{one little word 2015}

As the new year approaches, it is time to choose my "one little word" for 2015. This will be my fifth year doing OLW, which is kind of hard to believe. 

The idea behind "one little word" is you choose a word to guide you through the upcoming year...to be your compass as you navigate life during the next 365 days. 

Last year I purchased a necklace from Lisa Leonard with my word, become, and wearing it really helped to make that word a part of my daily life. 

Here are my past four words...

2011 
action

2012 
commit

2013
grow

2014
become

In 2013 I chose the word grow, not knowing what was in store for me. In that blog post I said:

"I want to use the talents that God instilled in me. And right now I feel like I'm not doing that to the level He wants me to be." 

Wow. Reading that gives me major chills considering all that happened that year, and since. My word literally took form and my dream began to take shape that spring when I started drawing again.  

The past two years have taken such a huge shift for me. I've become an artist. A working, paid, professional artist. And that has been huge. But I still have so much work to do, and I'm excited but also a bit daunted by that challenge. 

This past year, become was all about allowing myself to become an artist. I signed a contract with an art licensing company and recently received news that my art was purchased by a major retail store {more to come on that hopefully very soon!}. 

If I can toot my own horn and pardon my French, but I used that sh*t out of that word. I'm pretty darn proud of myself. 

And now for 2015. I could recycle the word grow because there is so much I want to learn and do as an artist. Like I said above, along with excitement there is also a healthy dose of fear that comes along for the ride. I'm the kind of person that wants to be good at something without much practice. I'm getting better with that, but I still procrastinate trying new things because I'm worried I will suck at them, in all honesty. And I don't want to do that anymore. 

I know that if I want to turn my art into a full time profession I simply can't do that. I have to be open to trying new things, regardless of the outcome.

I need to be willing to take a few chances.

So my word for 2015 is...

 

I chose leap because I want to focus on the adventure of all of this, and not on the fear or anxiety, because, let's face it...I'm one anxious lady most of the time. 

And anxiety doesn't get you anywhere but curled up in your pj's eating ice cream on the sofa watching Project Runway. {Not that there's anything wrong with that...but I could be doodling instead of eating ice cream.} 

I don't know what all of the leaps will be, but I'm doing a few of them already. I'm taking courses on handlettering to improve my technique. I'm contacting art licensing companies about selling my work. I'm selling my art locally. 

So here's to a year full of leaps of all sorts, but mostly of the artistic kind.

If you have a one little word for 2015 I'd love to hear about it in the comments! I'd also love to doodle your word for you!

XO,