It's New Years Eve

Saying a glad farewell to 2025

Good morning, everyone. <3

Happy New Year’s Eve. :) It’s a day that feels both peaceful and chaotic, fraught in a way I can’t fully articulate - this uncomfortable undercurrent feeling, this push and pull from inside, from the background, from underground. Maybe it’s real, maybe it isn’t, but still there is a big sensation there.

How are you observing the day today? How are you caring for yourself? How does NYE make you feel?

Yesterday was my mom’s 79th birthday. We had a cheerful day in NYC, celebrating quietly and happily. Friends dropped by to bring tokens of love - flowers, books, small wrapped gifts. Cherry pie, chocolate truffles. We ended the day joyfully, peacefully, and she mentioned that it felt like Christmas.

And now this morning, waking up early, I felt that invisible frenetic energy, that collective pressure, the building up, anticipation, it’s the whole world united in a single thought. It’s mixed with memory and sorrow, wishes and dreams, tarnished hope being cleaned in a hurry with aluminum foil and a baking soda bath. Everyone rushing to make the evening perfect, to end the year just right, to enter the new one with luck and positivity, to set the tone for the next 12 months.

Excitement. Suspense. Nerves, Tension, Pressure.

The truth is, pressure or not, everything is about to shift, and it feels like we are mostly in collective agreement - that this is exactly what is needed right now. A big change, some movement, repositioning. That can mean whatever we want and will mean something different for each of us, for all of us. What does it mean for you?

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It’s New Year’s Eve, and I feel that frenetic buzz, that intensity, that wild and strange untethered anxiety. So I am taking the reins and reeling it in. I started by writing this post to you, and I’ll continue it by focusing on a 2 part writing/speaking exercise: REFLECTION AND DEVISING.

Depending on how it feels, I will either do both parts today, though if it feels like too much, I will do the second part tomorrow morning. I invite you to join me, and you can also choose to do both steps today, or one for NYE and one to start the year tomorrow, whichever feels best - most natural and supportive.

PART 1: REFLECTION

In this part of the exercise, I just want to take some time today to recognize what was achieved in 2025. I don’t only mean goals being met, but I also mean where there was compromise, adjustment, and survival. The unexpected problem solving, the navigation, the strategy, the adaptiveness, the painful endurance, the surrender. There might have been times when we were meeting a goal we never set, showing ourselves a skillset or master we never knew we possessed. When we were ultra vulnerable, allowed our walls to be broken down, when we met a challenge with fear and pushed through anyway. There are a million ways to measure achievements and successes, and I just want to take a little time to be open minded and creative with this reflection.

I googled the definition of reflection, and of course the word has different usages, but this meaning, related to another use of the word struck me unexpectedly:

‘the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.’

I know these words are related to an elemental and scientific definition, but they are visceral, applicable here in this exercise, too.

‘the throwing back by a body.’

Here, I picture a person, physically jolted backwards in an extreme way, whiplashed, surprised or shocked. Taken aback by an experience, thrown off course, the rug pulled out from under them.

‘without absorbing it.’

This is often easier said than done, but it is important here in this reflection exercise. We can revisit moments of success and pride, times that were hard, times that were scary or beautiful, recognizing our successes without absorbing the memories. We can bring forth and forward what is needed, and we can leave the rest behind.

Other definitions:

a thing that is a consequence of or arises from something else.

turning back : return

an image seen in a mirror or shiny surface.

serious thought or consideration.

consideration of some subject matter, idea, or purpose

a thought, idea, or opinion formed or a remark made as a result of meditation

an instance of reflecting

.

So let’s reflect on 2025, without fully returning, without absorbing anything we wish to discard and leave behind.

The way I like to do this, so that I can remember everything, is to incorporate the use of my calendar and daily journal, (the same method I use for doing taxes and when I got audited this year). Starting with January, we can return for a moment to that time, remembering what we were doing, how we were feeling. If you have any sort of log or documentation, like a calendar (paper or computer), diary, daily journal, etc., you can see specific dates and appointments that jog remembrances.

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NYE REFLECTION EXERCISE TO REMEMBER THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF 2025

1. In a notebook or on a computer, write the following category headings:

   JANUARY

   FEBRUARY

   MARCH

   APRIL

   MAY

   JUNE

   JULY

   AUGUST

   SEPTEMBER

   OCTOBER

   NOVEMBER

   DECEMBER

   **If this month by month method does not resonate or feel natural, you can skip ahead to Step 4 and free write/reflect about the year in general

2. Using any form of log from 2025, go through each month, reminding yourself of moments that feel important to you now and add them to each category. This can be literally anything, there are no rules.

3. Based on your logs, experiences, and memories, name each month with a main theme, for example: JANUARY: I BECAME A CARPENTER, FEBRUARY: MY READING MONTH, MARCH: WHEN I FOUND MY COURAGE, APRIL: WHEN I FINALLY SAID NO, MAY: WHEN I RECOGNIZED THE FLOWERS, JUNE: WHEN I FOUND A NEW FRIEND, JULY: A TIME OF EXPLORATION, AUGUST: A MONTH OF NEW PROJECTS, SEPTEMBER: WHEN I SURVIVED, etc.

