Friday Things // 01.01.2021

The one shouting hooray for the new year.

Happy New Year, friends! 

We did! We made it to 2021!😅 It sure was a heck of a journey, a year of more trauma than any of us could have ever even imagined, but nevertheless… we made it through! Be proud of yourself, okay? No matter how the cookie crumbled, the real victory is that we’re still here, together. 

I’m conscious of the fact that this New Year’s doesn’t necessarily feel like that shiny doorway into a new opportunity like it usually does. The clearing of the chalkboard, or a clean slate. Maybe you woke up this morning and were quickly reminded that Jan. 1, 2021 has not miraculously erased all of the burdens and fears of 2020. I get it, and I feel the same. But to me, the magic of getting to this point — flipping the calendar and refreshing the proverbial page that usually comes on January 1 — still gets to exist for us today. That magic is here… it’s in your strength, and your resilience.✨

Today signifies our ability to push forward through the darkest night. To keep going even when it seems impossible. And there is nothing wrong with wanting to be hopeful and believe good things can exist in this new year, even here alongside our continued uncertainty.

It might feel like being optimistic at this point is naive, or even laughable, but I’m here to strongly disagree. I have see so many memes across social media in the last couple weeks joking about resolutions in the new year, and making it seem like a ridiculous concept to consider setting goals for 2021. Consider me your champion for the exact opposite, alright? It’s NOW, in this in between period — the times that feel the hardest and the most unsure — that your optimism muscle needs to be flexed the most. Good things can happen for you in 2021. Why automatically set the bar low, or assume it’ll be a wash like 2020? 

Being hopeful doesn’t make you foolish. It makes you brave. 🌻

Dare to consider that you can learn something new this year, or have an adventure, or accomplish a new goal for yourself. A new year is still a chance for growth and change… even if it has to be done right here, in our sweatpants, on the couch in our living rooms.

Maybe it’s easier for me to say, typing from arguably ones of the sunniest spots to be found in  January (southern California), but I think there’s something to be said for creating your own sunshine.  

For what it’s worth, I woke up this morning and set my goals for 2021. I usually like to have an overarching word or intention to carry through the year as well, and this year I picked two: joy, and peace. It’s no secret that 2020 was an ocean of multiple traumatic events for me (one of which we all felt — the elephant in every room, the pandemic), but nevertheless, I’m ready to believe in goodness again. To find joy, and focus on blooming through the things within my control — even if I will likely be staying “safer at home” for at least several more months. What have I got to lose at this point? If you set some goals or pick a word or intention for the year, let know, okay? I want to hear about them.

And before I send you off to celebrate your first weekend of 2021, a plea to kick resolutions geared toward diet and weight loss to the curb. If 2020 taught us anything, I think it was that life is precious, unpredictable, and finite. (It did for me, at least!) So in that limited amount of time, why spend it trying to fight your body? I know it can seem contrary to what you hear most everywhere else in society (especially at this time of year!), but there’s so much more you could be doing with your moments on this earth than counting calories or wishing to look a different way. Move your body because you want to, not because there’s some made-up standard you’re trying to fit, or a random size you think you  * should * be. I spent far too much time when I was younger trying to eliminate this or that food, or stick to arbitrary food rules that took up real estate in my brain that I’m still trying to free up. You deserve better, friends. We all do. 

Life is short. Let’s try to cherish every second of 2021 that we can.

Happy Friday, and thank you, truly, for reading! 💛

-Joelle

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Thank YOU for being part of my little passion project; your comments, emails and DMs after every The Yay Club post made my last couple months of 2020 so much brighter. Throughout the year, I’ll be continuing these Friday posts, and potentially adding in a second day with slightly different content… and maybe (maybe!) a name change. If you are enjoying this newsletter, please help it grow by sharing it with friends or posting about it on social media. xo