12.31.24 // 2025 Word of the Year

Perspective.
.
Starting in 2015, @nick_kleiner and I have picked a “word of the year” towards the end of each December.
.
It started on a snowy morning in Washington, D.C., with both of us huddled over our coffees wondering what the next year would bring, and discussing the restrictive nature of “New Year’s resolutions”.
.
On that morning, we decided to choose words instead of resolutions because we didn’t want rigid goals, we didn’t want numbers, and we didn’t want to create unhealthy expectations in the coming months.
.
The rules: the word could be anything, but it stays throughout the year. It could be inspirational, grounding, or motivational. It could be a noun, a verb, or an adjective. There were no limits.
.
2016, the year of courage.
2017, there wasn’t a word.
2018, the year of truth.
2019, the year of growth.
2020, the year of freedom.
2021, the year of trust.
2022, the year of bold.
2023, the year of surrender.
2024, the year of audacity.
.
And 2025?
.
2025 is the year of prespective. It is a year to challenge myself to think bigger, pry my heart and mind open, and hold space for differences in opinions, views, feelings, and mentalities.
.
I want to embolden myself to stay curious and encourage myself to change and grow by letting go of the closed-fist mentality of "who I am" to create more opportunities to "become" even more.
.
Perspective feels like the antithesis of control, of clinging, of misunderstanding, of creating walls. Perspective feels like a salve for the soul in a world where being misunderstood is easy as we are limited to language that can hardly capture the emotions and soulful feelings that make being human so complex.
.
I want a vast and beautifully wide perspective. I crave to be called to see more. I yearn to learn more and judge less (myself included in that practice).
.
2025, I’m ready for you. I’m ready for perspective.