hope is born anew

2025: a play in 12 acts

On the first of the month, on the first of the year, a small seed is planted. It becomes very important to tend to that seed, to mark it’s progress as it grows and climbs. What is it they say about plants, though? You’re meant to speak kindly to them? You shouldn’t shout at your bud, or belittle it’s existence. You should give it sunlight, and water, and rest, and words of affirmation, and a lovely breeze to keep things moving. You should give it attention. The greatest thing you have is your attention. Who you give it to, what you choose to occupy it with, these are the things that will fill your life. So today, as we’re all making our vision boards and planting our seeds, we should ask ourselves: how can I give mine to the things that matter?

I spent the last year investigating myself from the inside out. I felt like an excavator, combing through my personal archives to find the true meaning of (at least my) life. I came up with the same themes that always come up for me. Creativity, community. A sense of belonging amidst the unknowable. The importance of passion. I have had years where I think very little of my passion. I think because I do things disorderly and in my own time I must be unambitious. Dispassionate. Un..driven. I realize now that couldn’t be further from the truth. If you take your time with things and love them a lot you are more successful than the richest man in the world. You are someone who knows what to pay attention to.

January: Hope

Filling your cup, dreaming for the sake of dreaming, letting the light in

Tend to your garden. We only get one garden in life, so make sure you take care of yours. Listen to your body and ask what it needs. Quiet your mind. Use that powerful new year energy to pay close attention to yourself. What are you leaving behind? What are you hoping will grow?

Listen for the music. There are a lot of voices saying you need to change things and be better, but those voices shouldn’t be louder than the music in your life. You know the kind of music I’m talking about. Sweet little hums from the tea kettle, laughter in the next room. The snapshots of your day that make your life. Protect yourself from ‘optimizing’ this January and spend more time with your melody.

Ask for things. I don’t want any of you to start the year with ‘it could be nice if maybe’ or ‘if it’s not too much to ask’. You deserve the things you need, and you even deserve the things you want. Let yourself follow the thread of wild desire. Let yourself hope and wonder and ask.

Be true to yourself. The New Year doesn’t have to be about flipping everything on it’s head and starting a thousand new hobbies and health regiments. It can also be about staying true to what you want, and what you like about yourself as you already are. Don’t destroy yourself to become something new. Expand, expand, expand!

A List of Very Reasonable Things to Help Get You in the Mood for 2025:

1. It’s a classic for a reason but clean your room! I’m using an exclamation point because I need to be told this more than any of you! Clean your room Julianna! It feels so good to start the new year fresh, and it’s a great way to find the things you love and display them more prominently, or see things you hate and go okay I can literally get rid of this completely why is this here?

2. Have a beautiful breakfast. I don’t always take the time to have a lavish one, but my God is there no greater beauty than a beautiful breakfast? Slow things down, take your time, have at least three beverages. I’m talking water, I’m talking juice, I’m talking coffee. Nourish yourself and potentially your hangover from last night.

3. Light a candle and journal it out. Writing with a flame nearby is one of the great joys we have in this life.

4. Go for a walk and wish people Happy New Year. There’s nothing that makes me feel more like a member of society than shared experiences with neighbors. It’s a lovely thing to be wished a Happy New Year, so go out, wish, and be wished.

Something to Listen to:

I’m so pleased to present a January playlist curated by friend of Keepsake Maeve.

Maeve Supilowski is a Brooklyn-based radio host obsessed with uncovering new sounds and telling their stories. Her show, S.I.T.W.S.M., began during a Beloved Radio residency and is now moving to Noods Radio, with past features on NTS Radio. Each episode explores a carefully curated theme, where Maeve shares the inspirations behind her track choices and her discovery process. Follow her on Instagram for show updates and thematic deep dives. This January, she made us a playlist filled with melancholy yet hopeful tracks to start the year.

Maeve Supilowski

Favorites from the Bookshelf:

I gathered intel from readers like you on what their top reads of 2024 were. Here is what the Keepsake chat had to recommend for your TBR.

Books:

• Notes on Heartbreak by Annie Lord

• Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Hayne

• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

• Schoolgirl by Osamu Dazai

• The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow

• Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

• Middlemarch by George Eliot

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

• Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett

• Conversations on Love by Natasha Lunn

• Bluets by Maggie Nelson

• Black Friend: Essays by Ziwe

• The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

• Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

I preach free-flowing intentions over resolutions, but even I waiver. I have to admit I thought about it. I thought about writing some specific goals down. The real sticky kind of goals. The ones that come with metrics that tell you you are either succeeding or failing. I didn’t listen to the silly resolution voice. I thought of something even sillier. Instead of working toward a goal, I’m going to work toward an archetype. What is the type of person I want to be in 2025, and are the things I’m doing aligning with that person? WWJ(ulianna)D?

Basically the way it’s going to work is this: As I move through my year and make decisions, I’m going to ask myself if they funnel into one of two personalities. You have to have two personalities, in my opinion, otherwise you’re just unbalanced. Personality one is for having lots of external fun: The Lawful Party Girl. The party girl will celebrate with abandon. She has very high highs, and very low lows. I’m going for the lawful party girl, who is still partying even when she cuts the night short. She is having a water between cocktails and she is taking care of her friends. She wears chic long jackets and is the quintessential glamorous adult woman. She craves experiences and life and has beautiful shoes probably. I will channel her for social events, clothing purchases, vacation itineraries, and self care.

Internal fun is for personality number two: The Collector. This is the side that observes more than it acts. This person is seeing the forest for the trees and is taking notes on everything. She has a craft room and also a cute cottage to go with it. She is perceptive and holds onto the good things. She has a curious mind and an open heart and sits in silence when she needs to. I will channel her for writing, scrapbooking, hanging out with my cat, and making things.

So The Lawful Party Girl and The Collector are in charge of my 2025. The Lawful Party Girl will do things for the story and The Collector will tell it.

I’ve been wondering what my life will look like across the next decade. I’m freshly 30, it’s freshly 2025, and all this newness makes me wonder. Sometimes it scares me to realize I have no idea what the details I want out of life are. I can describe the feeling I’m seeking, but the actual facts are blurry. I’ve decided now that blurry is actually a very good way to see the future. There are so many possibilities, and I’m open to many of them. I only have one goal for this life of mine, and it’s to make things. As long as I’m doing that I’m on the right path forward. Newness is nothing to fear. It’s an opportunity to introduce yourself to the world over and over again. Each new experience is learning to say your own name in another language, and I’d like to speak as many as I can in this lifetime.

May your new year have hope, heart, and creation.

xo Julianna