New Year Narratives

When I was little we used to spend New Years Eve at my grandmother's.  My aunts, my cousins … all there.  There would be food, games, party hats, noise makers and all the customs that came with the New Year.  

Having New Year’s at my grandmother’s, Auld Lang Syne sung with crossed hands and in a circle and sending my father outside with bread, salt, a coin and a few other items - because my father was the only male sibling and a brunette - all our customs.  

While I’m not sure if there is any significance to how we sang Auld Lang Syne … there is to having my father enter the house with his “gifts” … it was meant to ensure good health, prosperity and good luck for the household in the year ahead.

Over time I’d almost forgotten watching my dad and his sisters do this.  They freely shared the reasons - every year - but I don’t think the significance stuck, the child in me found it fun/funny to watch.  

These same aunts believed in tarot and tea leaf readings, the mystical and in manifesting - although the namings might have been different - the practice was not and it was what I grew up around.  The funny thing is, I’m not sure how much my father believed - he did the thing - but I’m not sure he believed. In fairness, I’m also not sure he didn’t.  

What I love - my nieces, who were not exposed to this growing up - found their own way there, to these ideas and beliefs.  Might be a generational thing … it’s trending and they are exposed through social media … it might be they are hardwired to believe or have these ideas resonate … it might be a little of both. Whatever the reason, I love that they have the imagination to see a life for themselves that is free of limits, that they have the capacity to dream big, to be open to endless possibilities.  

The wild, carefree, magical parts of my aunts’ souls live there … 

While I can lean into nostalgia at this time of year … that’s not where this trip down memory lane springs from. 

I recently had the urge to declutter … Move things around, create space.  Not letting go to let go, more of a ‘this no longer fits my life, the person I am or the person I’m becoming’.  I felt lighter after.  Not because I got rid of a ton of things, just things taking up space. As we’re nearing the end of the year I’ve been seeing a ton of reels about new year and end of year practices and was both surprised and not surprised to see that decluttering was one of the recommended practices.  

Two others that I’m working on … 

One. Thinking about my 2026 … designing a vision board of how and what I’d like to materialize this year.  This isn’t just pictures of airplanes or yoga, it’s the steps I’m taking to build these things - the messy action.  

I’ve altered my approach to help my brain not just picture the outcome but to embody how to build it.  It’s a continuation of what I have been working on, building on the foundations as it were. 

I like this approach, when I see the pictures over the course of the year it is a mini litmus test … How does this life make me feel? Anxious? Happy? Out of reach? Like coming home? This has helped me identify where I’m resisting change, not connected to a goal, which goals carry more weight or meaning.  This helps me adjust or tweak my actions, identify where I’m blocking myself, the goal itself isn’t accurate or aligned and needs adjusting etc. 

Bottom line … My emotional response to the images gives me a sense of my readiness, commitment or connection with what I think I want.  It’s feedback I'm learning to use and I've been finding it helpful. 

This year I’m also creating some “action” oriented steps … not for all … for some. The others I’ll layer in over the year.  This gives me direction and turns high-level strategy into tangible, actionable steps to move me forward. 

Two. Planning out one thing that scares me - my misogi - and a series of mini-adventures. 

I like this because it challenges me to think of what adventures I’d like to take, explore, have!  I like that my friends participated because they helped me do things I wouldn’t have thought of on my own … like taking a pottery class. 

While the last few weeks of 2025 are always busy, I started thinking about this early December, so I spent the first part of December percolating ideas, asking myself where I stalled, was successful, what I need to leave behind, how I want to show up … It was reflective and brutal honesty with myself.  So, a little emotional but also taking a minute to recognize my growth, my wins.

I then started the process of pulling data out of my head and putting it on paper.  Fine tuning who and what I’m moving towards.  

It’s a roadmap and like any roadmap, there will be unplanned bumps, course changes and adaptations that are required.  That’s ok.  The roadmap is meant to be a guide not a commandment.  It’s meant to provide direction, meant to allow for recalibration, meant to be dynamic.  

These traditions I’m creating aren’t unlike my aunts and grandmother sending my father outside … They are meant to set a tone, an intention, a narrative for the year ahead. This is the direction I’m choosing to move towards … This is the life I’m choosing to build … This is the life that’s in progress.