My 2022 Word of the Year

Each year, I choose a word of the year. This is a work that I intentionally practice embodying for 365 days. And in this episode, I’m going to share with you what my 2022 word of the year is. So, let’s dive in.

Welcome to the School of Self-Image, where personal development meets style. Here’s your hostess, master life coach Tonya Leigh.

What is happening, my friends? Yes, my voice is different. I’ve been sick. I got COVID over the holidays and I have not left my house in almost 10 days, and I’m going stir crazy. Although, if I were to get COVID, this was the best time for it to happen.

I had already planned to take time off from work. I just thought I would be doing fun things, not staying at home in my PJs, sipping hot tea, and watching a ton of shows on Netflix. But this is what my life has been like for almost two weeks.

I’m definitely starting to feel better. I have a cough that just won’t go away, but the aches are gone and I’m feeling stronger than I was a week ago. So, I’m really grateful for that. I’m grateful for so many things, you all.

I am grateful for my family, my incredible friends. I’m grateful for this community. I’m grateful for my guy. Did you know I got engaged over the holidays? Yeah, I’m as shocked as you are. Didn’t see that coming. But it was such a huge yes in my body and I’m just so grateful to have found an incredible man as my life partner.

So yeah, that happened, and I got COVID. But here we are. It’s the beginning of a new year, and I don’t have a lot of voice to record a long podcast for you. In fact, the podcast that I was going to record, I’m going to save for a later date because I want to go deep into what it was I was going to talk to you about.

But for this podcast, I just wanted to share with you all my word of the year. I have recorded other podcasts about choosing a word of the year. I highly recommend that we all do it. Within the School of Self-Image this month, I’m taking all of the members through an in-depth process for not only choosing your word of the year, but giving them tools on how to apply it so that that word grows you and changes you and helps you reach your goals and to create your vision that you have for yourself.

I’ve been choosing a word of the year for over a decade. And when I look back over the last 10 years, I can definitely see the influence of having a word to guide me year after year. There’s something really powerful about telling your brain what you want to focus on being for an entire year.

For example, last year, I chose the word audacious. And having that at the forefront of my days, to guide my decisions, to guide how I thought, to guide where I lived and the choices that I made really grew me. I made some audacious decisions, and I ended up creating an audacious year as a result.

So, this year, I spent a lot of time in December really thinking about 2022 and what I wanted to experience more of, my goals, and who I needed to become in order to have those experiences and reach those goals. And I kept going back to a few days that I had in Aspen.

So, I was in Aspen in December, beginning of December with my daughter and her boyfriend. They were there for the first part of the trip. And then my guy and his daughter came out for the second half.

But when I was there the first half with my daughter and her boyfriend, they were off doing their own thing, and I had several days of just me, where I woke up and I eased into my day, and then I had periods of intense, focused work. And then I would work out, and then I would go to happy hour.

It was just perfect days. They felt so aligned. And I went to bed every night that week feeling so proud of myself. And I think that is the most glorious feeling to have; especially for those of us who knows what it feels like to be disappointed in ourselves. I spent a large part of my early adulthood being perpetually disappointed in myself.

So, to have that feeling of being proud of yourself is something that I recommend all of us create more of for ourselves. And so, when I was choosing my word of the year, I just kept thinking about those few days and how aligned I felt, how productive I felt, how relaxed I felt, how excited I felt, how healthy I felt.

And I was like, “Okay, I want more of that. I want to feel more of that in 2022.” So, the question became, who do I need to become to create more of that?

Several words came to mind when I was thinking about that question, but there was one in particular that stood out. And I know, if I make this my word of the year, which I am, it’s going to have extraordinary results in my life.

The word is, “Impressive.” I want to be an impressive woman. Now, my focus is not on impressing other people. I spent a large part of my early adulthood doing that and the results were not good because the person I wasn’t impressing was myself. I was making choices that were out of alignment with my values and who I really wanted to be, to gain the approval and admiration of other people. I never suggest that.

But what I am wanting to do is impress myself this year. I want to have those days that feel impressive. When I go to bed at night and I’m like, “Wow, look at what you did, look at what you accomplished.” And not just accomplished in a sense of what I create, but what I accomplished emotionally, mentally.

I don’t want to burn myself out this year. I want to have those days like I had in Aspen where I’m enjoying and I’m working hard. It’s like playing like a dog. Dogs know how to play. They’re playing hard, but they’re having the time of their life doing it. That’s how I want to feel this year.

I want to have time to take care of myself and work out and take care of my health. And I want to produce at a higher level than I’ve ever produced in my entire life. And I know doing that, I will impress myself.

And if other people find that impressive, great. I hope I can inspire other people. But that’s not the point. I want to impress myself. I am the person that has to lay down with me every single night and I have to get up with myself every single morning. I want to focus on that relationship and how I think about and feel about myself.

So, my word of the year for 2022 is, “Impressive.” I want to make decisions that are impressive. I want to show up in impressive ways. I want to surround myself with people who impress upon me what’s possible.

And so, I’m really excited to see how this word grows me, how I changes me, and what results it allows me to create when I focus every single day on being an impressive woman.

Now, I want to hear from you, what is your word of the year? Head over to Instagram, find me, @schoolofselfimage. Send me a DM or leave a comment under one of my posts and tell me what your word of the year is. Because I will be over here cheering you on. I’m really excited about what this year holds for each of us, and I can’t wait to see how our words of the year grow and evolve us in 2022. Have a great week, everyone.

Hey, before you go, don’t forget to sign up for my upcoming five-day live workshop called Live Like an Editor. You can head over to schoolofselfimage.com/workshop and I cannot wait to see you inside.