Monthly Archives: December 2024

Letting Go in 2025, Week Fifty-Two in the No Longer New Abnormal

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I don’t know what 2025 has in store for us, but I do know that I am doing my best to let things go so I have the mental space to enjoy what good comes our way, and to endure what hardships might present themselves.  I think of letting go as a lifestyle edit.  However, I don’t have a great track record of editing my own stuff.  I give things away and quickly fill the void.  I attempt to open up time in my schedule only to return to my busy norm.  I believe in second and seventeenth chances, so I am cleaning out my drawers and closets, as best I can. I am limiting my activity to events that bring me pure joy.  Letting go is more a state of being than the action it takes to unload.  

In the service of letting go, I will be shifting when and how I post on this blog.  It may not be weekly, unless I’m so inclined.  I am going to try to create a bit of freedom from writing so that I can relax more.  It will be interesting to see what that’s like.  I’ve learned so much from these past years writing this blog.  The comments you sent lifted me up or had me look at blind spots.  I saw glorious New York City differently as I tried to share passing sights along the way. 

I am beyond grateful for those of you who have been readers.  It is my hope that writing this blog contributed in some way to whatever you’ve been going through.  I wish each of you moments of joy and grace throughout 2025 as you navigate a reality we dared not imagine.  

Self-Care Tips:

  • Make a list of self-care tips from past blog posts or from other sources.  Make sure they’re tips you can easily do and that you find helpful.  The list is a great resource when you’re stressed or feeling down and can’t think of what may be useful.  
  • Go through your sock drawer to rid yourself of socks with holes. But if you prefer, darn them.   It’s a little thing you can do to start the new year without past defects that are easily remedied.  
  • Enjoy the last vestiges of the holiday season by reliving the splendid Darlene Love when she performed her holiday classic on the last David Letterman Holiday Special.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsU08y9peZg

Soup’s On, Week Fifty-One in the No Longer New Abnormal

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It’s soup season.  A pot of lentil soup is simmering on the stove.  I plan to enjoy any number of soups throughout winter.  This batch of lentil soup is flavored with Moroccan spices. When I’m not able to get away it’s fun to tour the planet from my kitchen.  I’ll create an Italian tomato basil soup next week, and then a Thai chicken soup after that.  As a child soup was limited to Campbell’s, and later Progresso.  I liked them well enough, but the first time I had real Greek chicken and lemon soup, I knew the canned options were relegated to my past.  

Soup is also a wonderful metaphor for the fullness of our lives.  How much spice do we enjoy?  What is the base of your life’s soup?  I like variety so I tend to have a few pots on the stove.  I enjoy bold flavors, but once in a while I prefer a simple broth.  On those occasions, staying home or getting away to a quieter environment makes all the difference.  This week the soup was full of holiday cheer.  Norm Lewis is performing a holiday concert, which he deems a party, at 54 Below.  He knows how to bring true joy to every stage where he performs.  And the New York Pops just had their holiday concert at Carnegie Hall with Jessica Vosk, an amazing performer I only discovered this week.  I will be catching up on her unparalleled talent by listening to her albums while cooking my soups.  

This holiday season can easily bring many feelings some delightful, like when enjoying a concert of top talent. Or it can feel lonely, like when you are missing those we’ve lost to illness or circumstances beyond your control.  Think about what you need.  What do you put in your soup?  If you’re up for it, there may be volunteer opportunities that can be deeply gratifying.  Or gift yourself something from your closet.  Find a sweater you forgot you had.  Or, open up a jar of spice you rarely use for your own special soup.  Be thoughtful about what you need these next couple of weeks.  Comfort and joy can take many forms.  In the same way that soup is an ever-changing course.  

Self-Care Tips:

  • Make soup.  Or enjoy soups that others make.  Warm yourself in this cold weather. 
  • In really cold weather, putting on a pair of latex medical gloves as liners below your gloves will keep your fingers extra toasty.  
  • Discover Jessica Vosk for yourself.  If you already knew of her, then revisit her dynamic talent.  Enjoy her holiday album.  Here’s a video to enjoy a taste:  https://www.instagram.com/p/DDz1GjbpUcg/

A Year in Pics, Week Fifity in the No Longer New Abnormal

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We have two and half more weeks until we get to 2025.  What a year it’s been.  Most of us struggled to understand and appreciate those who view things differently.  There has been a lot of vilifying.  I’m tired.  I bet you are, too.  Though there was also joy amongst the adversity.  So rather than write more about hardship or any other topic when we need a reprieve from more voices on the subject, I’ll leave you with some fun photos from 2024, with self-care tips at the end.  

Self-Care Tips:

  • When you’re pushing yourself, try a short break.  Sometimes stepping away can revitalize you and relieve some of the pressure. 
  • Conversely, when you are having a hard time starting something, take one small step towards what has to get done.  Do one push-up, write one sentence.  Run around one block.  Clean one surface.  Whatever it is one step forward will help move things in the direction of reaching 
  • Be silly.  Skip.  Hop up and down.  Do a silly dance.  Being silly helps us to take ourselves less seriously which in turn opens us up to youth and joy.  

