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How Do You Hope to Live in 2025?

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As the calendar turns to a new year, it invites us to pause and reflect – not just on what we hope to achieve, but on how we hope to live. Rosemary Trommer’s poem, Unresolutions, speaks to this beautifully, urging us to untether ourselves from the ceaseless striving for improvement and instead lean into the richness of simply being present. She writes of choosing gentleness over ambition, presence over perfection, and openness over certainty. These are radical acts in a culture that venerates the measurable – accolades, achievements, and the constant pursuit of “more.”

Mary Oliver’s wisdom, particularly her call to consider what we will do with our “one wild and precious life,” echoes this sentiment. Her words remind us that life is not a ledger to be balanced but a gift to be savoured. The preciousness lies not in our accomplishments but in our connections – to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us. 

How often do we overlook the quiet victories that define a meaningful life? Nobody hands out awards for investing in a marriage, raising compassionate children, or tending to an ageing parent. There are no trophies for kindness, patience, or resilience. And yet, these are the acts that shape our lives and give them depth and fulfillment.

The start of a new year often tempts us to draft lists of goals, to plot out milestones, to set ourselves on a path toward “better.” But perhaps the true art of beginning lies not in what we resolve to achieve, but in what we choose to honour. What if, instead of chasing outcomes, we celebrated the messy, beautiful, imperfect process of being human? What if we measured our days not by what we accomplished but by how fully we lived them?

Presence requires courage. It asks us to sit with what is, rather than what could be. It invites us to listen more deeply, to love more freely, and to show up for the people and moments that matter most. These are not grand acts, but they are profound. To hold space for a friend’s grief, to laugh with a child, to sit quietly with an elder – these are the gifts we give not only to others but to ourselves. They are acts of resistance in a world that often equates worth with productivity.

So as we step into this new year, perhaps we can shift our focus. Instead of asking, “What will I achieve?” we might ask, “How will I show up?” Instead of “What will I do?” we might wonder, “Who will I be?” And instead of chasing resolutions, we might, as Trommer suggests, resolve to unresolve – to let life unfold, to trust in its rhythms, and to honour the simple beauty of our aliveness.

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