Rach checks in on New Year’s Day feelings, normalizing varied emotions and the pressure to be doing something on the first day of the year. She shares choosing gratitude over resolutions, framing goals as self-kindness without timelines.
Cadre Crew checks in to see how you're doing on New Year's Day. Rachael says there's no right or wrong way to bring in the new year. You're allowed to create meaning. If it doesn't, that's okay.
"I stopped making resolutions maybe four years ago. Instead, I started practicing gratitude. A goal is so different than a resolution, " she says. "It comes from a place of loving myself instead of not loving myself " Her goals don't necessarily have a timeline either.
Thank you guys so much for being here on New Year's Day. I hope that you give yourself so much kindness today and in the days to come. The last week has felt like a blur. The routine and the structure will come back.
Happy Wednesday, Cadre Crew and Happy new year. It's 2025, which is insane to me. I hope that you are all feeling hopefully rested, refreshed. Hi, Rach. No matter what you did or did not do last night to bring in the New Year, I just also want to remind you that there's no right way to do it. I stayed home and watched a movie. One of my friends came over, and I went to bed at, like, 10:30, which is probably the first time that I've not stayed up until midnight for New Year's in maybe a decade. And.
And it was okay. Like, that's all right. I think it's all. It's all okay. So I wanted to check in today because I know that. Hi, Jules. Happy New Year. For me, at least, like, both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day can bring a lot of varying emotions. I think New Year's Eve for me, historically, has brought a lot of grief, a lot of gratitude, like, kind of both. Both pieces. And New Year's Day has oftentimes created a lot of stress and anxiety. Like, I woke up this morning so. So anxious, so stressed.
I did not want to get out of bed. I just had this impending feeling of, like, I'm waking up today and I'm not prepared for being better. Like, there's a lot of narrative and lore about being better, making improvements on New Year's Day or, you know, in the New Year. And I felt that, like, physically and emotionally when I woke up. And so I just wanted to check in with all of you and see a. How you're doing, if you're doing okay. And if you're not, you're so not alone. This is a very strange experience that we've put ourselves through to create so much pressure around the changing of a year when really nothing has changed.
Like, it's Wednesday. Like, yesterday was Tuesday. The same was true last week when Wednesday came around. And yet we have this collective weight that we place on ourselves over the New year for it to have so much meaning. And. And it's wonderful and lovely. If it does. That's okay. You're allowed to create meaning. You're allowed to have meaning. I think that's an absolutely beautiful thing to do. And it's okay if it doesn't. It's also okay if it's stressful. It's all okay. There's no right way.
And even though I remind myself that over and over again, I still feel it. I still feel the weight of that and the stress of It. And I think it's really, really common. I talked to some of my friends about this about, like, you know, how strange it is to even though life feels good, to somehow have this, like, feeling in the back of my mind that, like, I'm not doing New Year's right or I should be with somebody or I should be kissing someone or I should be at a party or I should have resolutions or all this shoulding.
Right? I mean, there's no. There's no shoulds. It's just. It's. It's a. It's just a day. And again, like, if it. If it's a time that gives you the chance to build some meaning, build some. Some. Some goals, that's also super lovely. It is all okay. So this is really, truly just a gentle reminder that there's no right or wrong way to do this. There's no right or wrong way. If you're having a lot of feelings, that's okay. You're not the only one. If, you know, if you're. If you find it very exciting to wake up and feel like there's a new year and there's a chance to try new things, also wonderful and lovely.
My only hope is that you give yourself a lot of grace and compassion and. And the chance to do this, however, feels right for you. And also make sure that you check in with people. If you're feeling overwhelmed, if you're feeling alone, if you're feeling like you're not doing enough, text somebody you love. Do what you're doing right now. Just coming onto Cadre and being surrounded by people who are supportive and loving and who only want the best for you and who see you as a human being that is so much more valuable than anything else you could be doing or accomplishing, because who you are is just absolutely enough.
Rachel says. I'm just gonna read these comments. Rachel says, when I stopped making resolutions, I felt amazing. I did too. I stopped making resolutions maybe four years ago. Instead, I started practicing gratitude. And that was really, really helpful. It allowed me to still, like, honor the new year and, like, check back in on. On what happened prior in the year and maybe, you know, what I was grateful for and how that could inform the year coming ahead. But without this idea of, like, I need to change things.
Jules says, I make goals for myself versus resolutions. I like that. I think that's really a lovely thing to do. Like, a goal is so different than a resolution, because a resolution sort of is almost like a. I'm gonna change something about myself. Like Something's not good enough, and I'm gonna make it better. Whereas a goal is, like, something I can aspire towards, something I'm working on, a project. It comes from a place of loving myself instead of not loving myself. My goals don't necessarily have a timeline either.
Yeah. And I think that's so lovely as well, is to not have. Not to have to have that pressure of, like, some definitive timeline. Like, it just gets to be like, this is something I want to do, and here's an opportunity for me to say that out loud and to make it happen. So I think that's really. That's quite beautiful. And I. And I. Resolution, to me, is just another term for setup. Yeah. Again, like, I think, like, a resolution is something that creates a lot of pressure on ourselves. It. And again, like, it's coming from a place of not enoughness rather than a place of, I love myself and I want to do this thing for myself because I believe that I deserve it, you know?
So I love that. Thank you guys so much for being here on New Year's Day. I. I hope that you give yourself so much kindness today and in the days to come that I honestly feel like the days between, like, December 25th and January 5th feel so weird. Like, it feels like I don't. I don't know what day of the week it's been for the last. For the last week. And I have a feeling that will. That feeling will kind of continue until next Monday. I feel like that's when my brain is gonna go, oh, okay. Like, this is the beginning of the week now.
Like, I have been all over the place. So if you've been all over the place too, like, please know that you are not the only one high. Speak. Wonder. It is just like it. The last week has felt like a blur. And the routine and the structure will come back feeling like, you know, like, what day of the week it is will come back. So give yourself some time and just be super gentle with yourself. And I will see you same time, same place next week. I'm wishing you all a lovely, restful day and an easeful rest of the week.
I will see you next Wednesday. Happy New Year.
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