‘Tis the Season, Week Forty-Nine in the No Longer New Abnormal

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It’s easy to hunker down now that the cold weather is here.  And there’s something to be said for hibernation mode.  But this week I was out and about taking in the holiday spirit, which is alive and well in New York City.  I love a good nap when the weather is chilly and the days are short.  And, yet, visiting Rockefeller Center and the holiday window displays later in the evening, when they’re less crowded is a joyful experience that really does bring cheer.  Sometimes we have to be intentional about seeking out positive experiences.  Yes, sometimes they come to us.  But mostly we need to create joy.  

In this season, it’s easy to look for and enjoy delightful experiences.  Maybe we listen to holiday songs.  Certainly, Mariah Carey gets her due in early winter.  Though one can’t deny her talent, I’m more inclined to listen to Samara Joy for a jazz-infused holiday listen.  Others I enjoy are Norm Lewis, Liz Calloway and her sister, Ann Hampton Calloway, and Megan Hilty.  Plus the Maccabeats and Klezmtics have wonderful Hannukah tunes.  Of course, YouTube is perfect for contemporary or historical holiday fare.  It’s nice to get a slice of joy just by watching Nat King Cole, or Peter, Paul and Mary.  

Of course, music and lights aren’t the only pleasures of this season.  The scents and flavors of the holidays bring their own pleasures.  Whether you light a candle with hints of nutmeg, or you enjoy latkes with apple sauce, there is so much joy we can create these cold weather days.  

Self-Care Tips:  

  • Enjoy something specific to this season that you enjoy whether it’s food, a drink like egg nog or coquito, a scent, a show like the Holiday Spectacular at Rockefeller Center with the Rockettes, or a drive to see the neighborhood lights, you can take in something that focuses on joy.
  • Rediscover something you love in your home.  We can take for granted what we already have.  But look up and revel in artwork on your walls again.  Or go to your closet and wear something that feels great. Find a frozen dish in your freezer that you forgot about but can enjoy this week.  It’s so much fun to appreciate we already have.  
  • Whatever your age, care for your inner child.  Be gentle if she/he/they need compassion.  Raise the volume if you yearn to play.  

Holiday Season, Week Forty-Eight in the No Longer New Abnormal

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Mixed emotions can easily create a holiday weekend potpourri  between the pressures of Thanksgiving and the demands of Black Friday.   Though expectations run high for a very Happy Thanksgiving and great savings on Black Friday, the truth is less grand and perhaps a bit messy.  I had the good fortune of enjoying a small Thanksgiving with a table of four at a local restaurant.  I was too tired to cook.  Being served was a small pleasure for which I was completely thankful. And sharing a meal with loved ones was a gift in and of itself.  That’s not to say that I don’t miss the larger family, but I was happy to do less.  Then came Black Friday.  My inbox, even before I woke up, was stuffed with advertisements for gifts, necessities, personal items and everything in-between.  I was flummoxed.  I felt pulled in every direction.  Do I take advantage of a daybed sale?  Or do I pick up small items for little gifts for those I appreciate and encounter in service jobs?  I was easily frazzled.  I spent much too much time online digging through the myriad of possibilities.  I felt stuck in a capitalistic loop of my own making.  

What is it about the big savings?  I don’t have to think hard about that.  My father was the culprit.  There wasn’t a sale he didn’t like.  We would drive around to Korvettes, Two Guys, Grants, and other low-priced stores.  His favorite savings places were liquidation warehouses.  We were able to get things we didn’t need, the sale itself being the real gift.  Often we were the recipients of things we didn’t want. But who could argue with the joy of my father’s tale of savings?  While he did teach me about being an informed consumer, I fight the urge to buy things I don’t need simply because it’s now 70% off.  For me Black Friday is less retail therapy than wholesale anxiety.  Tomorrow is Cyber Monday.  I hope I can maintain a sense of calm.  And then it’s giving Tuesday, which always feels like I’m leaving an important non-profit out to dry as I choose my usual suspects for donations.  

The desire to be able to give and receive seems endless.  The messaging appears to say, I must be grateful even when it’s a gift I don’t want.  I must be generous even when it’s out of my price range.  I must take advantage of a small window of discount opportunity.  I must be social, even when I’m exhausted and need to rest.  Too many “musts.”  It a challenge to feel as if we’re enough.  And when we don’t feel as if we’re enough because we’re feeling vulnerable, the “musts”  can feel crushing.  Perhaps we can lighten up, if possible.  Maybe we can reach out to let others know they matter.  Maybe we can do something kind for ourselves to let us know we matter.  And,maybe we can slow down so that the pressures of the season don’t push us down.  

Wishing you a healthy and peaceful season.  

Self-Care Tips:  

  • When buying gifts, or getting a bargain, put it in your cart, and let it sit there for a while before making the final purchase.  This way you can see if you really want it rather than making an impulse acquisition.  
  • Repeat the affirmation, “I am enough.”  That may be enough to confront all the messaging that suggests otherwise.  
  •  Give in small ways on Giving Tuesday and any other day.  Perhaps you can even find a new place to donate.