Confidently Beautiful with Ciera
Confidently Beautiful with Ciera
Word of the Year: A Reflection and How I Choose One
Picture the chaos of life suddenly becoming a harmonious melody through one simple change: the power of a single, intentional word. That’s the promise of our latest episode of Confidently Beautiful, where I share my longstanding tradition of choosing a "word of the year" to guide my journey. For 2025, my guiding star is "systems," a choice that might seem mundane but is actually a beacon for creating effective routines amidst life's beautiful chaos. Reflecting back, my 2024 was shaped by the word "simplify," which helped me navigate monumental life changes like the arrival of a new baby and relocating. Together, we explore the transformative potential of selecting a personal word that resonates with your unique path, with suggestions like growth, flourish, and acceptance to inspire your journey.
Building on this foundation of intentional living, the episode also unravels a blueprint for fostering deep connections with the people who matter most. Inspired by Mel Robbins’ thoughtful approach to nurturing family bonds, I walk you through my plan for a year filled with meaningful interactions. From penciling in monthly activities with loved ones to surprising faraway relatives with digital gifts, these intentional strategies are designed to make cherished moments an integral part of life rather than mere fleeting wishes. Tune in to uncover how embracing these connection systems can enrich your relationships and amplify the joy in everyday life.
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you're listening to confidently beautiful with Ciera a podcast to help you stay confidently beautiful, because we all have confidence inside us. We just need to bring it out and I'm here to show you how body image, dreams, parenting, style, personality and more here we cover it all. Get ready to stay confidently beautiful. Do you have an inspiring story of confidence? Whether you've overcome a limitation, rediscovered yourself after a loss, or built confidence through something as simple yet super powerful as gardening, I want to hear from you, or maybe you know someone whose journey would inspire others. I'm looking for real, relatable stories to feature on the Confidently Beautiful podcast. Let's celebrate the beauty of confidence in all its forms. Email me at confidentlybeautifulwithsierra at gmailcom and let's chat about sharing your story with my incredible community. I can't wait to hear from you.
Ciera:2025 is already upon us. This is the first episode of 2025. I cannot even believe that we are already here. I feel like we were just bringing in 2024 and here we are with a whole new year, a year of memories behind us. A year of trials, a year of hard things, a year of amazing things. A year of incredible things. It's just wild how fast time seems to be going, but here we are. It's a brand new year and I am so excited to be back here with the very first episode of the year and to be sharing a little bit something about what I like to do.
Ciera:Every year, everyone has different feelings about New Year's resolutions or these New Year's dreams or hopes or whatever it is. I know a lot of people that like to just do it in the springtime because they feel like that's when they really come alive, and I think that's beautiful. Just do it in the springtime because they feel like that's when they really come alive, and I think that's beautiful. I don't think that you need to wait for a certain time of the year to have a new beginning, but I do think that there is something really inspiring and almost like addictively catching about the new year. Like you just are drawn to it and there's just this feeling that, for me and my personality, I just really really do well with a fresh start in a new year. I wish it was a little bit warmer, but I will take what I can get and I will take this new perspective of feeling of newness, excitement and awakening that a brand new year brings. I wanted to start my year by sharing a little something that I do at the beginning of every year.
Ciera:Every year, I choose a word of the year and every year it's a little different and I start thinking about it. Usually in about beginning of December, I start thinking what's my word going to be for the next year? And it usually will just come to me in, either like through an event or and it will just come into my heart. It will come into my mind and I will just feel like, yes, this is supposed to be my word for the year. My word for 2025 is not a glamorous word. It is nothing that you would think that like sounds like really beautiful and inspiring, like a commitment or drive or anything like that. No, my word for 2025 is systems. Now, hear me out, this is going to sound like the most boring word and you're going to be like Sierra. Really Systems, like that is not a glamorous word, that is not something that sounds like exciting, but this is going to be so needed for me right now in my life, and so I am going to share a little bit about how I came to this, to feel this word and why I chose this word, and a little bit about what I plan to do with this word and the ride that I am going to take you on with me. Your word does not need to be systems to be able to follow along and hopefully get a little inspiration and nuggets. Watch me fail, watch me succeed as I try and figure out systems in all areas of my life.
