Challenge Accepted
Challenge Accepted
In my December newsletter, I mentioned my New Year’s theme for 2025 would be to be more discerning. To be honest, I wasn’t even entirely sure what that meant at the time; it just seemed like all of 2024 was leading me there in some way. Being more selective with my time and energy. Understanding when no is the right answer. And the hardest one - rejecting a new world order that seems inescapable.
It’s a little rough out there. There’s a lot of information to process and a lot that’s been lost that we need to grieve and not enough time to do either of those things properly because, well, there’s also a lot of work to do. I feel fortunate that the majority of people in my life are trying to do as much as they can to help the people who will need it the most. Whether that means larger scale advocacy because of positions in education, politics, or non-profit, or doing what they can on individual levels through being good allies, bringing art into the world, fighting against book bans, or simply acknowledging that the cruelty coming from our government right now is not, and should never become, normal. There is nothing “simple” about that acknowledgement, though, is there? That, alone, is brave.
In short, I know good people.
Things are hard, though, and they are a lot. Being discerning is more important than ever.
Something that stood out to me throughout 2024 was how little I read. Which is to say, reading books for my own enjoyment as opposed to manuscripts I edit for my job. The books I did read were fine. Some good, some disappointing, but only one or two that really stood out. I looked back on the books I read and saw a theme forming - with a few exceptions, I mostly read books that were, for lack of a better word, easy. Contemporary slices of life, short novels with surface-level themes, trendy books I felt like I “should” read. These books were, again, fine, but when those types of books are all I read, my brain starts to rebel. I convinced myself I didn’t have the bandwidth for “bigger books,” but the opposite proved to be true.
My mind is an anxious place that’s always on the move. It can’t sit still unless it’s captured.
So, this month I jumped back into reading, starting with books that have been sitting on my shelf, in an attempt to recapture my mind. Starting with a literary novel about grief, followed by a classic from the Harlem Renaissance about racial and gender hardships, I am now enjoying a palette-cleansing cozy-but-complex British mystery. In spite of everything else happening right now, I can feel my brain cells recharging.
It’s still January, I know. And what a January, at that. I’ll have my months where I lose focus, whether intentionally or not. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this down here as a way to keep myself accountable.
Dear brain, you feel better when you’re working.
Dear brain, reading has always revived you; don’t neglect it.
Being discerning doesn’t always need to mean putting fewer items on your plate, just better ones. It can mean honing skills and focusing on whatever makes you your best, most capable, self. I don’t want my senses dulled. I don’t want to view issues, or people, in some false binary because I got too tired to understand nuance. I want to keep learning. As I start another year of this newsletter, I hope there’s something new I learn with each passing month. I hope that for you too.
Stay sharp out there, friends.
FUN STUFF
What I'm Reading: The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
What I'm Watching: Bad Sisters
What I'm Listening To: Hozier
What I'm Eating: An avocado and bacon panini