Ah, 2012. Memorable? Yes. Fun? Sometimes. Challenging? Always. On balance, though, I’m really not sad to see it go.

2012 was great but exhausting.

A friend of mine chooses a word at the beginning of each new year that she hopes will encapsulate the year to come. That sounded like an interesting idea to me, so I tried it at the beginning of 2012. I chose the word perspective, thinking that was something I was going to need when my book came out and reviews started coming in. It was an aspirational word in some ways, a recognition of how hard it was going to be to keep my feet on the ground, of the effort I would have to exert to keep from getting overwhelmed by everything.

It turned out that perspective was important, but not exactly as I expected. I thought perspective was something I already possessed, something I had to maintain, but that was only partly true. Perspective is also something to be gained, a broadening of vision and a new understanding. That’s sometimes a painful and harrowing process, however worthwhile.

What should this year’s word be? I wanted something that included ideas of healing and restoration, as well as openness and optimism. I need all those things right now, but that’s a lot of weight to put on a single word.

Unless the word is art. I believe that’s my word for 2013. Let’s see how it goes.

And happy new year to you and yours!