{"id":155,"date":"2026-01-03T05:14:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T11:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/?p=155"},"modified":"2026-01-05T07:23:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:23:00","slug":"my-word-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/my-word-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"My Word of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My Word of the Year for 2026: \u201cProfound\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I need to confess I am not a big “word of the year” person. I also need to confess: I did not choose the word \u201cprofound.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0It chose me. And honestly\u2026 at first, it annoyed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know how people pick their \u201cword of the year\u201d with this serene, Pinterest-worthy glow? They light a candle, sip herbal tea, and whisper something like \u201cflourish\u201d<\/em>\u00a0or \u201cintentional\u201d<\/em>\u00a0into the universe. Meanwhile, I\u2019m over here being stalked by a word that sounds like it belongs in a philosophy textbook or a college freshman\u2019s overcaffeinated essay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfound.\u201d Really, that\u2019s the word that kept popping up everywhere \u2014 in conversations, in books, in sermons, in random quotes on social media. It was like the universe was tapping me on the shoulder, saying, \u201cHey. You. Pay attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And my response was basically, \u201cCan I not just pick something cute like \u2018cozy\u2019<\/em>\u00a0or \u2018simplify\u2019<\/em>\u00a0like a normal person?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the word wouldn\u2019t leave me alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Annoyance Phase<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be honest: \u201cprofound\u201d is one of those words that feels a little\u2026 pretentious. Like it\u2019s trying too hard. It\u2019s the literary equivalent of someone wearing a turtleneck and quoting Kierkegaard at a dinner party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time I heard it, I\u2019d roll my eyes a little. Every time it showed up in a sentence, I\u2019d think, Okay, calm down.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then it kept showing up. And showing up. And showing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I gave in. If this word was going to haunt me, I might as well figure out why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Deep Dive (Because of Course I Had to Know)<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So I did what any reasonable person does when a word becomes a personal nemesis: I looked up its etymology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s when everything shifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfound\u201d comes from the Latin pro<\/em> (\u201cforward\u201d) and fundus<\/em> (\u201cbottom\u201d). It literally means \u201cto go to the bottom of something.\u201d<\/strong> To go deep. To get beneath the surface. To reach the foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suddenly the word wasn\u2019t pretentious anymore. It was purposeful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t about sounding wise. It was about being willing to dig.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t about lofty thoughts. It was about rooted living.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t about being impressive. It was about being honest, grounded, and willing to explore what truly matters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And just like that, the word that annoyed me became the word I needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why \u201cProfound\u201d Is My Word for 2026<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year, I want to stop skimming the surface of things \u2014 conversations, decisions, spiritual life, relationships, even my own thoughts. I want to go deeper. I want to pay attention. I want to notice what\u2019s beneath the obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to ask better questions. I want to listen more carefully. I want to live with intention instead of autopilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not in a heavy, dramatic way \u2014 but in a grounded, meaningful way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfound\u201d isn\u2019t about being deep for the sake of depth. It\u2019s about refusing to settle for shallow living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about digging into what matters. It\u2019s about finding the bottom \u2014 the foundation \u2014 and building from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Here We Go<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

2026 is my year of the profound. Not because I\u2019m trying to sound enlightened, but because I\u2019m finally ready to stop ignoring the word that\u2019s been following me around like a persistent toddler tugging on my sleeve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this word keeps showing up, maybe it\u2019s because something in me is ready to grow deeper roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And honestly That feels\u2026 well\u2026 Profound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Word of the Year for 2026: \u201cProfound\u201d I need to confess I am not a big “word of the year” person. I also need to confess: I did not choose the word \u201cprofound.\u201d\u00a0It chose me. And honestly\u2026 at first, it annoyed me. You know how people pick their \u201cword of the year\u201d with this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7,8],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-study","tag-bible-study","tag-word-of-the-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rootedsimply.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}