WOTY 2022 GIFT
Posted on by Debbie

The Gift of Age #WOTY

Growing Older as a Gift

It’s the last Friday in the month, and the year, so that means it’s time for our final monthly linkup party, all about our Word of the Year (WOTY). Feel free to join my co-hosts Jo, Sue and Donna and share your WOTY progress with us all. It’s a great way of staying on track – at least that’s how I see it, not to mention fun.

My WOTY for 2022 has been GIFT and I’ve had a wonderful time looking at the gifts in my life each month. It’s been a form of gratitude in some ways and I’m definitely more aware of things that are daily gifts – not just the big things.

Growing older is a gift. Growing older joyfully is a choice.

Krista

GIFT as my WOTY

I wrote about my selection of GIFT as my WOTY back in January 2022:

I’ve chosen a word that just ‘came’ to me when I woke up one morning. I’ve been tossing around a few words like Commit, Mighty, Bright, Colour – but felt they weren’t right for me at this time. With GIFT, I’m thinking along the lines of giving something voluntarily without payment in return and giving of myself throughout the year.

Deb’s World

And I think I’ve done it! I’ve had fun looking for gifts, thinking about what gifts I have to offer and how we can all use our gifts.

I hope I’ve inspired others to look at the gifts all around them and to see how we are a gift to others, either by volunteering or being kind and thoughtful. I always enjoy the process of having a word to keep me focussed during the year and this year has been no exception!

Birthday Girl Gifts

As you probably know I had a birthday earlier in December and also had Covid, so it wasn’t much of a celebration. I wrote about it here in case you missed it: Happy Birthday to me – the Covid birthday

Now ordinarily this wouldn’t be seen to be a gift but in some ways it was. We both had it at the same time which was good as we were travelling north for Christmas a week or so later. We had quite a mild dose and were able to enjoy some quiet time before the festivities hit. It did mean we missed a few parties but that wasn’t the worst thing in the world.

I love this image, it says it so well – turning 62 is definitely time for some inappropriate age related behaviour!

another birthday - image by Rosie did a thing
another birthday – image by Rosie Made a Thing

Redundancy as a GIFT?

It’s now 6 years (December 2016) since I was made redundant from my highly challenging but very rewarding 22 year job as the Manager of Education in a Men’s Correction Centre.

At the time I never thought I’d use those words – redundancy as a gift – but time passes and wounds heal. I’m still upset the way my career ended but you know what, life has been good to me and now I’m truly living the life!

I’m older and wiser now 🙂

Work colleagues made redundant
Words can’t express my love and gratitude for this amazing team of professional educators.
Farewell cake
Farewell cake

Blogging as a Gift

Blogging has been a gift again this year and I’ve ‘met’ and ‘chatted’ with so many interesting people, it’s good to be involved in a caring community of bloggers. Thank you one and all for your friendship and support during the year.

I’ve enjoyed being a co-host with lovely friends, Sue, Jo and Donna, for Word of the Year #WOTY and What’s on Your Bookshelf #WOYBS, and we plan to continue our linkups in 2023, maybe with a change or two just to keep it interesting (see the info at the bottom of this post)!

Christmas Gifts

We’ve just returned from a wonderful week with family in an amazing Airbnb property near Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland. It was the perfect house for us all with the added bonus of a pool. We had two of my daughters and husbands, three of of my four grandchildren and my lovely sister-in-law visiting over the week. It was chaotic, hectic, noisy, tiring, but a whole load of fun. We FaceTimed my daughter and her family in England so got to see them celebrating – where would we be without technology!? Another GIFT.

Christmas 2022
Christmas 2022 – some of the family together on Christmas morning

When I published my Christmas post I used a stock photo of a woman sitting by a pool, taken from above with the caption along the lines of ‘this is what I think I look like but the reality is much different’.

I was sort of ‘challenged’ into doing my own version of the photo, so with my middle daughter’s help we recreated the photo, and I love the result! Use the slider below to compare the two shots and let me know what you think. I think my daughter did a great job of positioning me and getting it almost perfect!

What a great GIFT!

Pool shotFrom my world to yours 2022

Did you notice that I crossed my legs the wrong way? I didn’t notice until it was all over!

