Willa's Word for 2014

I had a really hard time deciding on my word/motto for the year.  So many choices, so many that I could go for.   I kept settling on one and then another, and discarding them because they didn't quite make that click.   Maybe I will write a post about all the ones I didn't settle on.  There were some good ones!

Finally I decided on:

One of my generation's mentors, Yoda, might not like that choice of term.   He famously said:

Yoda is correct at least in eternal terms.    Someday, I either will have done, or not.    Yet, in the present moment, trying is the first step to doing.    There is no "do" without "try".    So if I want to do things, it's good to try.

credit:  YesIKnowThat

And I like Chesterton's take on the topic -- remember?  

Trying -- amateur effort -- is an antidote to narrowness!    Trying doesn't have to be a hedge-your-bets kind of doing.  It can be a way of taking the first few steps without getting hemmed in with all the "what could happen"s.

I don't really like going past my comfort zone, so hopefully that word will remind me, when I have a choice between staying safe and going for something new and uncertain, that it's not an all or nothing choice, that most things have some built-in room for error, and that it's worth making an attempt.

That's how babies take their first step and how most adventures start.  Just ask Aidan!

Aidan taking his first steps about 11 years ago.