Before the Year Starts Again

December always feels like standing in a doorway too long. It's as if the holidays soak up all your attention that you don't notice the new year approach until it's tomorrow. Goals are a big part of the new year; go to the gym more, learn a new word every day, take a cooking class, etc. Resolutions, however, also lean into recognition rather than something to check off your to-do list. What feels possible now in a way that it didn't a year ago?

Not every year changes you loudly. Some just rearrange things. If you realize that you want to be around your friends more, your priorities change enough to open up your schedule. If you want a new car, you begin to prioritize work in order to save up for it. Resolutions tend to sprout from what you would like to prioritize in the year to come. And those change all the time. What was a priority for you last year maybe isn’t one anymore—and the same can be said vice versa. The end of the year doesn’t necessarily mean you need some sort of overall message for the entire year that solidifies the end. Sometimes years end, not in clarity, but with a better sense of what doesn’t fit anymore—and what that absence makes room for.

You guessed it, a poll was indeed conducted, and I learned that you truly are the company you keep. All of my friends have felt tremendous growth this year, and I wish I knew there were other ways to get it other than suffering with a herniated disc all year. (Are you sick of me mentioning it yet?) I pondered on the concept of perspective, and how all of us have felt new experiences possible for us that we didn’t see as attainable before. Some gained confidence they didn’t see themselves having. Some gained a whole ass apartment to which I am VERY jealous and proud of them for. Others realized their career is within their grasp. And some regained spinal strength enough to go back to dance in April. (Can you guess who?) Other than my dance return date, I am choosing to not try to plan 2026 too tightly. I am choosing to see it as an open space rather than a full reset. Instead of resetting all behavior you regretted this year, learn from it in the next year. While I am upset to have aged another year, I have learned to appreciate everything a whole lot more. I have realized I need to be nicer to myself. I learned to appreciate the time I am given, as there is no way to buy any more. I appreciate the fact I have made it to 23 because there are the unfortunate countless who don't. I appreciate that I live in a world where everyone I love simply exists in my life. I appreciate that alcohol also exists.

In academic writing, it's usually suicide to address the reader, so I've been conditioned to avoid it, but given that it's the end of the year and there is almost a knee-jerk human urge to try something new between the months of January and March, here I go. I want you to ask yourself: what is something you thought was impossible a year ago that you have accomplished this year? Or that you know you will accomplish next year. Have you recognized what you could do without in the next year? Or have your priorities grown even bigger for the next year? While you might be reliving your doubtful decisions on repeat, try to remember that those decisions brought you to where you are at this moment.

Hearing everyone’s answers has made something click as I write. None of these changes came from perfectly planned resolutions—they sprung from space. From realizing what no longer fit, and what the absence quietly allowed to grow. The possibilities my friends (or you might have) named weren’t sudden miracles; they were the result of priorities shifting in ways they didn’t even know were available to them a year ago. Maybe that’s all this moment between years really is—a pause long enough to notice what’s changed and what no longer needs to come with us. Not every decision was right, and not every year needs to be summarized neatly with a bow. Some just leave you standing here with more room than you had before. For now that feels like enough. The year will start again soon. I don’t need to rush through the doorway.

My wonderful readers, I wish you the happiest of new years!