Unbeknown to us, my husband the Mathematician, was watching us from inside and taking photos of us in progress, this is just one of them! What a laugh it gave us 🙂

pool shot in progress
pool shot in progress

You might notice I’m smiling, even though the camera wasn’t on my face, but that’s how I roll – just ask my daughters! I’m known for my smile and consider it a GIFT.

My Gifts during 2022

As I said, it’s been a great way to look for the GIFTS in the everyday with my WOTY. Here’s a recap on my monthly posts. I only missed one month while I was having too much fun being the Granny with all the Gifts.

To finish up, I think this quote ties both ageing and gifts together very well!

Age is just a number. Life and aging are the greatest gifts that we could possible ever have.

Cicely Tyson

Thanks for stopping by and I always enjoy hearing from you  🙂

Hope you can join us for the linkup. I’ll be announcing my WOTY for 2023 in early January.

Deb xx

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js…

You’re invited to our new link party What’s Been On Your Calendar #WBOYC starting January 2023! So what’s it all about?

What’s Been On Your Calendar? #WBOYC

You can read more here in my post.

What: 2023 Monthly Wrap-Up Link Party.

When: Last Thursday PM (Northern Hemisphere)/ Last Friday AM (Southern Hemisphere). The link will be open for three seven days each month.

Why: A space to share highlights from your past month. 

Where: Link Party, Blog, Blog Comments, Instagram or other social media.

Who: This linkup is open to everyone.

How: You can share in the comments, with a blog post, or on other social media of your choice. Include the hashtag so that we can find you and include your link in our posts.

Dates: Beginning 27 January 2023. The linkup will be open for 7 days so we don’t miss anyone’s posts. Please note these dates in your diary for 2023:

  • January 26/27
  • February 23/24
  • March 30/31
  • April 27/28
  • May 25/26
  • June 29/30
  • July 27/28
  • Aug 32/Sept 1*
  • Sept 28/29
  • Oct 26/27
  • Nov 30/Dec 1*
  • Dec 28/29
  • (The August and November Linkups will take place on the 1st of the following month for the Southern Hemisphere).
WBOYC image
#WBOYC

You can also find Deb’s World in lots of other places – stay in touch by clicking any of the buttons below.

Debbie - mother of a 40 year old

Everyone has a story to tell! Deb is a young-at-heart & active 60+ blogger/retiree, after being made redundant from her 22-year career managing education programs in a men’s correctional centre (jail). She now spends her time reading, blogging, riding her ebike and travelling. Deb was awarded a Bravery Award from the Queen when she was 17 after a tragic accident – a definite life changing moment! She is married with 3 grown-up daughters & has 4 grandchildren. She never imagined being Granny Debs would bring so much joy to her life! You can read more of Deb’s story here

Copyright © 2023 debs-world.com – All rights reserved

49 Replies to “The Gift of Age #WOTY”

  1. Great message here. Being with our aging reveals the wisdom we gain with experience. The more experience and wisdom the better. Frankly, I was lost most of my life until I began to wake up, to see through fear more frequently and to live with love. Thank goodness for aging.

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    1. Thanks for your visit and comment Ryan, experience and wisdom are definitely some of the many advantages of ageing. Here’s to many more years of gaining wisdom!

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  2. Hi Deb, yes the Gift of Age is a wonderful gift! I’ve thorughly enjoyed reading your WOTY posts and you captured ‘GIFT’ in so many creative ways. Thank you for being a light in my life, a great friend, co-host and more. Happy New Year and I’m looking forward to sharing 2023 with you. BTW you are a great model but a little OCD if you noticed you had your legs crossed the wrong way LOL 🙂

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    1. Hi Sue, thanks for your encouragement as always. I value your friendship and support so much!

      I always enjoy trying to think outside the square a bit and these monthly posts give me so much food for thought. I love having a WOTY to help keep me focussed.

      Haha – the model comment made me smile, and I wanted to point out my legs being crossed the wrong way before someone else did!

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  3. You have a real gift (see what I did there?) for taking your WOTY, putting a creative spin on it, living it, and making it your own. I look forward to reading about next year’s word and seeing what you do with that. Thanks for being such a great cohost.

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  4. I’m so happy that you took the challenge to recreate that photo. You and your daughter did a great job!

    I’ve enjoyed following your year-long journey exploring the many ways you’ve experienced the word Gift. And, I love, love the quote about growing older joyfully.

    Happy New Year to you and your family!

