Feeling “Meh” About the New Year? You’re Not Alone
Each new year, there’s a whole slew of “New Year New You” posts, emails, conversation, and advertisements. This blog is not meant to throw a turd in the punchbowls of so many of you who have big goals and dreams. It’s not a shame-mail to those who FINALLY took time to reflect on their awesomeness.
If you are EN FUEGO right now and about ready to kick some ass in 2025, skip this one. 💗
This blog is meant for those of you out there who are feeling dormant, and slow, and grumpy. Those for whom “Happy New Year” is more like “Meh! Another Year”.
This post is for those of us who have been scrolling through November and December and want to throw our phones against a wall because it seems like the entire world is going in directions that we just don’t want to.
If the following feels familiar to you… you’re on to something. I wrote a version of this in December 2023. I like to re-read articles I wrote to see where we were and where we are going. I got to this one and felt like… whoa. Here we are again. It feels so similar. Yet, more, I dunno, hesitant? Scary? Confusing?
It’s a time when the earth seems to be at odds with itself. A time when humanity has lost its glorious purpose of being in relationship and community.
A familiar wave of poutiness has crashed to shore this time because it’s full of declarations of newness and announcements of goals and shouting accomplishments and when we aren’t feeling it? It throws us into a perpetual state of oppositional defiance. And that kinda stuff can make ya grumpy.
This, of course, has to with so much that is going on in the world today, our worries and fears about the next season of life, and our beautifully aware nervous systems.
But, what if for us… it’s just another year, dammit? And what if I’m literally holding my breath, cautious about what 2025 is gonna bring, instead of excited and “fresh”?
This year newness feels imposed. I hate it.
If you’ve ever been there — in a place where it seems everyone around you is celebrating, or changing, or growing, and you’re sitting there feeling dormant, I want you to know you aren’t alone. I see you. I am not wanting 2025’s version of newness.
It’s difficult to get pumped up about what a new year will bring when the past four years have brought so many side quests that were either truly out of our control, or within our control and went south.
And if you are one of those who Healer, First Responder, or Motivator is part of your identity, you may feel a need to grieve and your nervous system may be swinging toward the other side of the pendulum – into malaise, cocooning, and slowness.
So what the heck does 2025 bring to those who aren’t looking forward to a New Year? How do we move into 2025 when 2024 slogged by and blindsided us all at the same time… and we aren’t finished with the process that it began?
My Offering to you – two words:
Mourning and Surfing.
Mourning and Surfing serve as powerful and curious metaphors to approach the new year, especially when we don’t feel a strong sense of excitement or ambition about it.
Honoring the Past to Create Space for Growth
Mourning allows us to confront and grieve for the past year(s!) in a meaningful way. It offers us an opportunity to pause, reflect, and truly acknowledge the challenges we’ve faced, the battles we’ve fought, and the things we’ve lost. The things we might lose.
We unpack the invisible backpack we’ve been carrying and inspect it’s contents. Carefully, we are picking up and examining each thing we’ve been carrying and choosing to repack it, or let it go.
This process of mourning, while painful, is crucial for our healing. It helps us to close chapters, to bid farewell to past experiences, and to clear the path for new opportunities to become more present to our values.
Mourning is a most sacred form of self-loyalty and care, a way to honor our experiences and emotions, to validate our feelings, and to ultimately move forward with a clearer mind and more open heart.
Adapting to Life’s Waves Without Getting Swept Away
Surfing, on the other hand, suggests an approach to the new year that is dynamic and active while also being passive and responsive. It is about riding the waves of life, gracefully navigating its ups and downs, its twists and turns. It’s about watching the giant wave that’s about to come crashing toward you – and getting on top of it before it gets on top of you.
Surfing isn’t about attempting to control or predict every wave; instead, it’s about learning to move with the flow, adapt to changes, and make the best of what comes our way. It embodies resilience, flexibility, and the constant willingness to learn and grow. Surfing encourages us to embrace uncertainty, to take risks, and to celebrate the journey rather than just the destination.
When we surf, we must pay close attention to our letting go. We must stay in the moment while watching what’s coming.
Together, the concepts of Mourning and Surfing encapsulate a holistic, gentle approach to the new year.
They remind us that it’s okay to grieve and to stay still, just as it’s okay to embrace change and to keep moving forward. They suggest that even in times of stagnation or resistance, there is always room for micro-growth and minute-transformation.
And most importantly, they offer a compassionate, non-judgmental perspective on the new year, one that respects our individual journeys and acknowledges the multitude of ways in which we can grow and evolve.
There’s No Right Way to Start a New Year
As we stand at the threshold of the new year, I see you. If you’re feeling grumpy, if you’re unwilling to change, if the excitement of the new year feels like an insult to you, I extend my hand in understanding.
I invite you to simply be. Be in your stillness. Be in your resistance. Be in your sameness.
Remember, there is no right or wrong way to approach a new year. No set path that you must follow, no expectations that you must meet. The world may be bursting with resolutions and plans, but it’s okay if you’re not ready for that. It’s okay if you need to sit quietly in the shadows of the old year a little longer.
And the beauty of life is that it always offers us growth and transformation, even when we’re not actively seeking it.
Even in our stillness, even in our resistance, we are growing. Every breath we take, every moment we survive, we are changing. So, even if you choose to stay the same, change will find you. It will wrap you in its gentle embrace and carry you forward, in its own time, in its own way.
So here’s to being grumpy, to staying the same, and to embracing the certainty of change in its own time. Here’s to giving ourselves permission to feel all our feelings, to move at our own pace, yet not allow our feelings to run the show. Here’s to honoring our journeys, no matter how slow or how fast, how smooth or how challenging.
May this new year bring you peace in your stillness, strength in your resistance, and the sweet, unexpected joy of good-trouble-change when you least expect it.
All My BeastyBoss,
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