Liberation: (1) the act of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression; release. (2) freedom from limits on thought or behavior.
This has been my word of the year in 2024. I love all of these definitions, and the idea of being free…but I knew the work I would have to do to get more free would be challenging, and I knew that true liberation isn’t possible this side of heaven, but I was ready to try. I’m sharing this reflection in hopes to inspires you to:
- Choose a word of the year to guide you
- Reflect on the past year and what has been to prepare you for what will be
- Consider what you may need to be liberated from or to in your own life
My coach and I talked about what I might be liberated from and what I might be liberated to. What I wasn’t prepared for were the unexpected, extreme experiences of the year that would stretch me in ways I never imagined to lean into what this word had to teach me.
Early in 2024, we lost my mother-in-law who had suffered from chronic pain and illness for a good portion of her life. We lost her mom, Grandma Frey, a few months later. We also lost some friends unexpectedly. We went on an epic trip to Hawaii. My husband threw me an amazing surprise party that about made my heart explode. I suffered an injury the day before my 40th birthday and had to have ACL reconstruction. The coaching practice I founded back in 2019 celebrated 5 years, and our team soaked in all the goodness of the last few years building The Restoration Project. I released my first book, Take It All Apart: How to Live, Lead and Work with Intention which was more fulfilling and challenging than I could have anticipated.
In all these highs and lows, I’ll admit that liberation was hard to find. Upon reflection, it feels that God was giving me opportunities to be liberated from the constraints of this world and my physical self so I could be liberated to see and celebrate the Divine reality and my Divine self. He was gifting me to be liberated from worry and stress in all circumstances, liberated from the pressure and limiting beliefs so I could be liberated to trust, rest, believe, and enjoy. He was inviting me be liberated from my limited perspective and liberated to see something much deeper and grander.
Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.”
Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
These were verses that kept coming up for me. I have a long way to go, but I’m grateful for the refinement that God provided me through this word liberation.
Below is a list of specific things that came up for me to be liberated from and liberated to. Let’s start with what I feel more liberated from:
The desire for life to be comfortable and easy. I’m still not sure I’ve processed the depths of meaning from this year, but I no longer want for life to be steady and predictable. My heart, mind, and soul expanded this year in incredible ways and I grew in all aspects of being. That’s the kind of life I want to live.
Feeling disconnected from loved ones when they’ve passed on. I am blessed to know and love many people. The bigger your circle, the more you experience death, and the deeper you love, the harder those losses are. This year in a very real way I had felt experiences with my loved ones who have passed on. I can feel their presence and am blessed to know I can speak to them anytime. Although I miss them dearly in their physical presence, I am grateful for this gift!
Old patterns and ways of thinking that no longer serve me. This year I feel more free from the traditional definition for growth…doing more, acquiring more, setting higher goals and targets. Instead, I am considering my surroundings, my needs, my desires, and setting new goals accordingly…more, less or just plain different.
I feel free(er) from the need for external validation. This is a lifelong struggle for most of us, and I will keep leaning into the practices that allow me to be more free including: following my heart regardless of what others think, changing my expectations to line up with what is real and possible vs. what I want, healing old wounds by allowing myself to grieve when my needs weren’t/aren’t met then turning to God to meet those needs.
Consumption is a pattern that all of us in the US should be looking at in our own lives, and I continue to evaluate it in my own. A few shifts we made this year: donations or experiences instead of gifts, shopping second hand first and a “one-in-one-out” rule on clothing. We’ve taken some things off the table in order to simplify our lives. For example, we will stay in our house until we are ready to downsize and we will drive our cars until they break down. No newer or bigger. Being free of trying to “keep up with the Jones’s” has been so liberating in terms of time, money and energy!
And here are some of the things I’ve feel liberated to:
Choose what relationships I invest in and how I define friendship and family. Reciprocity is something my friend Jodi and I have been talking about a lot this year. She has shown me what next-level friendship can look and feel like. Through this experience I have realized how much time and energy I’m putting into relationships that are consistently not giving much back, and distracting and detracting from the relationships that are reciprocal. This has led me to rethink who I spend time with, how much energy I put into certain relationships, and even has me redefining core ideas like family and friendship.
Let my heart speak, tend to my own needs, and consider what my part is. For years I have been in a pattern of rescuing and protecting, and I’ve been working to heal the negative parts of that pattern with diligence. Since I was little, and often out of protection, I ignored my own needs or feelings in order to serve, rescue or protect others.
I stopped listening to my heart, and I’ve defied and betrayed myself over and over. I take responsibility for things that are not mine and try to fix things for others they don’t want or need fixed. This leaves me feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. When my needs are met by others but I’ve been working to meet theirs, I wind up resentful.
I did some big work in this area this year, and see clearly what I need to focus on in the coming year to continue to be liberated to be healthy, whole and ready to serve others with a grateful heart and generous spirit.
Keep reinventing myself. What has been, has been lovely and amazing…and I feel boxed in by what has been. I gave myself permission this year to redefine success, what a good life looks like for me, the role I want to play in work, relationships and more. I am also defying the notion that we are “pretty much who we are” and taking a good hard look at those parts of my personality that no longer serve me. I’m rethinking it all, willing to put it all on the table and maybe even let it all go, and am finding so much freedom, excitement and new life in changing things up and surprising myself.
Allow God to lead. This year was the first I actually found joy in surrendering control of outcomes. I still have work to do here, especially in the midst of busy seasons or situations I care deeply or feel passionately about, but it felt so liberating when I did surrender and allow God to lead. When I focus on the what and allow the how to emerge and evolve, there has been fun, surprise and joy. As a Type A controlling person who wants things to go a certain way, it’s my daily cross to lay down.
Each of us has unique gifts to offer the world and a unique call on our life. My One Word each year is one way I have shifted focus away from only setting goals about what I will do to setting intentions about who I will become. Many of us are mindlessly making our way through life, being shaped in ways we don’t understand. I hope this reflection gives you something to think about as you reflect on the year that has been and consider the year to come. We only get one life and I can only hope and pray that we each choose to live, lead, and work with intention!
Galatians 5:13: For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Grit, Gratitude, and Grace 