Happy new year! Hope it's treating you well so far.

I used to get excited about the new year, about revisiting all kinds of goals and new year's resolutions toward becoming an always out-of-reach, aspirational version of myself.

I later found out that I was not alone in the practice of buying an "aspirational planner" or other stationery that I'd hoped would magically make me more organized and able to reach the goals that were ever out of my grasp. But as one anonymous contributor to the various online conversations I've read about this over the years put it, it's not the stationery that's enticing but the promise of the person you might become with it.

My take on it offers a dose of wordplay, which is either my superpower or my super annoying trait, depending on who you ask:
We try out stationery to help us no longer feel stationary. But what's wrong with staying still?

When we're surrounded by messaging about continuous growth and improvement (where does that come from?), it can make us feel less than if we're just surviving, or doubt ourselves if we're happy where we are.

The goals I had for years and years were rooted in shame about the way I knew my brain worked (and had also internalized was wrong), or were based in someone else's idea of good, right, successful, without me giving myself time and space to think about what was right for me, because I assumed even if I had any idea, that would probably be wrong, too.

Over the years, I learned the best planners for me were undated ones where I could embrace being imperfect.

I also learned that craft paper planners that didn't come with any design or "aesthetic" at all gave me the creative freedom to make them my very own, usually through doodling, sometimes through collecting other doodles and signatures from all my friends, or aspirationally (nothing wrong with still having aspirations), washi tape, stickers, highlighters, colorful pens, and straight lines (but for now that's too much work and that's okay).

Here's permission for you to stop reaching for the tallest apples on the tree when you don't even like eating apples. Spread out your blanket under the tree and eat whatever you want (or, take a nap!).

In light of this, you might have noticed I've been once again trying to send out newsletters more frequently, which, to follow my own advice, I need to admit is aspirational. I was prepublishing content even when I wasn't feeling well, which I would tell anyone else to absolutely not do. So, this new year, I commit to slowing down (again). If the newsletter doesn't get sent every single week, it's really not a big deal. What's important is aligning (or realigning) to my own energy.
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What goal of your own can you dial back? Where can you give yourself permission to slow down, or even become stationary and embrace the stillness?