#2014Unencumbered My Theme For The New Year

Best visual for the word unencumbered

Back in late 2011, when it was amply clear that my side gig, Relationships Matter Now, LLC was going to be my main gig, I decided I needed a theme (and hashtag) to power me through the next year. I landed on #2012Rocks.

I cannot tell you how helpful and fun it was to end certain social media posts with #2012Rocks. It was like the team huddle scream whenever I made progress or moved closer to profitability. Then for 2013, I was stumped.

Not just wanting a fun rallying cry, I had a rough time coming up with the theme that would carry me through the good and the challenging moments of year. Then on New Year's Eve 2012 in the basement of a friend's house, I was reminded that I needed to face the new year without fear and so #2013Fearless was born. That theme served me well,  even becoming part of my first TEDx talk that I entitled Care More, Fear Less in the spring.

Going into 2014, I was not as perplexed to find a theme. I knew my theme had to embody both tough and good times as the 2013 one had done. My theme also had to acknowledge the big hairy audacious mountain of goals and objectives I'd put on myself both personally and professionally for this new year.

So many great words and phrases crossed my mind the last two weeks of 2013 as I tried hone it on the theme and hashtag I count on all year long. Then it hit me.

Unencumbered.

#2014Unencumbered

It's a clunky word and surely makes for a long hashtag but I could not shake it once I started toying with it in my head. Dictionary.com defines unencumbered as:

1.  not impeded, slowed down, or retarded; free to move, advance, or go forward.

2.  having few or no burdens or obligations.

3.  not burdened or weighed down, as with bulky or heavy objects.

 

I love that definition, every word, especially under 1. "not impeded, slowed down ... free to move, advance and go forward." That's exactly what I needed going into this new year. Ironically, I'd already come up with my theme, although I had not shared it, when I met with my B.E.S.T. coach the week before the year ended. Ironic because she read from my energy that it was time for me to do something drastic with my diet and she challenged me to leave behind a limiting thought.  All this as I shared where/what I wanted for myself over the next 5 years. The diet is not about food, it disruption. It's about examining all areas of my life and looking for ways to move closer to what I want and deeply desire especially for my business but also on a personal level. 

 

It lined up perfectly. My theme #2014Unencumbered captures well what I need to reinforce in order to fulfill the objectives I've laid before myself for the new year and beyond. I will use my theme as a rally cry, a comfort,  a soul-nurturing motto, an extra push and an encouragement to all who are within ear shot. 

 

I am so excited to tackle life in 2014... unencumbered!