Two days before New Years I saw a reel on Instagram that flipped quickly through a bunch of words. You were to take a screenshot and let word you land on be your fortune for 2025. I got mine (“connection”) and thought, “What is this baloney?” For some reason, the word didn’t connect with me and I decided to make my own reel. I put an IG story asking people for their favorite words. I collected a handful, then started writing affirmations for each. I collected some photos (many mine, several borrowed), put them in a video and set them to music. This is how it came out:
It was a lot of fun to make and it was extremely gratifying to see many people say their words resonated with recent events or thoughts in their lives. I say gratifying because although I wrote these quickly, stream of consciousness style, in the span of a single evening, each word carried a special intention. I didn’t want these to just be jokes (although GRATEFUL and SMORGASBORD lean heavily in that direction), I wanted them to have the potential of inspiring people in some way.
For those of you who are stumped by your word, I’m posting each slide below so you can read and digest them at your leisure. I’m including each word’s “too long, didn’t read” summary and, where significant, my thoughts behind the writing.
Happy New Year!
Anachronism
TLDR; use your hands, make something
Lunch
TLDR; get outside, especially if you work at home
Hullabaloo
TLDR; engage in quiet resistance
Tchotchke
TLDR; identify your emotions to help process them
Mashed Potatoes
TLDR; embrace chaos
Milieu
TLDR; choose your friends wisely, be a good friend
Cavalcade
TLDR; research before panicking
Spumoni
TLDR; you can still find joy in the memory of lost things
Crisp
TLDR; don’t worry what others think of you
note: this comes from a true story. I posted a video of me eating celery over on TikTok. I was test running an idea where I’d eat celery and then stitch it to a video of a rhinoceros eating celery (in celebration of Big Rhinoceros, Little Rhinoceros). Someone commented “I peed in your celery” and although I seldom care about comments on social media, this one really got to me!
Cacophony
TLDR; listen to your heart/trust your intuition
Grateful
TLDR; be grateful, even for the worst pun you ever read
Shampoo
TLDR; focus on that which is essential, let the rest wash away
Smorgasbord
TLDR; branch out of your comfort zone
Drawer
TLDR; practice introspection, allow yourself the opportunity of discovery
Aubergine
TLDR; be yourself!
Googly Eyes
TLDR; it’s never too late
Spelunk
TLDR; look for the light, hope
Sit-Spot
TLDR; you are not separate from nature, respect that
Vivacious
TLDR; live boldly
Sussuration
TLDR; spend more time in contemplation, less in reaction (also, get off social media)
Ratty Sneakers
TLDR; practice empathy
Discombobulate
TLDR; don’t try to reason with people who argue in bad faith
Love
TLDR; love thy neighbor
Sumfin’ Gleebus
TLDR; your future is yours
note: these were submitted separately but I was inspired to merge them together into one entry
Preposterous
TLDR; be curious
note: there’s a bigger story behind this one, but I’m going to save it for another day.
Listening to: