Here we are again, a new year, an old tradition.

A few years ago I started a practice of choosing a theme song and a word to set my intention for the upcoming year. Kenny Rogers the Gambler was my 2018 theme song, 2019 Ciara’s Level Up, and 2020 was the story of OJ and my word for 2020 was SERVE.

Deciding on a song and the word is serious business. The word and song become a big part of my year. I listen to my theme song at least once a week (apologies to my neighbors). My song must pick me up when I am down, remind me of my goals for the year and the lyrics must provide answers to some of my most profound questions. I am terrible at arts and crafts, so vision boards don’t work for me. However, I have a great imagination so my theme song is the prompt to visualizing the outcomes I seek.

So what up for 2021?

Being sheltered in place gave me quiet time to reflect on my dreams, more specifically the promises I made to myself. I took inventory of the promises that I’ve kept and the ones that I have broken. Making this list of kept and broken dreams was not about beating myself up for what I had not accomplished. It was an exercise in reevaluating what I want. Taking note of which promises to fight for and which ones to let go of.

When I completed the list, I was surprised by how many dreams I had abandoned. Again, this was not to make myself feel badly about not getting these things done, but to ask myself why. What has kept you from doing this or that? Are you stuck? Where are you stuck? Why are you stuck?

I looked at the bucket of shattered dreams, pulled out the pieces where I imagined beauty and life and placed them gently in five new vessels; love, career, health, family and adventures.

2021 will be about dealing with my unfinished business, my abandoned dreams. My 2021 word is UNSTUCK and my theme song Awake At Last – UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

A note on this song. I had not heard of this group or this song until a two weeks ago. I still don’t know much about them. I  found the song on google when I settled on unfinished business as my theme for 202, and started researching the perfect song. The lyrics spoke to me,  but the beat didn’t resonate- I wanted rap or hip hop music. I searched  and searched  but kept coming back to this song, it felt right but seemed wrong. I stopped searching when  I figured out that, maybe what’s right for me in 2021 will come in an unfamiliar  package.