Ciera:Top words for the year. If you need an idea of what your word should be, growth is a popular one. Emphasizing personal development, deepening your roots, just growing as a person. This can go in any category in your life. Flourish I love that word. That's beautiful, like I mean. If you don't want like a word that's not as glamorous and not as pretty as my word systems, then pick a word like flourish that just sounds beautiful, like aiming to thrive oh, thrive, that would be another good word. Or break through your challenges. Acceptance could be a really good word. There's so many things in life that we could just accept. Reclaim. Maybe you had a really really hard 2024, and so maybe 2025 you're going to reclaim and take back joy or passion or excitement whatever it is that you need to take back in your life.
Ciera:Another word that I think is really a cool one would be like choose. So maybe you think that, as you have decisions in your life, okay, I'm going to choose, and maybe you have that. That gives yourself like a little bit more power to make more intentional decisions. Intentional is a word that I've used in the past, so, just like that power to choose, that could be a really good word. So those are some ideas To share a little bit about why I chose the word systems for 2025,. I first want to share what my word was for 2024 and do a little reflection with you on why I chose that word and how that word played out in the year and how that led me to choosing this new word, of systems.
Ciera:My word for 2024 was simplify. Now you could look at what I did in 2024 and be like you did not simplify your life, but I really actually did. I mean, yes, I had a baby. That's not simplifying your life, that, but I really actually did. I mean, yes, I had a baby. That's not simplifying your life, that's adding a little bit more chaos. We did end up buying a house and moving and selling our other house. That is definitely not simplifying. So I mean you could look at it from the outside and being like that is not simplifying, but actually for me, in all of those steps to make those decisions then it brought more simplicity into certain areas of my life and more peace into the future, made the future more simple.
Ciera:At the beginning of 2024, I mean, obviously I already knew I was pregnant when it was the end of 2023 and I was thinking of this new word. So I knew, I knew a baby was going to be coming and so that was kind of my thought was okay, we are adding the chaos of another child, another baby to take care of, another round of sleep, training and sleepless nights and all of the things that a newborn brings. So I knew there was going to be a little element of chaos, which is, I think, why I, kind of like, was leaning towards the word simplify, because I felt like I needed to just simplify and just focus on my kids and the simple things in life that really mattered. So that's how I started the year. As the year went on, we kept making decisions and I always had this word in the back of my head. I always thought simplify.
Ciera:And as I was making decisions for things, the summer came and we had always thought about buying a new home and we were not actively looking. But something came and it was a situation where we just felt like it was right. Now, the outside in, you feel like this is not simplifying, and even in the moments of it all, I was like what are we doing? Like why are we selling our house? Why are we moving to this new house that we have found? And it just it seemed so stressful to me and there were a lot of things that went, but I just kept getting this feeling of like no, this is right. And so we kept moving forward, like so fast forward. We got our house sold, we got into the new house, we moved into the house. A week later we went. We went to Disneyland. It was not simplifying, it was chaos, but we went to Disneyland. We had an amazing time. It was actually really great to have closed on our house and then to just go and just enjoy being with the family and focusing on the simple things of what really matters in life. And we got back home and I just I just like took it all in, like I was still having like this fairy tale moment of like is this really my new? Is this? Is this really my new home? This was a dream home for us and we were like the fact that it all fell into place and that we found the home when we did, when we weren't actively looking, we just knew that it was supposed to happen.
Ciera:As I was unpacking, I tried to simplify everything, and so that was kind of like the step towards coming up with my word for 2025. I feel like last year needed to happen with my word simplify. It needed to happen because it put a lot in perspective of what is really important with my business, what is really important with my family, what is really important in my home, what is really important with my business, what is really important with my family, what is really important in my home, what is really important with my beliefs. There are so many different areas in my life that I really really feel like set me up for my new word of 2025 being systems, so simplifying my life. Even though it may not look like I had simplified, I had actually done all of this preparation work for this word in 2025, which is systems. So that's kind of the backstory of how my word for 2025 came, and I have had a word of the year for several years and every year.
