Hello fabulous Reader,

Welcome to 2024!

It has been a journey to get here.

I hope you’ve had time to reflect on 2023 and think about what you want to bring into 2024 and what you want to leave behind.

I spent much of December trying to remember everything that happened this year - reviewing my journals, looking at my planner, and piecing together memories. 2023 feels like it was the longest year ever, full of really high highs and really low lows.

I’ve felt like I was rebuilding my foundation - financially and emotionally, and trying to reconnect with my body. I leaned into somatic practices to help with dysregulation and an activated nervous system. I think we all went through, and are still suffering from, collective trauma. It has been a really HARD year.

But I am grateful to be alive, to have made it here, and to be writing this from a place of newfound clarity. A part of me worries if I start speaking — I will somehow lose my clarity - but I know that is just old patterns dying hard. 

I dropped a new YouTube video this week talking about where I have been, diving into my word of the year, and sharing some helpful tips to consider when planning your goals for the new year. Check it out!

Some nuggets I want to leave you with:


January should be a month of experimentation instead of perfection.


Lean into what you want more of.


You learn from even just implementing a behavior one time.


Tracking one habit can help you improve in all areas of your life.


In the face of despair, lean into seeing beauty in the smallest things and finding gratitude.

I’m writing this Wednesday night, and my dog is psycho pacing around the room and licking.


Two reasons - my partner is out, and nighttime reminds him that fireworks might be imminent. 

“This year, in 2024, I trained my dog for 2 minutes at least 3 days a week.”


—- That is one of my BIG goals for this year. Notice how I wrote it in the past tense and was very specific about what I would do, for how long, and when. I still allowed for some flexibility, and I kept it manageable.

I also am already signed up for a dog training course from a while ago that I never did. So, I already have access to bitesize training that we can implement.

When you think about your goals for this year, quarter, or month, try breaking them down and writing them in this way. Think about the “feeling" that you want to embody. I want to develop a better relationship with my dog, a stronger bond so that, hopefully, he can find an outlet for his anxiety and feel safer more of the time.


Thanks for sticking around,

Cheers,

 Morgan