looks today is different from how it looked in the early days after diagnosis.  When we look back over early entries in this nearly three-year-old blog, we're happy for the record of our experience.  We read entries wherein we share feelings that we no longer remember having. Realizing that our emotions change helps us, first, to be mindful of them in the present, and, second, to take comfort in their impermanence.  We wonder what tomorrow will bring.

• We seek to continue to sharpen our perspective of life's priorities.  We hope that our word perspective will aid us in continuing to set life's small issues within the context of the long run and our big picture understanding of how we want to to live life.

• We hope to continue to see the world through others' perspectives. Past words open and story have helped us seek out the experiences of others.  We want the word perspective to aid us in understanding and appreciating the world from others' points of view.

In sum, here's what we're hoping to learn with our Word of the Year, 2019.

Perspective:

• Get it.
• Keep it.
• Change it.

Happy New Year, Team D!  Here's to perspective! And to all your hopes for what the year can become!

Past Word of the Year Posts

• 2016: Lean
• 2017:  Open
• 2018:  Story