Germinate is my one word for 2022.

Each year in December, I choose a word to honor, emphasize, and grow into/with for the upcoming year.

I didn’t make up the #MyOneWord challenge. But it’s so good.

In the past, I’ve run with:

• 2013: Life Unprocessed
• 2014: Unprocessed
• 2015: Healing Through Intention
• 2016: Less
• 2017: Unafraid
• 2018: Embrace Change
• 2019: Intention
• 2020: Growth (I think, no record of this.)
• 2021 Create

Anyways, this year I landed on Germinate.

Germinate

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So how did I come up with this word and why?

I discuss the background on the word for a podcast episode I recorded for the A Gutsy Girl podcast show. You can listen in here:

Anyways, in the episode I allude to this post on Can vs. Meant To.

I wrote the post way back when. I never thought it would have the kind of future impact it has proven to have.

But here we are.

In the post I state,

I won’t just let all the can’s go overnight. I’m not built like that. I am built for deep reflection, and for me, that’s probably the Seed Stage. If I have to sit here for a bit to really dig deep on the Can vs Meant To exercise in order to Germinate, then that’s what I’ll do.

Interestingly, I’ll have you know that I sat there (Seed Stage) since that post was written.

In other words, it’s been almost 4 years (the post was written in April of 2018).

But I’m ready for the next phase: germination.

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Plant Life Cycle

1. Seed Stage. This is where the plant life cycle starts. 
2. Germination. The time when the seed begins to develop; it happens after a period of dormancy. I love this part on germination, “It is important that the seed is planted in the right place at the right time in order for it to germinate.”
3. Growth. By producing their own food, plants begin to grow. “Some plants flower within days while it takes others months or even years.”
4. Reproduction. Inside the bud, a tiny but complete flower forms. This is the part where reproduction happens.
5. Pollination. This is the part of the cycle where the transfer of pollen to a stigma, ovule, flower, or plant to allow fertilization happens. Without pollinators, there would be no seeds or new plants in these plant species. 
6. Spreading seeds. “Seed spreading, or dispersal, is the final stage of the flower life cycle. Seeds are spread in many ways. Some, like dandelion seeds, are scattered by the wind. Others rely on animals-an example of this is the cockleburs that get stuck in the fur of animals and hitchhike to new locations. Water lilies depend on water to spread their seeds. Humans spread many seeds intentionally by planting gardens. Once the seeds fall to the ground, the plant life cycle starts all over again.”

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And here’s the interesting part of all this.

I continue to jumble the words germination and growth. In fact, I even did it on the podcast episode.

But they are not the same things.

Germination happens before growth. (See above.)

The encyclopedia states,

Germination occurs when the root protrudes from the seed coat. Root emergence is followed shortly by the emergence of the stem from the other end of the seed.

And the technical differentiation is as follows:

• Germinate, noun: The process of germinating; the beginning of vegetation or growth from a seed or spore; the first development of germs, either animal or vegetable.
• Growth, noun: An increase in size, number, value, or strength.

I’m kind of obsessed with the correlation between the life cycle of a plant and the life cycle of personal development.

Obviously this is clear by now.

But this obsession and these deeper thinking patterns are what landed me to My One Word for 2022.

Revisiting Create

Before moving onwards to 2022, I want to recap a little from the word I focused on in 2021: create.

As a refresher, you can read all about it HERE.

I truly embraced (and embodied) the word create in 2021.

1. Created, launched, and loved my podcast, A Gutsy Girl’s podcast. Check.
2. The book: A Gutsy Girl’s Bible. I’m 90% done with it. And by 90% I mean that I am personally finished writing it, but now it’s in the hands of design, editors, and all the other miscellaneous people that it takes to get a book finalized and published. It was a huge 2021 project that I am so excited to release! Check.
3. Physical location. The physical location didn’t end up looking like what I thought it would. It was better. Nonetheless, the physical location (Thyme on Main) was negotiated, purchased, and came to life in 2021 with a business partner I adore. Check.

Not to take away from those three things because they were HUGE; both from a financial and time standpoint. However, the creation didn’t stop there.

Here are 6 other main things I created in 2021:

1. Creative Business Tribe. I bought a new website, Creative Business Tribe, in 2021. I have begun to tinker with the site, making it mine (with the hopes of selling it in a year or two). It has taken a long time, but I have landed on an even more narrow niche for it. The website in 2022 will be devoted to entrepreneurs wanting to take their business to the next level utilizing Canva. Yes, that narrow.
2. Gut Healing for Beginner’s e-course. This is a huge e-course I have created and will be ready to launch in Q1 of 2022 sometime (click HERE to be notified of when). This is the course I’ve been dying to create because one of the top questions I’m asked is, “My stomach hurts. Where do I begin?” This e-course is going to answer that question.
3. A Gutsy Girl phone wallpapers. I’m obsessed with both creativity via digital design and inspiring people to take action. So, I created THESE phone wallpapers. And it was a blast!
4. YouTube channel. I had an old YouTube channel, but I decided to launch a branded one in 2021. And I spent a ton of time creating for the channel. 63 brand new videos were created for the channel in less than a year.
5. 12 Months of Whole Healing. I created a 12 months of whole healing challenge for 2021, and I’m planning to expand upon it moving forward.
6. Vision Board course. This is just an in-person course currently. I’m teaching it this week, actually, at Thyme on Main. However, once I put the course idea out into the world, people started contacting me to see if I would do private events around Vision Boards. And now that spark has been lit 🙂

Anyways, all of the above to say that I truly did create.

And now it’s time to germinate from the creations.

2022 My One Word: Germinate

So what does ‘to germinate’ look like from a My One Word standpoint?

Here you go:

1. Documenting it. I bought THESE in order to document what a year of germination looks like on a personal level. Each book contains 100 sheets / 200 pages. Therefore, I’m going to commit to writing one page per day. When 2022 ends, I’ll be just short of finishing the 2 notebooks.
2. Expand and germinate……upon everything from above. Duh, right? Seems like I shouldn’t even have to say this. The reason I do say it, though, is because I’m desiring to create in 2022 based only off of things created in 2021. In other words, I’m not looking to drum up then create any brand new products (or businesses). I’m simply looking to elevate all the good that’s already here.
3. Clean. I believe germination then growth cannot happen in a cluttered and chaotic environment. I’ve started watching all the minimalism documentaries, studying up on applying it to my own life. In the process, I’ve already begun getting rid of many things. I know for a fact that stress is heightened and quality of work lowers when everything is a mess. And thus, I will focus a ton of time and energy on clearing away clutter and getting rid of stuff that’s merely just “stuff.”
4. Personal. I stated it on Instagram this week, but here you go –> Things I’m giving up in the New Year: people who are holier than thou and the virtue signalists. And this, my friend, is totally budding for me. In fact, I created the foundation for it in 2021. I’ve been mostly passive (oftentimes passive-aggressive) for my entire life. I’m tired of living like that, and I refuse to any longer.

In all of the above, there is something I know for sure:

Germination to reach growth is not easy.

Remember from the above that the germination phase is the beginning from a seed; first development.

I’m not sure about you, but these beginnings, any beginnings, don’t come easy.

And here I am – ready for it.

Join the magic and chaos.

Xox,

SKH