89 Word of Year Ideas-Improve Your Life, One Word at a Time!

Word of the Year

Pick a word (or phrase) for yourself for a year- a trait or habit that you want to include in your life from now on. I will show you how word of year changed my life. How you can choose word of year, and how it can transform your life. I have also included a word of year ideas list at the end of this blogpost.

Why Word of Year?

I was introduced to the "Word of the Year" idea by JeddahMom in 2020. At that time, I had travelled back from Pakistan and started my blog. Everything in my life was a chaos. Due to my abandoned blogs history, I was not sure if I was going to stick to my blog for long. So, I selected "Perseverance" as my word of year 2020.

Although it was meant to be for blogging only, later it became part of my daily life. You can read here why I started this blog.

How Word of Year Changed My Life!

Coming back from Pakistan was not easy for us that time. For the first time in 7 years, I cried at airport. I could not stop my tears when my mother and family came to bade us farewell. It was extremely hard for us to leave our mothers there. My mother consoled me. How strong she is masha Allah!

When we returned to Jeddah, we discovered about our baby's health condition. Her multiple allergies test came out positive. She was scratching, crying and clinging to me all the time. Read about my 3rd baby's birth story here.

 Then came lockdown! Initially it was a relief from hectic school routine. Since my baby had born, I did not get any time to relax and focus on my 2 older children. Here is a post on how we survived the first few weeks of lockdown.

But I had a lot of mum guilt. I was not teaching my kids anything. Baby was crying non-stop. Being home-bound was proving to be hard. Two of my friends left Jeddah. I had no where to go to. No where to find the solace in. I have not been to Makkah since Hajj in 2018.

Everything came crashing down on me. The thing that kept me together was "Perseverance". Yes! I kept recalling this word. Soon it started popping in books that I was reading and in shows that I was watching.

According to merriam-webster dictionary, 

Definition of perseverance: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition: the action or condition or an instance of persevering: STEADFASTNESS.

photo credit: craftery

I got this tumbler customized by Izzah of Craftery. I always forget to take water with me outside. As I was visiting hospital a lot with my baby, this tumbler served two purposes-for taking water with me and to remind me about perseverance.

In lockdown I kept it near to my workplace and on bedside when I was nursing the baby. Whenever I was going through tough times, or when I wanted to give up, I kept saying to myself “perseverance.”

Perseverance in Quran

"Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere." (2:153)

Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.
Qur'an 94:5-6

After half year of struggles, came relief for me too. I was one of 18 finalists in Ayeina Masjid contest 2020. You can see my entry here.

A member of PMJF recommended me for one of the Creative People in KSA. My machine embroidery business started to become my identity. I was more confident of my abilities. 

I found lovely mom-friends. I got a blogging mentor. My relationship with my children got better. My baby started to show some signs of improvement masha Allah. Perseverance in all aspects of my life started to pay off.

I was surprised to see how it was improving my life. One thought! One word! It can really make a difference! At least for me, it did!

My Word of Year 2021

When 2021 rolled on, I was eager to pick my word of the year. I thought long and hard. There were many things that I wanted in my life! But what would be the key this year!

In 2020, I came across Raising Young Scholars or RYS. It is an Islamic Parenting and Home-educating academy. They offer different courses, one of which is BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED. It is transformational personal growth course for all Muslim women. 

One of my new friends introduced me to this course. It was months before I finally decided to do it. This course brought a major shift in my mindset regarding motherhood, educating children and personal development. I learned new things and my parenting style changed for better.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

This course is designed for Muslim moms. Many of us think we cannot do anything. We are stuck in a situation that is unchangeable and out of our control. This course defies that. It will teach you how you can do whatever you want in whatever circumstances you are facing.

If you really, really want it and put work into it, you can do it! It is designed by working mum of 6 home-schooled children. Can you still think it is impossible? Difficult? Maybe, but not impossible! You will learn how to work on yourself to be a better mother, person, and educator. You can bloom into a person you always wanted to be.

More about RYS

Whenever I was facing any issue, their weekly podcasts and freebies helped me solve them. From there, I selected my word for 2021. 

And that is "Embrace"! This year, I am going to embrace myself with all my strengths and weaknesses. I am going to embrace my children, at their best and worst, my relationship with my husband, from highest to lowest. I will also embrace the positive and negatives of my work life. I will learn, unlearn and relearn. 

I will embrace the change and the boring, new friendships, habits, and ideas. I may panic for a moment, but I will bounce back. I will not give up, in shaa Allah!

Again, I got myself a physical reminder. But this time a travel mug.

photo credit: craftery

Word of Year Ideas List

Now I want to help you too! I want YOU to bring change in your life that you always wanted! Choose a word for a year. We are 2 months into 2021 but still there is plenty of time. You can do it! I have compiled a list of Power Words and phrases for Muslim women.

How to Choose Word of Year?

I have included 89 words and phrases in my word of year ideas list. We all know we are not perfect human beings. Everyone of us is lacking different traits and qualities. When we try to work on ourselves, we cannot adopt everything in one go. It is only possible a little at a time. Get it here!

You can choose word of year for your personal life, work life or for all aspects of life. A year seems long but trust me, after few months, you will be repeating this word to yourself without thinking in shaa Allah. By then it would have become part of your life. By next year, you will be ready to take on a new trait in shaa Allah.

Slow change is better than no change, don’t you agree?

First, you will need to make your intention or niyyah. We only get what we intend for. So set your intentions correctly. Go through the list and see what traits you are missing. Circle those words. If you cannot find what you are looking for, make a list of your own. Now ponder upon all chosen words. Is there any trait that you really, really wish you had?

For example, if your house is always a mess, and you are overwhelmed, choose “declutter”. If you are saying No to your kids all the time, even their requests are reasonable, start saying “yes”. If you are always saying “yes” to other people’s requests and your family life is suffering because of that, learn to “say no”.

If you have everything in your life and you still feel depressed, include “gratitude” in your daily life. If you are falling behind on your duties, choose “routines”. If you are struggling with your relationship with Allah, make “Dua”. If you want to lose weight, select “exercise.”

Start working on your chosen trait for few minutes daily. Start from zero. Take baby steps. You do not need to exercise for an hour on first day. You do not need to recite whole dua book. Just walk for 5 minutes around the house. Read the first dua from a book after each Salah.

After some time, you will crave for more. Then increase the intensity but do it daily. You may want to give up some day. If that day comes, recall your intention-why you started this? What difference you wanted in your life? And look how far you have come!

A time will come where you will realize sticking to your word of year makes you feel better about yourself. You will be able to see results. You have calmed down the chaos, there is some rhythm in your life. Your kids are happy with you. Even if you have not lost any weight, your energy level has improved, you are not craving junk food.

You will want to do more of it, in shaa Allah.

Write your word somewhere you can see on daily basis. You can put it on your fridge or mirror as a reminder. You can tag me on Instagram or Facebook and show me what you came up with. Please share this post with your family and friends who you think will benefit from adopting Word of Year in their lives.

 All you have to do is to put a little effort into it. You just need to live by your word for a year. It will turn your negative energy into positive. What do you have to lose? Nothing, I am sure. You only have to gain. You saw how word of year improved my life. How it gave me strength when I had none. How word of year changed me for better. It can do the same for you too :)

Happy Growing!

Rabeea

 💖🎉