I don’t know how it happened, but it’s 2024, y’all!! Every year I feel like January 1st sneaks up on us. That the previous year felt simultaneously like an eternity and like a matter of days. Despite this, it’s generally a welcome change I think.
It’s an opportunity to pack up the past and put it in a box labeled “LAST YEAR”, and start fresh.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to mark the end of a chapter and start fresh, but at the same time my challenge to all of you is to release some of the pressure associated with the new year. By all means, if you’ve got a resolution that you’re passionate about trying, give it your all. But allow yourself some grace if it doesn’t catch on immediately. Make it part of your goal to view your missteps and mistakes as part of your growth journey, rather than a “failure” to achieve your resolution.
Two steps forward, one step back, and all that. Or ten steps forward, nine steps back. It’s all still progress.
And also, if you don’t have a resolution for yourself, or any specific goals for the new year, there’s zero shame in that either. There are 366 days in 2024 (happy leap year!) — January 1st is not the only day you’re allowed to begin a journey or start trying something new. Maybe you don’t want to try something new right now. Maybe you’re happy where you’re at and your current goal is just to keep living life one day at a time, and see where it takes you.
Neither is better than the other. And neither is set in stone. You could resolve to run a mile every morning and decide you actually hate running, and stop doing that by February. It doesn’t mean you failed, you succeeded in discovering that you don’t like something, and should look at other forms of exercise if you want to pursue a fitness journey. You could enjoy your day job now and not want to make changes this year, but decide in a few months you’d actually really like to start taking classes to pursue a new career. You don’t have to wait until January 2025 to start.
Ultimately, as exciting as the clean slate is, it’s important to remember that January 1st is another day on the calendar. We’re creatures of habit, and our brains aren’t naturally wired to make big changes overnight, no matter how big a party we throw signifying that the year is over and we can be a new person now. Any change is going to be gradual, whether you start on New Year’s Day or the middle of September.
My wish for all of you (and myself!) this year is simply that we are all collectively able to carry ourselves with gentler hands. That we’re a little kinder to ourselves and others. It’s been a wild, overly eventful few years, and (not that we need to earn gentleness), I think we all owe it to ourselves to take things slow right now.
Whatever you resolve this year, wherever 2024 takes you, let it be with compassion for yourself and those around you. Rather than pushing yourself
to become someone new, let this new year be one of learning to love who you already are, and build upon that with only the softest, most loving intentions.
I wish all of you the happiest of New Years. May you find pockets of joy and peace in all 366 days.
Much love,
-Rachel <3
P.S. For what it’s worth, my sole resolution in 2024 is to wear my retainer to bed more. I’ve been slacking since the pandemic began and I can’t let two years of suffering through braces in high school be for nothing. And in three days I’ve already worn it more than last year, so mission already accomplished. Any other achievements this year are just a bonus now.