4. Free write about the year in general. This can be in a letter to yourself, a letter to a deceased loved one, a journal entry, a poem, anything that feels natural and supportive. This is a time to let loose and dig in, take hold of the year, find threads of success and things to feel proud of, things to bring forward, things to let go of and release.

What we do with this writing is up to us. We will know once it is completed. <3

Now it’s time for the next step, DEVISING, the one we bring into 2026. :)

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Here is my post from New Year’s Eve 2024, still 100% relevant today, and with a description of PRESENT, POSITIVE, PERSONAL (PPP), the goal setting strategy I incorporated last year on this day.

And here is my post from 2023, when I introduced a song I released on New Year’s Eve 2019, which I’ve listened to again and reflected on as an annual tradition ever since. The lyrics, written about our shared life - the government, our world, humanity’s struggle - unfortunately still are blaring with meaning, though the song ends as it always does with a light of hope, ‘the thing with feathers,’ that we must always remain in touch with, hold on to, help each other stay connected with.

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So in light of both goals and hope, I will do my PPP exercise, my preparation for 2026. I will listen to this song as contemplative support of gentle courage, and I will write my Present, Positive, Personal goals. Last year on New Year’s Eve I chose 2 concrete goals, and I achieved them both. The way I chose these goals was based on the exercise below.

PART 2: DEVISING

In this part of the exercise, we prepare our minds for the future. We are going to rewire our mental pathways so we can launch forward on the highway of our future selves. It’s scary and exciting :)

Devise meaning: to invent a plan, system, object, etc. using intelligence or imagination

Devise synonyms: arrange come up with concoct construct craft create design discover forge formulate hatch invent mastermind prepare work out

Devising synonyms: creative imaginative innovative inventive seminal unconventional unusual.

This is perfect.

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NYE DEVISING EXERCISE TO CHOOSE PPP GOALS FOR 2026

1. In a notebook or on a computer, write the following category headings.

   -Personal Health and Wellness

   -Romantic Love and Partnership

   -Family, Friends, all Relationships

   -Home and Daily Living

   -Career and Financial Wealth

   -Skills and Competence

   -Quality of Life

   **you can adjust these headings to words that feels more relatable if needed

2. Under each category heading, brainstorm your own personal goals, whatever comes to mind. Just write and keep writing, anything that comes to mind, no matter how big or small to goal, desire, wish may be. Anything we write will make us think of the next thing, get deeper and more nuanced into exactly what is needed in the here and now.

3. After writing them all (and take a good amount of time to express, release, flush out anything at all that comes to mind), read them back and circle or highlight the ones that feel the most urgent, powerful, needed. They will stand out to you in blaring boldness. Maybe you knew them already and didn’t need to think about it for a second. Whichever are those urgent ones, those are the priorities. It doesn’t mean the rest of them aren’t as important, it just means their time is not RIGHT NOW, their time is coming, their time is later.

4. On a new piece of paper, a new list, re-write the urgent goals, anywhere from 1-5 goals, and write them in present, positive, personal tense. The words must be written in the present tense, they must be positive, and they must be personal. For example, if you wrote something like, ‘I want to write and illustrate a children’s book’ as one of your goals, rewrite it as something like, ‘I am a published author of a children’s book.’ If you wrote something like, ‘I want to take better care of my health and not feel so tired all the time,’ rewrite it as something like, ‘I am healthy, vibrant, and full of energy.’ If you wrote something like, ‘I want to be kinder to my neighbors,’ write, ‘I am a good neighbor.’ Anything that feels poignant, powerful, simple, and fully encompasses what you want to achieve.

5. With this new list of Positive, Present, Personal goals, read them to yourself slowly, one at a time, fully recognizing the power of the words and visualizing it all being true in this moment. And then, say each of them out loud, slowly, confidently, with as much truth as you can muster. This will either be easy right away or will take a little easing into, but either way, this will be the new daily routine. Every day, waking up, while cooking breakfast, walking to work, doing errands, riding the subway, think and say your PPP goals to yourself. Believe them, embody them, and they will come to fruition. Your mind will not be able to know the difference between present and future, and it will all blend together as you suddenly find yourself taking all the necessary action steps to make your goals a reality.

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This is a lot, but we can do it. Thank you so very much for reading this. I will be doing these exercises today and tomorrow, and I hope that you will join me. The 2026 PPP exercise can also be done ANYTIME, not just right now. You can copy and paste it into a google doc/email or save this post and revisit this exercise anytime you want to throughout the year.

I also think it would be nice to join together on a Substack Live or Zoom in the first week of the year to share in the PPP goals exercise and to launch forward together into a new calendar year. I will keep you posted on the plans.

I also of course, want to thank you all for your continued support and kindness. I love this community and the zone of sharing and encouragement we have cultivated together. Please write in the comments any thoughts you have, any questions, and feelings or ideas. As always, I will be so happy to read them.

Wishing you a beautiful day and Happy New Year to you all.

Here we go!