Words to Live By

About five years ago, I read Debbie Macomber’s Thursdays at Eight. I confess it’s the only Debbie Macomber book I’ve read, despite my mom and aunt raving about and plying me with more of her books. They just keep getting shuffled in the to-be-read pile in my back room. And yet, something about Thursdays at Eight spoke to me.

The four women in the book were constants in each other’s lives. The last line of the blurb sums it up well. Their experiences become “opportunities for all of them to learn, to nurture, and to overcome life's obstacles--together.”

One of the ways the women supported each other was by choosing a word for the year. I loved this idea!  In the chaos of everyday life, it helps to have something to keep you centered. Having a word as a theme for my daily life resonated with me.

Each year since reading Thursdays at Eight, I’ve chosen words I hoped would encourage and enhance my creativity; words like choices, write, progress, accomplish, and focus. Sometimes they were simply written on a piece off paper and kept near my computer. Other times they were printed on index cards, and carried with me. The words were never far from my thoughts, though. Any time I thought about something writing related, the words were there reverberating in my brain, motivating me to write.

But words are just words by themselves. I had to choose to put them to work for me, to live by the words I had chosen in order for them to serve their purpose and allow me to improve my writing. Along the way, I learned my words often applied not just to my writing, but to my life in general.

I took advice from that cover blurb and decided to look upon each day as an opportunity to seize with both hands. My word for 2015 is persevere. I will need to make conscious choices in order to meet my writing and other goals. I also need to nurture my muse, so I plan to stop and smell the roses along the path of perseverance, and savor the journey.

What book(s) have you read that resonated strongly with you?  Please share.