Why is it called Flourish?
I recently celebrated a milestone birthday. I turned 55.
It might sound old to some. But in many ways, I’m super proud of my age.
I’m the healthiest I’ve been in the past decade. I’m comfortable with the person I’ve become and am becoming. I’m bursting with creative ideas. I’m thankful for my faith in God, my incredible family and the people in my life.
While it might sound like this is a year I should slow down or give up or stop trying, I feel like I’ve reached a place where I’m thriving.
I love choosing a word for the year, and at the beginning of 2023, I chose the word “flourish.”
When that word came to me, it felt vague. What did it really mean?
It’s a word I could easily picture in my mind visually, but I had struggled to define it in a tangible way.
I love hand lettering. When I’ve finished writing a word, my favorite part is creating a swirl at the beginning or end. Crossing my “t”s with an exaggerated swoop. Extending the circle at the bottom of a “y”.
I love the flourishes.
I like to add a flourish to my physical presence in many ways.
- The brightly colored kimonos that have become a staple of my wardrobe.
- My big curved teal velvet sofa.
- Taking notes with colored markers instead of a ballpoint pen.
But when I chose the word “flourish,” it felt more like a one-word sentence with a period at the end.
Flourish.
An action.
A command.
An imperative.
I grasped hold of that word and took it as my personal mission for the year. I would stop being held back by doubt, fear and worry about what people think of me. I would pursue dreams I had for myself. It was time to flourish.
One day in the summer of 2023, I was looking at the word flourish, and I saw it in one more way.
Flourish.
It made me laugh because flour (or the lack thereof) has become such a big part of my life the past eight years. I loved how it described the cookies that I had baked that day for a big group of friends who joined us for dinner. They were basically just like regular cookies, but instead of being floury, they were flourish.
They were made with gluten-free flour, rather than the regular stuff. But no one would have known unless I told them.
I decided that if I ever started my own gluten free bakery, it would have to be called flourish, or flourish.
You can read the word however you prefer.
It’s a one-word sentence, encouraging you to live your best life: Flourish.
And it’s also an adjective describing any of the baked goods you find here. They are “flourish.” They are made with gluten-free flour, but still taste amazing!
