Welcome to 2024

Hi lovelies! Sending you a warm welcome to 2024.

I hope this first week has allowed you time to rest, set intentions, and prepare for the year ahead. Me, you ask? I’ve gone on a large grocery trip (why is it everything runs out at the same time?), deep cleaned my apartment, purged my closet, organized my camera roll, gone through my emails, oh, and I cut myself bangs. Now, I want to preface by saying this wasn’t a mental breakdown bang cutting session (I hope), but rather me going into this year with the intention of trying new things without worrying about how other people will react. I’ve been wanting to try out a fringe for months, so I decided to do it when I have time to adjust to it during my break. On that note, I want to say that I hope that this year brings you opportunities to try things that may be a little bit outside of your comfort zone (and even if you fail or it doesn’t go well, at least you can say you tried instead of regretting never doing it).

I think this blog post is gong to be a bit all over the place, as I have a lot of thoughts but none cohesive enough to fill an entire post. I wanted to touch on a few things I’ve done to try and set up the year positively. On the 2nd, I decided to grab a few more cleaning supplies than usual, which resulted in me scrubbing my bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom, alongside dusting and sweeping and wiping everything down. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I love cleaning. It’s one of my favorite chores because I can easily put my headphones on and focus solely on whatever I’m doing. The best part comes afterwards, when you get to take a shower, put on cozy clothes, and light a candle in your freshly cleaned room. Part of my doing this was due to the stress of finals and holidays, but I also just really wanted to cleanse the 2023 energy from my apartment. It was an interesting year, and I wanted to rejuvenate my safe space so that I feel more at peace in that environment. I love my apartment, and I love being home more than anything, so having a space that feels comfortable and clean and welcoming is extremely important to me. While I know not everyone has time to deep clean their homes at the beginning of the year, I would recommend even something as small as putting clean sheets on your bed. You deserve a fresh and cozy bed.

I realized a few days ago that the two weeks I have off right now are the only time in a year and a half that I really have no obligations. Yes, I have to get groceries and pay my bills and work on some miscellaneous adult-ish things, but I really haven’t had a time in the past year (nor will I in the next six months) that I haven’t either had homework or work lingering over my head. I think this is part of why so many of us feel guilt for resting, because of course there’s always things we could be doing. I want this year to be one where we forgive ourselves for resting — if you need an hour or a day or a week to lay on the couch and watch romcoms and ignore your responsibilities, I want you to do so, because in the grand scheme of things we’re only as good as our mindset. If you’re running on fumes and you aren’t taking time to rot in bed when your body clearly needs it, you’re not going to be able to fully commit to the things you’re passionate about. This is also where I notice a lot of my friends (and myself) tend to get sick. We get too burnt out, and instead of listening to our bodies and resting, we wait too long until our bodies force us to rest. I’ll be honest, I feel like I should be doing more this week, but I also know that if I’m cooking for myself, doing my laundry, and showering, I’m doing everything I need to be doing right now. I’m actively telling myself that it’s okay to sleep as much as I need to. I don’t think a lot of us realize how much our body holds onto. I had an entire year of ups and downs, tears, fights, laughter, fear, stress, and all of the other things that come with my personal circumstances, and I haven’t really given myself time to process the things that happened or to decompress. I know how crazy my life has been recently, and while I have no idea what your year was like, I can bet that your body is also holding on to some uncomfortable feelings and you need to rest as well.

We weren’t built to be in a constant state of stress. Our bodies don’t react to high levels of cortisol well. And I completely understand that it can be frustrating to hear me say “you need to rest,” because you probably already know this, and maybe you don’t have the opportunity to do so right now. I am very grateful I have these two weeks off, because I truly needed it for my mental and physical health. I don’t mean this in any way to annoy you, but more so to remind you that I don’t even believe that I’m allowed to take this time off, and I want you to know that I’m forcing myself to, and I hope that you give yourself the same grace. It’s hard to comprehend that we take in 365 days of our own personal experiences before we allow ourselves to “close that chapter.” And during that time, we’re also absorbing everything else going on in the world. You’re not just exhausted by your life, but everyone else’s, too. In that sense, by taking time to rest, you’re helping the people around you.

Stemming from my last blog post, I want to emphasize that you don’t need to change your life because it’s January. Every year of our lives becomes more complicated, and allowing yourself time to process a year before barreling into the next might be the healthiest thing you can do for yourself right now. Remember that you just got through a whole year! I’m really freaking proud of you, and I know that you’ve grown so much from whatever you’ve been through. I promise I’m not going to keep talking about the new year in the next blog post, but I wanted to make sure that I tell you how much I hope this year brings you prosperity and kindness and healing. A new year may feel inspiring to you, or it may feel daunting. Whichever it is, remember that you aren’t expected to do anything just because one little number of the date changed. Welcome to 2024, I hope it surprises you in all the best ways.

P.S. I wanted to note that I’ll be posting every other Sunday this year :) I want to make sure I’m not overextending myself, and I really care about the quality of my work so posting twice a month instead of four times gives me the ability to balance everything going on in my life. In the meantime, I’ll be posting more on Instagram and TikTok at @sonderlybychloe. I hope you stick around, and as always thank you for reading! I adore you! <3