Welcome 2024! In a general sense, I’m getting increasingly terrified about the future for a whole slew of reasons. But I’m not writing to cover the socioeconomic or political state of the world going into the new year, I simply do not have the bandwidth or omniscience to get into it. I am writing to you and your New Year’s resolutions.
As the years progress, my illusion of the control I have over change and the extent to which I can apply it to my life diminishes. I have changed immensely year after year, and funnily enough, a ball dropping in New York has never been a catalyst in my life. So, as I was shouting “3, 2, 1,” looking at lips raised at the corners, catching reflections of smiling eyes through reflections of a garland of plastic stars, and ringing in the new year in a bar full of many strangers, I began to think about the concept of resolutions.
I definitely didn’t find myself forming any resolutions for the coming year. Cutting out alcohol, eating less sugar, getting a hobby… nothing resonated — then I realized that I definitely do have a resolution, just not one that can be measured or checked off.
I like to think of resolutions, instead, as reminders of how to live life the way we really want to, adding an additional attentiveness to our easily distracted minds. So this year, here’s mine: to do less.
More accurately, I want to be less efficient in order to do things slower and find the enjoyment in them. I want to fold laundry slowly with no distractions. I want to be less impressive to people who are fully entrenched in the capitalist definition of the world. I want to prove less. I want to want less—in fact, I want to redefine my relationship with the idea of ownership. While a silly concept if applied too generally, focusing on less allows me to acknowledge how incredibly abundant my life already is, and I’m guessing it’d help you too.
Especially as Americans, we are often so focused on progress. Of course we are, we live in a hugely influential capitalism-driven country, allowing the goal of profit to seep into our every credence. We want more, or at the very least different, constantly.
I’m not telling you not to set goals, but I am asking you to examine where the urge to set these goals comes from, and ask yourself: what would really make me happy? What do you want to change and why?
Personally, I don’t want to reinvent myself and in this society, with all of the ways capitalism benefits from selling self improvement, this mindset can lead to some beautifully radical thinking. In each moment I want to attempt to remind myself that slowing down allows an awareness that is consistently misplaced.
We often find ourselves focusing on less important things, yet we continue this cycle anyway in the name of productivity. We still rush, ignore, buy, sell, yell, attempt perfection. We think we know how to live when all evidence points otherwise. Just comparing New Year’s celebrations from the 90s to this year, it seems obvious that we’ve lost some of our joy, and understandably so.
We always think we are missing something, but I’m asking you to think harder about your happiness. So make resolutions, or don’t, or do and break them. Get comfortable with less, it’s kinder than more.
