This Year’s Word Podcast Shownotes: Episode 0, Foreword

Imagine if a single word could change your life. This was a theory I wanted to test a few years ago when, instead of setting New Year’s resolutions, I selected a Word of the Year. My intention was to pick a word to signify the way I wanted to live my life throughout the year. 

My inaugural word was “Dare”. This word was significant as it was the first year I started working outside the home after having my children. Whilst I had been freelancing and working from home while my kids were babies, this new role was a bigger challenge. I would now be working three to four days a week from an office while my daughter was at preschool and my son at daycare.

In addition to my part-time day job, I also started teaching evening classes one night a week. Despite the number of changes that occurred in my life in short succession, I embraced them all confidently, in alignment with my word “dare”.

2021 marks my fifth Word of the Year, and I am so convinced this strategy works by setting up your year with intention and focus that I created this podcast to share my journey with you.

Hello and welcome to This Year’s Word Podcast, I’m your host, Courtney Symes. I’m an author, entrepreneur, mum, and wife. I can’t wait to share my Word of the Year experiences with you in this podcast series, where hopefully I’ll fulfil my ultimate dream – to motivate and inspire you to embark on your own Word of the Year journey.

The word I will be focusing on in this series is “Love”, which I believe is especially relevant at the moment given the current condition of our world. Every month I will explore a new aspect of love, such as self-love to love for our family and friends and love for nature. Each new episode will go live every Tuesday, so be sure to subscribe so you can join the journey.

In the first episode, The Journey Begins, I will unpack how I maximise my Word of the Year experience, as well as why I chose the word “Love” and why focusing on this word will change your life. I look forward to sharing this episode with you – see you there!