Staring Down the New Year

“Finding beauty in every day is noticing the small things. Those often seemingly meaningless moments that feel like magic. ”

I have a lot of feelings about the new year. I love planning, creating systems, and organizing so you can imagine I love a new year turning. There is something about it that feels like a blank slate - and my calendar is yet blank for the new year (anyone else a paper planner person?). The harsh reality is - I will still have trigeminal neuralgia in 2025 and life will still be difficult to navigate. That’s not me being pessimistic it is me being through the cycles of my body with this condition for over a decade and the reality that there is very little I can do aside form what is already being done. So helping myself relies solely on finding joy and beauty in my days to help me cope with my body being one of my major hurdles in life. For me, finding beauty in every day is noticing the small things. Those often seemingly meaningless moments that feel like magic.

tending to magical moments

One of the magical moments I created for myself a few years ago was a making a sun catcher. It’s quite simple and plain but the prism throws the sweetest little rainbows. There is something so peaceful about sitting for a moment and watching the way the the swaying rainbows dance across the room. The sun has transitioned enough that it is time for me to move the sun catcher a bit to catch the light - I hadn’t noticed until very recently that I hadn’t seen the rainbows in a moment and I missed them. They had faded away and I’d been too busy to notice.

oils in the diffuser

A good smell can instantly lift my mood and make me stop in my tracks and bask in the moment. I’d stopped using my diffusers as frequently the last year (I’m not even sure why it just happened that way.) Getting back to using my diffusers to set the mood for the moment will by all accounts add more joy and beauty to my days. Also, aromatherapy is no joke and I can create the mood for my space. Getting back to grounded and uplifting scents will be a main way I support myself in 2025.

waking before the sun

Now, this one is hard when sometimes I have really late nights because of pain and pain management and fatigue is just part of life with chronic pain. However, I do know that when I wake up before the sun and have a really slow and quiet morning practice that I feel so much better that day - even if it means I have to nap later. There is something about being awake in the early morning that brings me a quiet peace and joy, and the trade off of needing to rest earlier in the day is worth those moments.

Being outside

2024 was an atrocious tick-infested year. In fact, yesterday I had yet another tick on me - thankfully just crawling on me - and still - it’s December go away. Because of this I didn’t spend as much time outside as I would have normally. This year, I have to figure it out. My soul needs to be outside to notice all the small things: the leaves in a breeze, the ants working in the garden, the butterflies, the birds, the way the squirrels skittishly run, the hummingbirds playing in the sprinkler in the garden, the way the plants grow (both the ones I planted and the ones I didn’t), the sweet little black racers with their little white chins, the aloof coral snake that I find in the garden once a year. I miss all of those things when I’m shuttered away from the ticks. And this year, I am determined to figure it out.