Every year, I choose a word to carry me through – this year, it is here.

There can be a lot of different thoughts when here is said, but that may be part of the fun. However, there is a reason I chose this word specifically to signify 2025.

While I have never been diagnosed with clinical anxiety, I feel as though most of my days are filled with anxiety and stress over things that, 99.9% of the time, will not happen. I have irrational fears and don’t tend to be able to focus on the present. I am always thinking ahead, always thinking of the “what ifs,” and so on. My hope is to stay in the here and now, which is what brought me to this year’s focus. 

I didn’t want to keep living in the same cycle of fear and anxiety, I wanted to be able to enjoy life as it came, starting now. 

This is how I settled on here being my word for 2025. I want to be present, be here, and enjoy the moment while I am in it. I decided that this would be a daily reminder to stop worrying, stop stressing about the things that likely won’t even happen, and enjoy where I am, even if it isn’t exactly what I planned.

This month, I helped lead a high school retreat with my church. We did a prayer exercise called “palms up, palms down” prayer; it is an act of surrendering and receiving. I would like to guide you through it below:

• Start by placing your palms facing down – this gesture symbolizes releasing your worries, burdens, and sins to God
• Pray silently, acknowledging your worries, sins, and concerns and surrendering them to God when you are ready
• Once ready, name the specific concerns you are releasing to God
• After surrendering those concerns/sins, turn your palms facing upwards – this gesture symbolizes opening yourself to receive God’s blessing, peace, and guidance
• Rest in this act of exchange, receiving peace and his presence

I had decided in January that I wanted to focus on being present, but it wasn’t until this prayer exercise of truly surrendering my worry and anxiety and need for control to God that I felt actual peace.

However, I know this isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing. Anxiety and fear are a daily battle for me personally, but practicing prayer like this, as well as daily giving up the worries to God, will continue to alleviate that stress and burden.

2025 has already started out with more than I planned or bargained for – probably more on that in future blogs. But I know that every experience is for a purpose, and there is no reason to sweat the small stuff when there is only so much I can control.

So, to the girl who is here, or to the girl who wants to be here, try it with me. Practice new ways to find peace, whether that be the palms up, palms down prayer, meditation, taking a nature walk, or spending a day without your phone. It isn’t going to be easy, but God never promised anything in this life was. I am proud of you for trying, relinquishing control, and knowing that what He has planned for you is better than anything you could have dreamed. Be present, be alive, be here.