Try, a theme

Last year, I had a theme. It was "collaborate." I collaborated with some friends to share their work on this blog. I read Twyla Tharp's wonderful book, The Collaborative Habit, life lessons for working together. And in October, I was a part of a collaborative art show at the Firehouse, a community arts center here in Del Rio. Our show, LEAP was a success and I really enjoyed working with Julia, Karen, Kendrick and Nancy. I learned so much from them.

So I thought this idea of a theme works for me. It makes much more sense than the horrible resolutions people saddle themselves with this time of year. OK, now to decide on a theme for 2013. First, I thought of Social Media. But that's an adjective and a noun, not what I want. I want a strong verb like collaborate.

Learn. Learn is a strong verb. I want to learn. Hmmm. I thought about the word Learn for awhile and it just doesn't fit. I teach at a university. I want my students to learn. For me, it has the connotation of slaving over a textbook and notes. Experiment and Research can be used as verbs but they have the same academic problem.    

Thinking about what I want to accomplish this year, I thought what do I want to try. And Eureka! There was my verb. Try. Those three little letters can change the universe. Try. What do I want to try this year? I will try some new mixed media techniques. I will try Skype. I will try some new recipes. I will try to write regularly. Will I succeed at everything? Absolutely not. I will succeed at some things, but not everything. That's OK. I know this going in. The important thing is that I will try.

So what about you? Will you try a theme in 2013? What will it be? Please share.