My Word of the Year for 2018 #WOTY

2017 exhausted me. That really is as simple as I can put it. 

I found myself carrying the weight of the world on my back. I was constantly grinding my teeth as I read article after article of outright hatred in the media. Yes, these events did not concern me and happened hundreds of miles away but the injustice rankled. 

In my personal life too, it was a year that just had moments of loss, resignation and stress all around with a strain of anger pushing at the edges every day. I was actually winning national contests towards the end but still the anger below the surface refused to die down. That, more than anything else, exhausted me mentally, I realize. Carrying so much anger and outrage was tiring me down even as I lay still in my bed. 

I cannot do that much longer without losing a key essence of what was I once was.

My word of the year is Serenity. It is something I severely lacked last year. But that was 2017, or as I chose to call it, the Year of Trump where logic had no value and you watched in disbelief as events unfolded all around you. 

My choice of the word Serenity comes from the famous Reinhold Niebuhr Serenity prayer that I've seen stuck to our door as a child in Dubai and even growing up in India. You know it well. 

I've lacked the wisdom for awhile now and it has critically affected my life in some aspects to the point where even though I've needed to give up on life-long dreams and ambitions, I've been unable to do so. Accepting that fact has been hard. Serenity is the one thing that has been lacking in recent years in my life. And I need to actively inject it in my life. 

Fellow bloggers too have joined in to talk about the words they want their 2018 to be defined by. From Create Peacefully and Savour to Consistent and Thankfulness, it is a world of positivity people have chosen. You can see them the full list here. 

What about you? What word do you want 2018 to define you by?