The Audacity!
'Gasp. The audacity of it…!’
What comes to mind for you when you read that?
“The audacity of it.”
It’s a righteous proclamation. A statement packed with meaning. Not so subtle judgement. A little shock. Maybe a little sarcasm. In my mind’s eye, a prim and proper lady is delivering that statement. Loudly whispering it to her friend over lunch about another woman who doesn’t play by the same rulebook. ‘Tsk Tsk Tsk.’
Audacity is controversial. It makes people, including me, a bit… uncomfortable. It’s daring and playful. It zigs where everybody else zags. Leaping from one ‘that’s not the way we do things’ to the next.
And that’s exactly why I chose it for my word of the year.
A few years ago, my family ditched resolutions and decided to center our year on one word that felt personally inspiring. One grounding theme that we can each come back to day after day. It’s been a game-changer. As a result, I’ve become more present, grateful, balanced in recent years. But this past fall, I surprised myself by going against the grain and quitting a job with no backup plan. It terrified me. It scandalized people in my life (cut to me trying to explain this decision to my elderly family members at Thanksgiving). As somebody who’s always been anxious, the unknown is especially scary for me. What surprised me the most during this time?
I loved it.
The audacity of stepping into this uncharted territory was equally exciting as it was scary. I became obsessed with making myself uncomfortable in the name of growth. Because in those pockets of fear—walking into my first dancing class (if you know my dancing skills, this image will make you laugh), setting my ego aside for informational interviews, staring The Big Unknown down at 3am—that’s exactly where growth happened. I felt it. The fear came, consumed me. Then, slowly, I worked alongside it to do the thing. And I realized that I could move forward despite, maybe even because of, the fear. These past few months, fear has become my copilot. My righthand man. I’ve learned that, with excitement and creativity, fear is along for the ride. And that’s okay. (I have Elizabeth Gilbert’s ‘Big Magic’ to thank for this particular lesson).
So, when I was meditating on what word would guide my 2026, a couple obvious answers immediately came to mind. Is it courage? Bravery? Boldness? But those felt too trite. I wanted a word with more action, more direction, more choice.
Then, I came across this while reading the Artist’s Way:
"Very often audacity, not talent, makes one person an artist and another a shadow artist — hiding in the shadows, afraid to step out and expose the dream to the light, fearful that it will disintegrate to the touch.”
It immediately clicked. Audacity, previously a story of reckless choices that lead to inevitable judgement, suddenly became a story of bold, yet intentional, action.
Choosing to be audacious is actually quite vulnerable. It’s putting yourself, and your work, out there without playing the waiting game to hone the ‘perfect’ skills, resume, or credentials. It’s the perfect challenge for my year ahead. When I desperately want to cower in what feels safe, write my first blog without actually publishing it, stay in the same lane because I know what to expect, I ask myself: what is the audacious thing to do here? How can I foster growth by choosing the path that feels creative, intentional, and a little scary?
'The audacity of it…!’
In a world of hyper-perfectionism, glossy AI, and predictable algorithms, it’s especially scary to do the audacious thing. And maybe that’s the exact reason we should choose a little scandal, choose to go against the grain, choose to have a little audacity.