Ciera:I find it so interesting how the word that comes to me. I stick with it through the year and it and maybe it comes to me for like a certain I'm thinking of, like a certain thing in my life or a certain area in my life that that word could benefit. But it's always so surprising to me how it benefits so many different areas of my life without me even realizing that that's what was going to happen, and so I love that about a word for the year because they seem to build on each other. I think my first word of the year was intentional. My next word was consistency and it was simplify, and this year is system. So, yes, this is my fourth year of choosing a word of the year and I just think that it is so cool to see all of the experiences and how they build on each other. And and the word of the year, really, it really does become like something that is the word for the year. So I plan for 2025 and I always try and like when I think of a word, I always try and think, okay, what am, what am I going to want with this word for the year? So I have in my mind what is going to happen for 2025 with the word systems. It's going to be so interesting to listen back to this episode and then reflect at the end of the year or the beginning of next year and what actually happened with the word systems, and I am so excited to see it because I have a vision in my mind and we're going to see if it actually ends up being this. But the very first thing I have done for this word of the year is actually I did it at the end of last year, but I did it in preparation for this year.
Ciera:How many times do us if those of us who are moms how many times do we think I want to do this, this and this with my kids? I want to have this special time with my daughter. I want to take my son and experience this with him, but then does it actually happen? Like no life gets in the way. Life gets crazy. Maybe it's not even with your kids, maybe it's with a sibling. Like, I want to spend more time with my, my sister. I want to spend more time doing this. I want to be more intentional with the time that we're spending together.
Ciera:Mel robbins I listen to her. I love her. She was saying that in last year, 2024, one of her goals was to spend more time with her parents and as she was reflecting on her year 2024, she realized that she did, in fact, spend more time with them. One of her favorite ways to reflect is to look through her camera roll. I do this too and I love it. It brings like a lot of awareness because you can see, oh wow, I have no pictures of me doing anything fun. That probably means I didn't have a lot of fun in my, in my year Maybe you want to change that. So she was doing a lot of reflecting and so she saw like, yes, I did, I spent a lot more time with my parents. So now she knows for 2025, she wants to build on that and she's going to keep spending time.
Ciera:So one of my systems for the year I started and it's not too late If you want to take this and you want to do it in your life, it is not too late. So don't take the fact that I did it as a Christmas gift as, like your chance is over and we'll try again next year because you can do it anytime. But I, what I did is I went ahead and I planned out for a whole year one event that I wanted to do with people in my life that I'm really close to. So I have my kids, I did my mom, I did some of my siblings and I planned out some events that I want to do with them. Now, some of the siblings don't live here, so how was I going to do that? So I came up with, like other connection things that I could do with them throughout the year that maybe are not in person but can help me to feel more connected with them and help me to grow that relationship with them. And I went ahead call me a nerd.
Ciera:I went ahead and so I made these cute charts which I am going to share with you. So if you want a chart, then please send me a DM on Instagram, send me an email. You can find all of my contact information in the show notes, but I would love to get you on my email list so that you can have access to these templates, because what I did is I created these templates and they are a calendar January, february, march, april, may, june. January, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, october, november, december and it has their name at the top. And then I I went through and I said what I am going to do connect, to connect with that person every month, the people that I'm I am able to see physically. Then I went ahead and I planned everything that we are going to do.
Ciera:So January I will give you an example for January my January event with one of my sons is to go to the pet store and look at all the pets and say hi to them and look at the fish and all the things and then go get ice cream. I put that on on his chart that I gave him my daughters. I put on her chart that we were going to go swimming at the rec center. She's been begging and begging for me to take her to the rec center. So those are two examples of kids ones.
