New Year, Same Me
Why I'm Not Climbing aboard the Resolution Train this Year
It’s January 1st, 2026.
We made it.
For many, January 1st is when the new year officially begins. A little odd considering it’s still the absolute dead of winter and the winter solstice (longest day of the year) was only 12 days ago. But for many, this is when we bid farewell to the previous year and look ahead with a “clean slate” and a long list of goals we aim to achieve in the next twelve months.
However, not everyone sees January 1st as the appropriate start to the new year.
If you follow the lunar cycle, then your new year might begin on February 17, 2026.
If you follow the seasonal equinoxes, perhaps you start your new year upon the spring equinox, March 20th, 2026, a time that truly signals rebirth and renewal.
Whenever your new year starts, I hope it is cozy, joyful, and offers hope and courage for the year ahead.
I do have goals I hope to achieve this year, but as far as “resolutions” go… I merely desire to be kinder to myself and to others, and to make healthier habits and choices along the way. As I do every year.
I am no longer pretending that I am going to suddenly become some new, unrecognizable version of myself in these next twelve months. I am still me. One 24 hr day cycle did not magically transform me into an actual blank slate, bringing nothing with me into the new year.
It is a new year, but I am not a new me. And I’m good with that.
In fact, I hope I don’t suddenly become someone other than myself in 2026.
I have brought me this far, I’m not about to ditch me now.
I hope as you plan for the year ahead, you allow yourself to continue being yourself. Sure, you might take the current model in for some minor adjustments: maybe you finally keep a birthday calendar for your friends and family, maybe you finally try every cheese known to man, maybe this is the year you stop making resolutions and just see what happens.
Whatever it is you are wishing for this year, I hope you proceed with compasion and curiosity. I hope you surge forth in pursuit of your dreams with a mindset that isn’t so much dead-set on succeeding, as content to enjoy the journey in pursuit of something interesting.
What is “success” anyways? Is it crossing the finish line of your first half-marathon? Or is it all the hours you showed up for yourself in its pursuit?
I hope this year, if you do nothing else, you show up. As yourself. Show up in whatever way that serves you best:
Show up with a smile, because the previous year was filled with frowns.
Show up with a frown, because the previous year was filled with fake smiles.
Show up when you don’t really feel like showing up.
Or truly honor your body, and don’t show up when it doesn’t feel right.
I don’t think resolutions should be measured in actual accomplisment. I think the road to resolutions is paved with failure, fun, and hopefully some personal evolution. Sometimes a goal is achieved at the end of that road. Sometimes it isn’t. Who cares? Did you enjoy yourself along the way?
If you run a half-marathon but hated every second of training and running the actual marathon… what, prey tell… is the actual point? Other than forcing onself to suffer in the name of physical accomplishment?
You only get so many precious minutes/hours/days in this life. Don’t waste it beating yourself up that you didn’t spend every single morning doing “morning pages,” because you made some resolution to do so on a random day in the dead-middle-of-winter. Don’t force yourself to do some insane thing you don’t actually care about just to make your dad proud. Don’t make a list of impossible tasks just because “it’s what people do this time of year.”
Step into this new year compassionately.
Step into this new year whenever you choose.
Step into this new year as yourself.