#WednesdayWisdom
“I’m walking into 2023 with peace. I know in the midst of chaos and uncertainty I can still choose moments of calm. I know that peace isn’t perfection.” ~ Yasmine Cheyenne
Morning Musings
In Beyoncé’s summer hit “Break My Soul,” New Orleans bounce rapper Big Freedia implores us to release our anger, release our mind, release our job, release the time, et al. “Break My Soul” also happened to be my most played song on Spotify last year with nearly 90 spins, so it’s no surprise that I chose “release” as my word of the year for 2023.
I started setting a word of the year back in 2018 with “peace.” My word in 2019 was “joy.” Then 2020 happened and, well, you know the rest. But this year I’ve felt inspired to pick up the habit again, largely due to my friend Taylor’s upcoming word of the year workshop this Saturday.
Like in years past, I wanted to open myself up to letting the word come to me. After all, previous words came to me while on a solo birthday trip in Santa Fe to celebrate turning 30 and then a yoga retreat for women of color in the mountains of Georgia. I’ve learned I need to get real quiet and tune out the world in order to be receptive to the whispers of the universe.
This year, the whispers came in the form of Beyoncé (or, more accurately, Big Freedia) and a post from one of my favorite Enneagram accounts (I’m a 3w2, thanks for asking!). Release was the word assigned to Enneagram 3s and the prompt was: I am releasing ______.
In 2023, I am releasing perfection (apt because my book, which drops this year—eek!—is titled Stop Waiting for Perfect). I’m releasing self-doubt. I’m releasing stress. I’m releasing overwhelm. I’m releasing people-pleasing. I’m releasing ~doing it all~.
To be clear, this is a practice and I don’t expect to get it perfect. After all, I’ve been a perfectionist people-pleaser for most of my life. But I already feel so much calm in releasing—of not holding on to and carrying that which no longer serves me and, to be honest, never has.
There is power in the release. What will you let go of this year? Hit “reply” and let me know! Or better yet, leave a comment on this post. If you’re feeling especially brave, let me know what your word of the year or theme is! I’d love to hear from you.
Love,
L’Oreal
P.s. You may notice a different look to the newsletter. During the hiatus, I migrated everyone from Mailchimp to Substack. While Mailchimp was great when I first launched the newsletter (six years ago today, to be exact!), I’m finding Substack to be more writer-friendly! Plus, there are cool features like audio and a chat function I plan on experimenting with as well! Let me know what you’d like to see here, I’m all ears.
ICMYI
I wrote a LOT of stories toward the end of 2022, but here are some of my faves:
Black men get real about mental health: ‘There’s so much pressure’
Why watching Christmas movies actually make us happy, according to science
Links I Love
here’s 7 things to consider before 2023 (by my girl )
Breastfeeding Is Basically Impossible—Why Don’t We Say That More? (Vogue)
What Happened When I Tried to Carry the World on My Back (The Cut)
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