The Power of Words: My Power Words for 2021

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Every year around this time, I ask my teammates to come up with a power word (or small 1 to 2 word mantra) for the year ahead. I thought it would be fun to see what word you are pulled towards when you think of 2021... the word you can hold onto to dig deeper, or stay the course when things get difficult.


My words in the past have been FEARLESS, RELENTLESS, BEASTMODE... and I realized that for me, those words ended up almost hurting me more than motivating or inspiring me when when things started to hit the fan and I had to do some soul searching.

I was not feeling fearless, relentless, and certainly was not in beast mode... and the words just did no good for me. I almost felt like I was weak just because I could not rise up to the level of my power word.

We already have so much stress in our lives... why add more to it? A power word is meant to inspire, to lift up and the words that I had chosen in the past certainly could do that for the right person in the right headspace... but for me where I was battling the worst depression I have ever felt in my life... it was not the right time or place for those words.


I decided this year to approach my word differently - to provide for me the balance that I am looking for in my life, which compliments and is a direct result of some heavy lifting personal development work that I have been doing the last few months.  I let go of a definition of who I am and realized that what I had used to define me - was really only a rock against which I used to sharpen my tools.



Looking ahead to Ironman Texas and Ironman Florida in 2021, I realized that I have held my title of Ironman as some form of defining characteristic. I am an Ironman. It is what I do... it is what I worked so hard to become all those years ago.

But really - I am NOT Jenniferlyn, Ironman triathlete, Functional Nutritionist, mom to 2 furry pugs and wife to an amazing husband.

What in that ^^^ tells you who I *am*? Am I a jerk ? A good human?

I actually now see that definition of myself lends to me being more ego driven than anything else.  It describes a hobby, my education, my lifestyle and even some of my passions but it is not ME.

Those are achievements, not characteristics.  That is EGO not SUBSTANCE.

My power words often lent themselves to further achievement - but not development or growth. So this year, my power word is FLOW.

To remind me to
  • go with the flow,
  • to grow with the flow,
  • to glow with the flow,
  • and most importantly to get uncomfortable and get into the flow state to make heart-based choices on where to put my flow of energy, not emotion-based reactions on where it is going.

Ironman is no longer a definition of me- it is the means by which I currently chose to challenge myself, to get uncomfortable and to grow as a human.


What is your power word for 2021?


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