On New Year’s Resolutions

TWO WEEKS! 🛑🏎️💨

There are only two weeks between us and the end of the year.

Where has the time gone? Did we not just survive Y2K? 💽📼📟

Sophie asked me last week if I write New Year’s resolutions. My answer was immediate: nope.

I never have.

I like to ease my way into new habits and dream wildly about what could be in the coming year. If things click in March, so be it. I feel the same about August.

With that in mind, I want to share the two things I do as each year wraps up.

First, I look back and ask myself (please excuse the morbidity, but it’s honest!),

“If I died today, what would I be disappointed I didn’t do or accomplish this past year?”

Then I make space to move toward that in the year ahead.

This has gotten me to all 50 states (by the age of 30), the top of Kilimanjaro, the end of the Inca Trail, to continent number 7, and randomly to 5 of 7 Central Asian "stans".

But for longer-term clarity, I have a more purposeful year-end ritual.

I block off a few quiet hours, put my phone away, and sit with the same set of reflection questions every December.

After that, I invite someone I trust into the process and go deeper — sharing honestly, vulnerably, and without rushing to solve anything.

This helps me close every year with intentionality while looking forward to what’s to come with renewed hope and purpose.

Less "Meet the man of my dreams" and more "Be the woman you were designed to be" energy, if you know what I mean. 😉

Yesterday, I shared this practice and the specific questions with my newsletter community.

If you’d like a copy of the newsletter with the prompts, shoot me a DM or comment “newsletter” and I’ll share it with you.

The questions are especially powerful if you’re in the messy middle of a job search, life transition, or you just feel stuck (oh, hai, middle age!).

When clarity feels far away, honesty with yourself can bring you closer to solid ground.

What’s one question you’re sitting with as this year comes to a close?