Word of 2025 : Honey 🍯

Because joy is an act of resistance

Let's check in shall we?

I hope you and yours are safe and well, and if not I hope things improve soon.

The spoiler in the title of the post is because there's a distinct possibility you are sick of seeing new year's resolutions, or words of the year. If so, you don't need to read any further.

If you're still here and thinking, what the hell is Susan on about now, please read on.

Last year, I chose Grounded as my Word. And it was good for the most part, a bit of a safety net to retreat to, because, yes, like many, I was still processing 2020. Perhaps I always will be, but I'm ready to move on and for me, there's enough distance now to see things in perspective.

Grounded gave me steadiness, gave me rootedness to where I am in the world. I worked on foundational stuff; the home - literal and mental. My writing also included a lot of digging, into the fountains of my WIP.

I was steadier, curbing impulsiveness, and giving myself space and time with deadlines. Extending those deadlines too. I said No to things I'd planned and paid for, because I needed space. The lifting of obligation, even to myself, felt very grown-up.

Last week, it was time to choose another word. I made some notes one cold afternoon in the liminal space between Christmas and New Year. None of those words jumped out at me, so I started using a thesaurus to look at versions of the words I already had, looking for something that would sing to me. None did.

I left it for a couple of days, and started making a separate list in my phone of words that came to me that might work. Light, Bright, Awakening, and more. I was getting closer. One night I was dropping off to sleep and had one of those dreams where you're kind of still awake. I’ve since discovered these are called hypnagogic hallucinations.

There were Honey 🍯 visuals in my minds eye. The amber, the sweetness, the smoothness, the stickiness. This word and the feeling it gave me felt exciting. I fell asleep hoping I'd remember it the next day.

Reader, I obviously did remember.

2025 is my year of HONEY.

• Life can be sweet.

• Honey is nourishing and helpful medicinally.

• Honey fits with the reoccurring themes in my work of plants and nature.

• I want my projects this year to be sticky in people's minds.

• Honey is produced through a lot of hard work and time, a hive mind working as one.

• Honey has a lot of spiritual and religious links, it's been around for a L O N G time. It also lasts for a while in your larder, it has longevity. Another trait I'm interested in.

• This year I'm chasing 🐝 the HONEY.

Do you have a word or theme for 2025?

My Previous Words Of The Year;

• 2018- Reading & Writing (yes, I chose two)

• 2019- Thrive

• 2020- Resilience & Revolution (two again)

• 2021 + 2022 I didn’t have any

• 2023- Focus

• 2024- Grounded (read last year's post)

This post originally appeard on my website here;

https://susanearlam.com/blogs/news/word-of-2025-honey