Your Word

Words & Photography
by Leah Pellegrini

We all carry certain words around in our back pockets like unspoken mini mantras: tiny terms that seem to pop across our minds with weighted frequency, that slip surreptitiously into our everyday speech, that we doodle into the corners of our planner pages. They're either words we're trying to escape or words we're aiming to embrace.

We all carry certain words around in our back pockets like unspoken mini mantras...

If you had to boil your current life down to one tiny bead, that's your word. Chances are, there's a specific way you consciously see it manifested in your day-to-day: the "hustle" in your ambitious career search, the "shame" as you give up on yet another diet, the "trust" as you settle into a relationship that feels real this time.

But chances are, if you look across every aspect of your life - work, leisure, family, fitness, romance, friendships, self-care - that same word is seeping into each and every one, in heaps of ways you hadn't even realized, both positive and negative. It's probably affecting the way you wear your hair. Your walking pace. Whether you make your bed every morning. If you have one square of dark chocolate for dessert, or none, or a full bar.

The good news is, if you don't like your word, you can change it. A million times.

The good news is, if you don't like your word, you can change it. A million times. Whenever you want. You can even make one up. Just make it a good one.