New Year’s Resolutions 2023

 

I was inspired by Alok Vaid-Menon to take on the practice; I usually hate New Year’s resolutions, I feel that January is the worst time to try and change anything, in the middle of a hard winter, when all you want to do is cling onto comforts. I’d much rather be reflective and move with the seasons in September. However

 

  1. take more photographs again. so much of the last few years beauty and glorious moments were unrecorded and now i am forgetting them. remember the joy in being behind the camera and capture. mark the time as it passes. you never expected to get here, turning 30, appreciate it.

  2. revel in awe and beauty, be it pondering the depths of the universe, the feral and domestic natural world, or getting lost in art, in the written word again.

  3. ‘self-neglect is not a virtue. love is about becoming – not betraying - yourself.’ Alok Vaid-Menon. take time for yourself.

  4. you are at the edge of a creative crossroad with infinite possibility stretching out ahead of you. explore, experiment, dedicate yourself to a practice, make mistakes, get lost, fail. do not mistake fear and paralysis for careful consideration.  

  5. relish and savour pleasures, swim, dance, feast, read, laugh, sing; hold your loved ones in your arms and be held.

  6. continue to grow as a community builder and freak collector.

  7. learn the liturgy against fear and chant it on the bus when the sense memory of panic attacks rise against your teeth.

  8. treat yourself with the empathy, warmth and understanding you show to others.

  9. kindness is a skill, and a garden, cherish it and let it grow and choose to pass it onto others.

  10. it is a gift and a privilege to live the live i do, surrounded by friends and loved ones, feel that gratitude, share the love.

  11. wishes for a new year, that you’ll ‘dream dangerously and outrageously, that you’ll make something that didn’t exist before you made it’ Neil Gaiman.

 

This is a mug I have broken twice and repaired twice. I can’t think of a better symbol for the new year.

Marina Johnsonpoetry, creative writing, writing, new year’s resolution, Alok, Alok Vaid-Menon, update