Ciera:I did some stuff for Seth, I did something for my mom, for my sister we actually just did hers on Saturday and we went on a hike together. Like how many times would we be like I want to go and do this and then we never do it? We were even talking about that on the hike. Like I was like I put this in the calendar and we did it and I'm so happy that we did it, because I could have just been like this thing, like oh, we should go do that, and then it never happens. So I went ahead and I did all that and that was my gift to them. I gave the gifts to them at Christmas time, but then I went even a step further and I literally have them on my calendar from January to December.
Ciera:I had every single event planned. Now some of them are like to be determined and so, like I just put tentative and then like what we were going to do, because obviously I don't know like things may change, things might the time on, things might change. I don't know, like when certain events are going to start and happen, but I at least put them on my calendar as tentative events. I planned the ones that could be planned, bought tickets in advance for things that needed to be bought and I tentatively put on my schedule everything else that's going to happen. So that way when I see that it's coming up, when I do my quarterly planning, when I do my weekly planning, I can see that an event is coming up, then I can adjust it during that time as it gets closer to be somewhere. I can adjust it on that time as it gets closer to be somewhere on my calendar. That can be a little bit more flexible and more realistic with what I'm able to do in that time, but they're at least on the calendar. So that is my very first system and I am so excited about it and I'm so happy because I've already you know, I've already done one thing I've already gone on a hike with my sister, and it's the beginning of the year, so we're not even a week into the year.
Ciera:So that was something that was really exciting in a system that I am really excited about and I'm excited to see how it will improve my relationships with these people, even the ones that are simple, um like. So the the ones that are not here. I think my thing for January was to send them a surprise Venmo throughout the month and so like that's something like so easy. I could send them five bucks and be like go get a drink or go get a cookie, and like it can just be something like that. That's just so simple, but yet it's going to have like a little bit of connection. Another one that was like a little bit more meaningful that I put on, one that was like from a far away distance, was that I am going to randomly send them a text with a memory that I have of the two of us. Like, so easy, so simple. It's going to take me five minutes to look through some pictures, come up with a memory text, it out and send it to them and it's going to hopefully, like spark some memories for them and conversation and build the connection with each other. So I'm really really excited for that.
Ciera:So if you want to continue with me on my journey of systems and get inspired, maybe this doesn't even need to be your word for the year. If you want this to be your word for the year, great, join me and tell me your systems and let's learn from each other, because there's so many amazing systems for so many areas in life that we could all learn from and it would be so fun. If you want to follow along with me as I do this systems journey for 2025, I am going to be sharing my systems throughout the year, so just make sure you join my email list. You can click on the link in the show notes, you can send me a message and I'll get you the link, but somehow, like, let's get you on the list so that you can have these systems throughout the year and I will share all my templates that I come up with with you and tell what works, what fails, what I need to tweak. And I'm really, really excited and, even if you don't want to use systems for your word, maybe you can get inspired to to bring a little bit more confidence into certain areas in your life with some systems that maybe hopefully will work, or you can at least get some ideas and tweak them to make them work for you and where you are with your life episode. If you found it helpful and maybe like, share what your word is for the year, make sure you tag me so I can see it and send this to somebody who you think would really love to hear this and maybe they are a goal junkie and they love words of the year. Send this to them and maybe they can be inspired if they haven't already come up with their word for 2025. Thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you next week.
Ciera:We are starting a series of confidence in business and I have interviewed some amazing business owners. I did those interviews the end of 2024 and they are finally going to be airing. So stay tuned for that. It's going to be, I think, a five part series, four or five parts. You don't even need to be a business owner to be inspired by these beautiful, beautiful women and hear their stories of how they balance business and motherhood and get the confidence to grow and do something that is scary for them. So stay tuned for that. They will start next week and one episode will be dropping every week. Episodes drop on Tuesday for all of 2025. And I am so excited to have a beautiful, beautiful year with you. Thank you so much for joining me. Stay confidently beautiful. Thanks for listening. Connect with me on Instagram @ confidently beautiful podcast and share this episode with someone in your life who could use a little reminder of just how amazing they already are. Stay confidently beautiful.