Just One Word

Pat Ruppel at Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom is one of my favorite bloggers.  Recently, she wrote Defining Words, discussing a theory about language, i.e., that one, single word can be used to describe a city, the dominant mindset of its citizens or … an individual.

I have many writing tools to which I turn regularly, including, of course, the dictionary and thesaurus, as well as many books by an eclectic group of authors about the techniques and magic of writing.

But imagine for a moment that all of the tools upon which you rely are not available.  Further, pretend that you have been asked to write an autobiography.  And you must do so using just one word.  Just one.  One.

Consider your life right now.  What is the one word that describes how you respond to the world around you, what dominates your thoughts and dreams, how you envision yourself (which may be very different from how other people might describe you)?  Has that one descriptive word changed over the years?  Do you think it might change in the future?

I spent some time thinking about those questions and concluded that the word I would use has not changed over the course of many years and I do not believe it will change.

The word I would use is: Driven.

I look forward to reading your one-word responses! However, if you want to elaborate on your own site, leave a link so that we can all visit and read your explanation!