George’s Three Words – 2022 Edition

I tend to have a tougher time than Colleen in selecting three words for the year. You probably know that Colleen has been making her choices since 2015. My three words for 2021 were Focus, Peace and Harmony—and good thing Colleen has them here on her site since I forgot them already. (I thought I should have had “squirreling” as one of my words last year, and there’s your proof right there.) The previous year—which shall not be named—the three choices were Believe, Build and Inspire, and I’m not sure that did the world any good either.

So what of 2022? Well, after a particularly bad experience with a Neighborhood-Based Internet Forum, I thought that perhaps “No Social Media” was a good choice, and what do you know, that’s three words. (And “No” is a complete sentence.) However, I thought the better of that selection and decided to moderate it.

And thus we have the first word: “moderation.” This could cover a larger scope than just social media, although I’m certainly going to try to limit my time there and Step Away From The Keyboard instead of posting comments on news items that likely won’t be read anyway. No, moderation can also be thought of in terms of time: do I really want to spend that precious commodity in cyberspace instead of the real world? And furthermore, what do I really want to be doing right now? Can I, well, moderate that? And does that really require another chocolate chip cookie? Moderation is also more classically defined as being to neither extreme. We could all use a bit more of that right now. Being an example of this is not a bad idea.

The second word, “appreciation,” follows at least two paths from the first. Moderation means taking the time to appreciate what I have instead of chasing yet another shiny object (real or virtual). In a more traditional sense, it means appreciating people—and them appreciating me as well. When that doesn’t happen, see Word #1. That’s why I chose not the verb “appreciate” but the noun, by the way.

And since I’m into grammatical agreement, and I had two nouns, I needed another one, and the writer in me also wants it to end with the same “tion.” While confirming that “moderation” is indeed a noun I tripped over a word that gets me the “ion” anyway…

“Dimension.”

I’ll take it.

Part of being moderate is appreciating the many dimensions that the world has to offer. At the risk of squirreling yet again, there is a multi-dimensional quality to so much out there, not least myself and those around me. I say in my official biography for speaking engagements at spiritual venues that I am a father, husband, friend, writer, and model railroader… and I’m leaving things out. “Dimension” means, among other things, acknowledging this, and celebrating it. In moderation.