I bet you’ve been DYING to hear my 2022 New Year’s resolution. Well, here it is:
I resolve to actually cook or pickup something nice for myself tonight instead of eating another frozen pizza.
2022! All about managing expectations and adapting to reality, rather than waiting for reality to “get better.”
There’s an Annie Dillard quote that goes, “How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.” You’ve probably heard this, or some iteration of it, somewhere. I’ve been thinking about this so much these past days. Historically, I love making resolutions and setting goals and reflecting on the past year and setting intentions for the one to come. It’s a ritual that grounds me during a time that can often be a bit wobbly for me personally/existentially, and even though I set intentions/resolutions/goals all the damn time, regardless of time of year, I do like the freshness of a New Year, that clean, crisp, line-in-the-sand turning over from old to new.
I’m still going to do this - indeed, tonight, after I eat some kind of dinner (#cheeseandcrackers), I will walk myself through an end-of-year review, which will culminate in choosing a “word of the year.” I did this last year with the help of a workshop with my beloved Catherine Andrews and the word I came up with really did become a lighthouse for me, and was the inspiration I had to evolve the name and focus of this here newsletter.
And, as I begin the mulling process, what I am already seeing is this: my resolve this year has far less to do with outward ambition, and productivity, and getting/having/doing, and so much more with receiving. I want to receive my life. I want to experience my days as more peaceful than chaotic. I want to turn my focus inward, to close my eyes and listen, to tend to my inner flame, to discover how to delight and entertain and care for myself, to spend so much less time on my phone. And I want all of this now.
I am no longer waiting for the pandemic “to be over.” Instead, my focus is on adapting. And, OK, there *are* some concrete things I want to do: I want to take a two week vacation, and start dating again, and get hella swole, and continue to grow SELF MADE, and be in conversation with my nervous system, and do the damn mobility exercises the PT tells me to do, and <gasp> dear god let me have some more consistent fun, and I will of course mask-up and be careful as I practice all these things. But I’m no longer waiting.
Two years in Pandemia, and the old approaches have lost their luster. I know you know what I mean. So, in 2022, let’s slow the engine down. Let’s rest, and say NO. Let’s have a say over screentime, instead of being beholden to it. And, instead of waiting for better times, let’s continue to create more beauty.
Y’all I fucking love you so much. Happy New Year (or not! Be frustrated and sad and disappointed! THIS IS A MASK FREE ZONE - in the sense that you don’t have to pretend!).
THANK YOU for your readership, I don’t know what I’d do without this space.
Yours in adaptation, DANI
No read/watch/listen this week - instead, I am extending an invitation for you to become a paid subscriber.
If you dig my work, consider a subscription, which, I’m not just saying this, truly makes this publication possible.
If you subscribe in the next week, you’ll save 20%! And you’ll earn my utmost, sincerest, most undying affection, always (yes you already have that but now you’ll have it EVEN MORE).
Whatever you choose - thank you for your eyes on my words this year. This community of readers and writers gives me purpose and meaning, and my gratitude is infinite.
Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you like this newsletter, please consider leaving a comment, sending it to a friend or becoming a paid subscriber. Or respond and say hi, I *always* love hearing from you.
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65 // Tending the inner flame ❤️🔥
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Hey all,
I bet you’ve been DYING to hear my 2022 New Year’s resolution. Well, here it is:
I resolve to actually cook or pickup something nice for myself tonight instead of eating another frozen pizza.
2022! All about managing expectations and adapting to reality, rather than waiting for reality to “get better.”
There’s an Annie Dillard quote that goes, “How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.” You’ve probably heard this, or some iteration of it, somewhere. I’ve been thinking about this so much these past days. Historically, I love making resolutions and setting goals and reflecting on the past year and setting intentions for the one to come. It’s a ritual that grounds me during a time that can often be a bit wobbly for me personally/existentially, and even though I set intentions/resolutions/goals all the damn time, regardless of time of year, I do like the freshness of a New Year, that clean, crisp, line-in-the-sand turning over from old to new.
I’m still going to do this - indeed, tonight, after I eat some kind of dinner (#cheeseandcrackers), I will walk myself through an end-of-year review, which will culminate in choosing a “word of the year.” I did this last year with the help of a workshop with my beloved Catherine Andrews and the word I came up with really did become a lighthouse for me, and was the inspiration I had to evolve the name and focus of this here newsletter.
And, as I begin the mulling process, what I am already seeing is this: my resolve this year has far less to do with outward ambition, and productivity, and getting/having/doing, and so much more with receiving. I want to receive my life. I want to experience my days as more peaceful than chaotic. I want to turn my focus inward, to close my eyes and listen, to tend to my inner flame, to discover how to delight and entertain and care for myself, to spend so much less time on my phone. And I want all of this now.
I am no longer waiting for the pandemic “to be over.” Instead, my focus is on adapting. And, OK, there *are* some concrete things I want to do: I want to take a two week vacation, and start dating again, and get hella swole, and continue to grow SELF MADE, and be in conversation with my nervous system, and do the damn mobility exercises the PT tells me to do, and <gasp> dear god let me have some more consistent fun, and I will of course mask-up and be careful as I practice all these things. But I’m no longer waiting.
Two years in Pandemia, and the old approaches have lost their luster. I know you know what I mean. So, in 2022, let’s slow the engine down. Let’s rest, and say NO. Let’s have a say over screentime, instead of being beholden to it. And, instead of waiting for better times, let’s continue to create more beauty.
Y’all I fucking love you so much. Happy New Year (or not! Be frustrated and sad and disappointed! THIS IS A MASK FREE ZONE - in the sense that you don’t have to pretend!).
THANK YOU for your readership, I don’t know what I’d do without this space.
Yours in adaptation,
DANI
No read/watch/listen this week - instead, I am extending an invitation for you to become a paid subscriber.
Get 20% off for 1 year
If you dig my work, consider a subscription, which, I’m not just saying this, truly makes this publication possible.
If you subscribe in the next week, you’ll save 20%! And you’ll earn my utmost, sincerest, most undying affection, always (yes you already have that but now you’ll have it EVEN MORE).
Whatever you choose - thank you for your eyes on my words this year. This community of readers and writers gives me purpose and meaning, and my gratitude is infinite.
Get 20% off for 1 year
Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you like this newsletter, please consider leaving a comment, sending it to a friend or becoming a paid subscriber. Or respond and say hi, I *always* love hearing from you.