Hi Reader,

Happy Lunar New Year.

As I mentioned last week, I don't like resolutions. Typically, I feel burnt out by New Year's Day and the idea of any "new beginnings" feels exhausting. The beginning of the year just doesn’t feel like the right time for me to start a “new me.” Even in Southern California, I feel cold and a little bit cranky, completely unmotivated. I hope for rain as an excuse to be lazy and snuggle our weekends away.

Just as the holiday exhaustion starts to ease, I get a new chance at a new beginning. Lunar New Year.

This Lunar New year feels especially resonant. It is the year of the Wood Snake. Like a snake, the start of this year invites us to shed what no longer serves us, getting rid of what we no longer need to make room for something fresh.

The year of the Wood Snake encourages us to make room for profound personal growth. To let go of toxicity, the past, anger, lost love. This is the year to release bad habits and unrealistic expectations, to make room for our own personal (and collective) evolution.

Even if it is as simple of clearing clutter and letting go of our personal items that we no longer use, the year of the snake is an opportunity to shed anything that is holding us back.

​Here is a mediation/ sound bath that I found so beautiful called “I am free” by Ada & Nathan Wakes. It feels like the perfect audio to letting go. I invite you to spend a few minutes each day this week considering what you’d like to let go of to make 2025 one of progress, growth, and contentment.

Yours in letting go,

PS Because we live so near to the LA fires, our community has been sharing needs. For the near future, I will be using the PS space to share resources and needs related to the fires. As friends share links, I'll put them here.

For now, here is a friend of a friend with two high needs autistic children who lost everything.

If you know any resources that I should note, please reach out and please forward to any one you think could use these. For now, here are a few resources:

↠ Here are financial and housing related resources from the LA Homeless Services Authority. This page also has a list of places to donate.

↠ Free and discounted resources for victims of the LA fires from the LA Times​

↠ Fashion and Beauty companies helping out from WWD. Some of these are offering sales with proceeds going to aid the fire victims. If you are shopping, consider purchasing something from one of the brands doing a benefit.