This year’s word took a little longer to show up for me. Often it comes on New Year’s Eve or Day, but this year it took its time.

I went through yesterday with my mind open for a word, but nothing came.

I was wondering if it might go several days into this week before a word appeared, but while I was making coffee it came:

adapt

I waited a bit to be sure. I cleared my mind and went about my day.

And then when I thought about my word for 2022, adapt came again.

So I was sure.

My first thought was that the almost two-year length of this pandemic has been all about adapting, so my word seems redundant or extraneous.

However, I’ve learned over the years not to question it. Typically the reason for the word becomes more clear during the year.

Although the part of speech varies, this year’s word is definitely a verb. Some years it can be noun and verb. And some years it’s verb only or a noun only.

So this is a verb year, one of action. Or re-action.

I’m curious to see how it plays out.

The Merriam-Webster site gives three definitions for “adapt,” each one beginning with the words “to change.”

And it gives some background on the root of “adapt”:

Rooted in the origins of adapt is the idea of becoming specifically fit for something. English speakers adapted adapt in the 15th century from the Middle French adapter, which was borrowed, in turn, from the Latin adaptāre, a combination of the Latin prefix ad- (“to, toward”) and the verb aptāre, meaning “to put into position, bring to bear, make ready.” Aptāre is a verbal derivative of aptus, meaning “fit” or “apt.” Other descendants of aptus in English include aptitude, inept, and of course apt itself, as well as unapt and inapt.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adapt

I like the “becoming specifically fit for something” part. Maybe that’s what this year will be about . . . my becoming fit — in a variety of ways. I’m already working on my physical fitness, doing yoga and physical therapy exercises and walking more.

But there sure are many other areas in which I can become “more fit.”

So it’s a word about change which involves growth — at least the way I see it now.

2022 will reveal more as it progresses.

And I’m open to that.

Because, you know what?

I can adapt!