January 2023

Here we are: another year before us full of possibility and promise. Leaving another year behind with mixed feelings of delight, sadness, and everything in between, as is usually the case.

But we never really leave it behind, right? It's not as simple as turning the page on the calendar and erasing everything that's come before.

Whatever you've experienced these past 12 months—joy and grief, changes both welcome and unwelcome, fresh starts and bittersweet endings—they played a part in making you the person you are today. These are the things we're carrying with us as we step into a new year.

The old and the new: reconciling, releasing, renewing, remembering.

What will we choose to bring with us this year? What will we choose to leave behind?

In her most recent book, I Guess I Haven't Learned That Yet: Discovering New Ways of Living When the Old Ways Stop Working, Shauna Niequist writes:

In my own life, I'm beginning to recognize things that I haven't prioritized enough—things I want to hold with a tighter grip this year. At the same time, there are things I've been holding too tightly—places where I can loosen my grasp.

A few years ago, I wrote a post for the Oxford University Choral Blog with seven unconventional approaches to starting the new year. The first approach is to choose one thing to let go. Read the remaining six here >>

Which one resonates with you the most? ✨

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