Things I Want You to Know On the Edge of the Year

Days 03-10 of 12 :: A Digest of Messages for Your New Year

Dec 30, 2024

Coming your way with a hot Christmas peppermint cocoa and a tree that still sparkles with gold.

This one cup holds my monthly sugar allowance, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

One of my biggest Christmas gifts this year? YOU… reading these words.

What a total honor to serve you. To get to be a little part of your story unfolding.

This space between Christmas and New Year feels like the hush between worlds—when one world is fading and another one is dawning.

I’ve written up some things I know I need to hear as I’m stepping into the unknown. Maybe some of them will resonate with you as well.

Here are some things I want you to know on the edge of this new year.

You Are Worthy of Taking Up Space

In a world that is trying to reduce us to numbers and define our worth by our productivity, bank accounts, or follower status, I want you to know you are worthy of taking up space.

Let’s commit together.

I refuse to shrink my being, my breath, or my belovedness to fit in a space too small for me.

Let’s refuse together. You don’t have to say it out loud even. You can whisper it to yourself as you look in the mirror when no one else is around.

Friend, you are worthy of being seen and celebrated, welcomed and loved— just as you are without an if, and, or but.

You are worthy of taking up space with your art-making, your word-writing, your being and becoming.

No more shrinking into someone else’s container of comfort.

You were created to take up space and I am so glad you are here to do just that.

Wildly, quietly, bravely in a whisper or a shout. This space is safe to be who you are.

Wonder is the Antidote to Loneliness

And I’m in the middle of writing a book about that very bold statement.

It has been reported that 1in 2 people in the USA struggle with loneliness and isolation.

And studies show loneliness can be just as damaging to our health as smoking.

Here we are in a great experiment where so much of our life is now lived between screens.

A place where we are more connected to everything everywhere all at once and disconnected from everything that matters most.

Finding ways to connect back to ourselves, one another, and the world around us has never been more vital.

In my experience, the deepest loneliness comes not from being alone, but from being disconnected from myself.

Being alone usually doesn’t make me lonely. I’m a card-carrying introvert, but still. Being disconnected makes me lonely.

It is possible to be surrounded by people you care about in a room and still struggle with loneliness. It is also possible to live alone and spend the bulk of one’s day alone and not feel lonely.

Wonder is the path back to courageous connection with ourselves, one another, and the world around us.

Wonder helps us learn to be curious. Curiosity pulls us towards meaningful conversation and deeper relationships. Curiosity also helps us learn to be our own best friend and cultivate kindness with ourselves and others.

Real self-care isn’t elaborate skincare rituals (although I might benefit from one slightly more elaborate than I now have) or expensive spa experiences. It’s about leaning into the invitation of befriending ourselves and welcoming every part of ourselves home.

It’s Time to Set Goals That Are SMART & KIND

New Year’s is synonymous with goal setting and planning, trying new methods to stretch our hours so that by the time we are 8.37 days into 2025, we are already exhausted.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we need to redefine our relationship with goal setting. OK, I’ll speak for myself... How I need to realign my relationship.

I’m approaching goal planning for 2025 very differently than I have for the last 10 years.

Shall I tell on myself?

About mid-December each year, I’d hide away with at least 5 notebooks, iPad, laptop, a wall calendar, and every color pen imaginable… and PLAN my YEAR. I mean down to the launch sequence and my goals had goals.

I’d assess every piece of content. Number crunch every decision. I was a strategist. And I would emerge for Christmas triumphant.

I had a SMART plan. My goals were Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound. They were so choreographed they were ready for Broadway.

But I refused to admit that my smart goals were also soul-draining.

They measured success in metrics my 2/3rds of a MBA and wall of business books told me were most important.

January would roll around and I would jump into goal execution beast mode. Usually, by week 2, I was no longer strategic. I was just stressed and so very tired.

Not this year friend.

I realize many of you aren’t running your own business, but we all have dreams. And the truth is, most of us are chronically overexposed to hustle culture hype that leaves us feeling like failures when we don’t perform as planned.

It is a recipe for getting creatively stuck before we even get started.

I have come to understand I need my goals to be SMART balanced with KIND. SMART is tactical. KIND is crucial.

(Yes I made “KIND” goals up. I love giving an idea a good acrostic a little too much. You’re welcome.)

This December I journaled wins, lessons, and big-picture goals for next year.

I’m mapping a general direction to explore not a travel itinerary to be bound by.

And I’m focusing on leaning into my intuition even more than I do my day planner.

Enter KIND goals that focus on:

Knowing my why and keeping aligned with my core values of wonder and connection.
Intentional progress rather than impossible perfection, measuring success based on the connections and community I build, the systems I implement, and metrics that are about how I show up in the world. I cannot control the algorithms, but I can control if I read more than I Netflix.
Nurturing curiosity. Making space for wonder. Getting curious rather than shutting down in shame. Learning new things. Growing creatively. Leaning into, as
Sharon McMahon
says, the joy of my most important work.
Defined with compassion. You and I, we are not cogs in some cosmic wheel. Our worth is not defined by our work. Every part of our being and becoming, every part of our story is worthy of compassion. Beating ourselves up for not being enough is not how we grow or become part of making beautiful things happen.

My inner critic committee can take a gap year. Yours can too. Here is a simple practice that can help with that ⬇️

Wake Up to Wonder 2025 is Almost Here.

Friends, we are about to start a huge new year-long adventure together on January 1.

Truly you can start any time during the year. You can’t get behind. There’s no catch up, only show up.

Wake Up to Wonder is a 5-minute/day practice of seeking out one teeny-tiny moment of beauty and goodness and recording it.

Then, at the end of 12 months, you'll have cultivated a life-changing practice of resilience and created a masterpiece of your year one tiny moment of wonder at a time.

Here is the free guide that explains everything in detail.