“You only ever get to feel certain about the future once it’s already turned into the past.”
— Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks
This time of year, we are awash in promises and potential: new journals to write in, new gym memberships, new systems that claim they’ll finally help us “make the most” of the year ahead. The message is everywhere: optimize more, accomplish more, be more.
And while I genuinely believe in the value of tools that help us steward our energy and attention, I want to offer you a gentle nudge as a reader and friend.
In all your living and breathing, all your pushing and pulling, all your resting and stressing, remember this: you only ever have this moment. The future hasn’t arrived, and the past has already left. What’s real, what’s yours, is the present breath in your chest.
So as you read these words, pause.
Breathe into this moment.
Let it guide you more than any promise of what tomorrow might bring.
Wherever you are, whatever puzzle you’re turning over in your mind, take three deep breaths.
Fill your lungs a little more each time.
Release fully with each exhale.
Let your feet feel the ground beneath you; solid, steady, patient.
Remember that you are here, that you are alive in this precise moment in time. This is no small thing. This is enough.
If you’d like some help finding space and peace in the new year, send me an email at [email protected].
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