This time of year carries different energy for different people. For some, it’s an energizing fresh start. For others, a moment to pause, reset, and continue on as before. For others? Just a series of long, cold, monochromatic grey/white/black days. In much of Western culture, the focus on improvement, on making this the best year ever is ubiquitous. The stores are full of organizing supplies and workout gear and social media is a seemingly never-ending stream of “These are the 10 things you MUST do in 2025!”
If that’s your jam then by all means- have at it. I’m never going to yuck someone else’s yum. But if you’re just not feeling it this year, let me say this out loud.
You don’t have to start your new year in January.
We celebrate New Year’s in January in honor of Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and endings, but it’s not like January is the only time we begin and end things. This year, you can decide to take control of your fresh start. Maybe choose the spring solstice on March 20. Or your birthday. Or the last day of school. Or the anniversary of the day you discovered you love cheese. Put it wherever you want on the calendar- or skip it altogether!
Look, 2024 was kind of a lot and we don’t know what 2025 is going to bring. Maybe we should take a cue from nature and just…hunker down for right now. Rest. Lie fallow. Stay warm, support those who depend on us, and let those we depend on take care of us as well. Eat a little extra cheese. And bread. And soup. Stretch and dream and give ourselves permission not to DO anything.
If you get itchy- to organize, to create, to move in a new direction- then by all means honor that itch. Or maybe just set up a system to organize the things you’ll want to find when you’re ready. (I recently wrote this piece for Edutopia on avoiding FOMO– there are some great resources there to check out) But maybe don’t rush into it.
Take a breath, get another cup of tea or coffee or kombucha (and a cookie and/or a slice of cheese), and look around. Notice what’s in front of you– not what’s missing, what you wish were there, what you hope to have someday- and take a bit of pride in the part you played in creating it.
Thanks for everything you do and for being a part of our community. You’re pretty great, you know that?
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