The Words That Found Me

At the beginning of this year, I chose three words to guide me: amplify, courage, and engage. I have done this for many years now, and it is interesting to see what they reveal versus what I thought they would be about.

I liked these words because they felt expansive. They suggested movement and felt like words that could push me beyond the boundaries I had created for myself. They also felt like growth from my 2025 words of Align, Community, and Hope. I had no idea how much they would ask of me.

Amplify

I thought amplify meant making my voice louder. In some ways, it did.

This has been a year of finding words for experiences that are difficult to explain. Much of that has come through caregiving. I have learned that families often see things the systems around them miss. We notice changes. We recognize patterns. We know when something isn’t right.

Writing about those experiences became one way to amplify them. But I have also learned that amplification isn’t always about speaking louder. Sometimes it means refusing to minimize what you know, saying, “This matters,” and allowing your own experience to take up some space.

Courage

Courage turned out to be much less glamorous than I expected. Sometimes courage looked like continuing when I was exhausted. Sometimes it meant having difficult conversations or asking questions I knew might make someone uncomfortable. Often, it meant standing my ground when my concerns were being negated.

There were also quieter forms of courage. Admitting that I didn’t have all the answers was one. Recognizing that caregiving had changed me was another. So was allowing myself to want things beyond caregiving without feeling guilty for wanting them.

I used to think courage meant being unafraid. I understand it differently now. Courage can mean being afraid, tired, uncertain, or overwhelmed and still taking the next step. It can also mean facing the anger that rages just below the surface, processing it, and refusing to internalize it.

Engage

This may be the word that surprised me most. Caregiving can make your world very small. Your attention becomes focused on medications, appointments, meals, schedules, safety, and the next problem that needs solving. At the same time, you are trying to make sure the person you are caring for feels loved and safe during a time when they are most vulnerable.

Engaging with life takes intention when so much of your energy goes toward someone else’s needs. This month, I have been finding my way back into parts of my life that had been waiting for me after spending the summer completely dedicated to caring for my mother-in-law.

Writing has been one of those places. So has my spiritual work. Returning to readings and reconnecting with people at Mythic Treasures is another. None of that means caregiving became less important. It means I remembered that I am still a whole person inside this life.

What I Know Now

When I chose these words, I thought I was setting intentions for the year. Instead, the year gave them back to me with deeper meanings.

Amplify taught me to use my voice. Courage taught me that strength doesn’t require certainty. Engage taught me that participation in my own life matters, even when life is complicated.

Maybe that is what these words were really asking of me. Not to become someone different or accomplish everything I imagined, but to stop making myself smaller. To speak when something needs to be said, keep moving when the path is difficult, and remain engaged with the life that is still mine.

I think many of us spend years adapting to what life asks of us. We become caregivers, parents, partners, professionals, helpers, and problem-solvers. Sometimes we become so good at those roles that we forget there is a person underneath them.

Perhaps the most important thing these three words have given me is permission to remember that person. She is still here, and she has something to say.