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    1. Thanks Janis, I always enjoy getting your comments! I’m so glad you like our recreated photo, we had fun doing it with encouragement (?) from other family members on the sidelines.
      I had a great year with Gift and am now ready for a new focus for 2023. Happy New Year to you and I look forward to staying in touch through our blogs.

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  5. Hi, Debbie – You have definitely inspired us with your gifts. Your encouragement to look at the offerings around us and see how we are a gift to others has made a very positive difference.

    Thank you for sharing your WOTY with us. I look forward to discovering what you have in mind for 2023.

    Cicely was spot on – life and aging are the greatest gifts we could ever have. May we never forget this!

    BTW – Love, love, love your recreated photo!

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    1. Thanks so much Donna! My new word is Explore and I look forward to seeing how I can make it work for me. Glad you like the recreated photo, my daughter did very well! Love having you as a cheerleader and friend.

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  7. Hi Deb – I always find you choices for #WOTY to be a little left of centre (is that the right expression?) and then you claim them as your own and do amazingly positive things with them. Gift was another one and I love how you used it as a gratitude prompt throughout the year. Choosing our attitude makes such a difference in life and you’re the perfect example of this. I look forward to seeing where you take us in 2023. x

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  10. I smiled all the way through this post Deb. Your gift to me…!!
    Thanks so much for the blogging friendship and more. I really enjoy how we have connected, and look forward to more in 2023. I loved the photo recreation set up too! Take care, and “see you” for #WWandPics link up when we are back on 4 Jan. I too look forward to joining in the monthly catch ups with you and Sue, Donna and Jo. Denyse x

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  11. I think your blog is a gift to your readers. I like the thought of gifting things to others. I am gifting my time to help a friend learn the ukelele. And i get a gift of learning more music. I don’t like getting gifts myself and i often hear others feel the same. I think someone needs to come up with the non thing gift. Maybe NTG?

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  13. Pingback: 2022 in review » Susanne dot ie

  14. What a fabulous word you chose this year Deb. I love all of your “gift” messages and you’ve truly embraced the concept. Especially love all those pool pics! What fun. Enjoy the end of this gift giving year and I look forward to seeing what you come up with next year. Much love from me. xx

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    1. Oh thanks Miriam, I do ‘go all in’ when i choose a word! The pool fun was a blast especially with the little ones but the water was cold so it was usually a fairly quick dip! Love to you on your next adventure xx

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  16. Pingback: More December – a literal translation – Picture Retirement

  17. I love how you’ve used the word Gift to feature all the things and people you have in your life to be grateful for. When you presented your WOTY I thought it would be a difficult word, one I wouldn’t be able to use, but you’ve done it very cleverly!
    I love that little graphic about age inappropriate behaviour! 😀 And the photo at the pool (and all those Christmas pics!) is really well done! I had to laugh at the crossing of the legs, I didn’t even think of it when I saw the photos!
    I’m looking forward to more posts and your new link-up in 2023.

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    1. Oh thanks Susanne, I never doubted that I could make the word GIFT work and enjoyed the whole process during the year. It certainly helped show me where the gifts come from! The pool shots were great and the recreated photo turned out so well (in my opinion), even though I got the leg crossing wrong :). Can’t wait to see where you take your blog in 2023!

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  18. Pingback: Joy in December – A Multitude of Musings

  19. What a great wrap-up post and a gift to us readers. You are charming, sincere, and a lot of fun, and it comes across in your writing. And yes, age is definitely a gift. BUT we need to use it well. Take care, and Happy New Year. Bernie

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  20. I love the idea of ‘gift of ageing’ as I’m terrible when it comes to expressing gratitude for things I have or do. I’m grateful when others do things but not for the obvious things… like life.

    I’m reminded of that when I comment on the fact I’m starting to feel jaded and frazzled-looking and someone will respond, ‘Better than the alternative’ and it does jolt you back to reality.

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    1. Gifts are in so many forms Ali, I had a ball looking for them during the year and now have a greater appreciation of all things gifts/gratitude. Thanks for being one of my top commenters on my blog during the year, your comments are always welcome! Wishing you happy days ahead x

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  25. You have been a gift this year, Deb. It’s fun to read all your activities. I can read it without getting winded, but I’d hate to try it in real life. Happy belated birthday. 🙂

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