My Wish for 2025 and Beyond
I always have and always will measure where we are in life based on Zenon Girl of the 2st Century, which was set in 2049.
Now that it’s 2025, we’re only 24 years away! Proto Zoa is probably a baby right now! Metallic leggings are a mere 2 decades away from being cool! And we can all look forward to the kids saying “cetus lupeedus” instead of “gas.” So much cooler!
If you’re not a millennial and have no idea what I’m talking about, let’s just move along.
Welcome to 2025, everyone! We’re almost a week in, and I hope it’s been full of pajamas, warm drinks, and reflection. (For those of us where that rings true, what a privilege!!)
In fact, I released an episode of Paring Down last week called Reflection Questions to Live More Intentionally, which is a great little listen for anyone who gets overwhelmed by resolutions but wants to be intentional and thoughtful about the year ahead!
Today, I want to share a little something about my hope for our world this coming year and moving forward as it relates to what we own and how we spend our time. I hope you find it inspiring and uplifting!
(It’s an extension of the post I shared on Instagram HERE…and I may share this whole thing to Instagram as well, so if you’ve seen it, consider letting it process twice!)
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Here’s my wish. I wish for kindness. I wish for the benefit of the doubt, forgiveness, and room for nuance. I wish for hearts that focus on relationships instead of material possessions. I hope we hug a lot, give generously to the point of discomfort, and chase love over status. I wish for a year of growth, a year of letting go, and a year of making room for what matters.
When we make room for what matters, the implications are profound.
It means we are identifying what’s important to us. It means we aren’t on autopilot, making choices based on what everyone else is doing or following the path of least resistance. It means we believe that there are, in fact, things that matter - which means we’re engaged with life. We feel hope, experience love, and know joy.
Making room for what matters means we live in freedom from the things in life that promise happiness but yield disappointment. The temporary thrill of acquiring material possessions ensnares us in a constant cycle of dissatisfaction and endless striving. As the newness fades, it leaves in its trail a mountain of housework, debt, regret, and guilt.
Future generations deserve better. My children deserve better. There’s nothing political about intellectually acknowledging that burning non-biodegradable items like plastics (now found in virtually everything - from our clothing to our storage bins) releases highly toxic gasses, which affect both human health and the environment. Toxic ash contaminates not just the air, but soil and water - which Western societies take so flippantly for granted. It’s blatantly ignorant or dangerously greedy to deny that the way we’re operating in the name of fashion, entertainment, and convenience is simply not sustainable for human life. We need uncontaminated water, fertile soil, and clean air. Period. And it’s not dramatic to say so.
Making room for what matters means considering these tough realities. We can look around our homes and schedules and say, “Does how I operate align with my core values?” When we begin to let go of our abundance of physical possessions, we become more in tune with what those core values actually are - and in turn proceed differently in nearly every area of our lives.
We love more openly.
We give more generously.
We consume less casually.
We seek more earnestly.
We commit less thoughtlessly.
We agree more cautiously.
We're hospitable more enthusiastically.
So it’s my hope that this year and every year ahead, we do our best to let go of the excess – the excess inside our homes, calendars, and minds. We have the agency to decide what matters to us and live accordingly, no matter what cards this life has dealt us.
Let’s move forward with intention. Collectively, what a difference that will make.
