2023 Word of the Year: PLAY
In 2022, I catalyzed my growth and magnetism by indulging in more pleasure and PLAY. On new year’s eve, December 31st, 2021, while laying in bed dealing with awful booster shot symptoms, I managed to plan out that one thing I’ve been saying I wanted to do for years: snowboarding.
Societal, Financial and Mental Barriers I Dealt With
Since high school, snowboarding has been something I’ve wanted to try, but there were many barriers ahead of me.
There was no way that my single mother, who cared for four children with no steady income, was going to dish out funds for me to explore this activity. Let alone put her daughter at risk of injury without health insurance when she depended on me to care for my siblings while she worked. In fact, I was also helping my mom sew garments as an income source since I was seven.
Honestly, I didn’t even dare to ask. But since that itch wasn’t fulfilled, I spent many years after high school just wishing and wanting to go snowboarding one day.
By 25, I was a little more financially stable to go snowboarding, however, I ran into another barrier. This time, it was a limitation of my mind.
I kept waiting to score friends to go with me because I was too scared to go alone. Years passed and it never happened, even when I had enough money to afford this on my own. Looking back, I realized I was also sending myself the message that I didn’t deserve to spend money on myself in this leisurely way.
Finally, I worked myself up that one night to say that enough is enough. It’s time for me to do the damn thing and put my excuses to rest. This decision has been monumentally healing for me.
Inner Child Healing Through Snowboarding
When I started snowboarding, a lot of things changed around me. I became a magnet for many other things. Ultimately, I became the person I was searching for in other people.
Snowboarding brings me the joy, play and fun I was missing in my childhood and youth where most of my time was spent working under the table to provide for my family. This was transformative because it healed what my inner child was missing.
In the summer of 2022, the concept of pleasure and PLAY came back around. During a mediumship reading, my guides suggested I “throw the rulebook” out the window and facilitate my healing sessions the way I believed they should go.
What my sessions were like when I first offered healing services is completely different than what I do now. And that brings us to PLAY as my 2023 word of the year.
Things To Consider In Incorporating Play
Here’s how I look forward to this word showing up in my life throughout the year:
Healing as an expressive art form: an exploration of how play and pleasure is an experiential aspect of our healing.
Play as an avenue to intuitive living: how does play help us move with the natural cycles of life?
Creativity without control: allowing the activity of play and being in my playground to be a source of inspiration and insight.
What’s your 2023 word of the year? Check out my series on using a word of the year for intentional living.