notes for the new year
2026 isn't real, it can't hurt you
this week’s Thought (singular)
inside my blanket? warm and cozy. outside my blanket? i wouldn’t know because i haven’t left my blanket. i’m not about to find out.
a very warm welcome to all new readers. i love new readers so much that whenever i get an email about a new reader, i manifest that they find a new song to obsess over. thank you for joining us. may you have it on repeat.
a very warm welcome to old readers as well. may good sense continue to prevail.
hi
my 2026 horoscope on horoscope dot com said it’s going to be a transformational year, so i’m laying down some guidelines for dealing with all this transformation that i am sure will be very easy and smooth. sharing these notes in case your year is also transformational.
loosen your grip. hold it lighter. the time will pass anyway.
may it be easier. make it easier. and if it’s not easier, may you come out on the other side older and wiser.
the more character-building you go through, the funnier you become. (this is less of a note and more of a fervent manifestation.)
@lovedropx on twt sometimes an experience is bad. this doesn’t mean anything. everything isn’t fodder for your self-help newsletter. everything isn’t that deep. everything will pass.
move. move your body so your mind gets distracted.
be open, even when it’s become habit to be closed. habits can change. habits should change.
just do it. stop self-sabotaging. think less and do more.
spend more time outdoors. stand in the shade of trees more, take close-up pictures of flowers, bother any and all stray cats that have the misfortune of crossing your path.
don’t run behind perfection - focus on practice.
@zeppelinmoon on instagram actively seek out new experiences, new people, new places. stay alive to newness. don’t give in to the call to stagnate - this is what is demanded of you, but you can demand something else of yourself. stay alive. there is possibility of a bearable life under late stage capitalism - fight to find it.
don’t neglect old experiences, old people, old places. stay in touch. re-ignite old relationships that always felt like home before somebody quietly left without realising it.
keep turning to art, again and again and again. read everything, watch everything, listen to anything you can get your hands on. this will save you.
@and-fishing-equipment on tumblr remember that every day is a new day and the name of this new game you’ve begun to play is love, hope, and joy. live it like a mantra. if there is a god listening, they will hear it through these practices.
i hope you have a good year. and if that isn’t possible, i hope you have a sizeable chunk of good daysweeksmonths. may we be transformed for the better.
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A Picture!
English Recitation Competition
what if, Claudia Rankine (full poem here)
What does it mean to want an age-old call for change not to change and yet, also, to feel bullied by the call to change? How is a call to change named shame, named penance, named chastisement? How does one say what if without reproach? The root of chastise is to make pure. The impossibility of that—is that what repels and not the call for change?
Release, Julia Fehrenbacher
This morning as my eyes blink open it occurs to me as if for the first time what you, miracle body, have been up to All night long, while I let go you pumped blood through veins to fingertips and toes grew cells and eyelashes and nails inhaled and exhaled countless times all this while the sun tirelessly birthed new life all this without a thought or a word or a worry without a drop of help from me I laugh when I remember that just yesterday in a torrent of heart-numbing stories I seriously thought I needed to do something
Aware, Denise Levertov
When I opened the door I found the vine leaves speaking among themselves in abundant whispers. My presence made them hush their green breath, embarrassed, the way humans stand up, buttoning their jackets, acting as if they were leaving anyway, as if the conversation had ended just before you arrived. I liked the glimpse I had, though, of their obscure gestures. I liked the sound of such private voices. Next time I’ll move like cautious sunlight, open the door by fractions, eavesdrop peacefully.
The Good Side of the Internet
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this week’s Song
Haunted When the Minutes Drag by Love and Rockets
find all shared songs here.
thank you for reading, and see you next time <3