Hello, 2026
Manifestations not resolutions.
I don’t like to make New Year’s resolutions. I prefer to burn things.
Not like houses or cars or forests or anything insane. Just a piece of paper — a list of things and behaviors I want to release.
Sometimes I’ll do it on the solstice. Sometimes I’ll do it on New Year’s Eve.
Then on New Year’s Day, I like to do things that I want to make a habit out of doing the rest of the year. It’s something I like to do on my birthday too, because as a friend said to me a long time ago, “Your birthday is like your own personal New Year’s.”
A couple of years ago, I was in New Jersey over New Year’s and I made my mom do the list burning thing with me in the backyard on the eve and then on the day we had brunch reservations at a restaurant in Philly on Rittenhouse Square.
If you’re from Philly, right now you might be thinking, “Um, what about the Mummers?”
According to Wikipedia, the Mummers Parade is “the longest-running continuous folk parade in the United States.” It happens on New Year’s Day and it goes right through Center City, like blocks away from the brunch place we picked, and both my mom and I completely forgot it was happening until we drove over the bridge into a shitload of traffic.
In my mind, we both simultaneously gasped and said, “Oh my god, the Mummers.”
We ended up having to park and walk through the parade to get to the restaurant.
This parade is insane. It’s mainly a lot of drunk costumed people with their faces painted dancing down Broad Street next to a bunch of Eagles-themed (the football team not the band) floats.
Everyone is just partying in the streets and it’s fine. As we were eating brunch, a woman walked by outside drinking wine straight from the bottle.
It was hilarious and chaotic and fun to run into the parade that day.
And looking back, that year ended up being one of the most chaotic, but hilarious and fun, years of my life.
Coincidence? I don’t know.
I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground and a brand new year. I don’t know what 2026 will have in store for me, but I have a strong feeling (hope?) that it will be leaps and bounds better than 2025.
So this New Year’s Day, my plan is to do one of the intense Lagree(ish) workouts I have a love/hate relationship with, only eat food that my gut microbiome will appreciate, write at least one sentence I love1, do one thing I’ve never done before, publish this Substack post, and shoot some b roll for Grief Alchemy Project, the doc I’m making as part of the NonDē 50 Films Project.
In my mind it didn’t really sound like very much stuff, but as I’m reading it over it actually does sound pretty legit. So maybe I should add acknowledge that I am a high functioning person to that list.
What are you all doing on this New Year’s Day?
Until next time,
Tara
Already done, guess which one it is (it’s not this one.) Or is it?
Ah, love that. My day was hilariously chaotic yesterday - I'm down for that to be a theme for the year.
This is a very solid list! We’re changing all the bedding in the apt and cleaning the mattresses, which feels symbolically right. I plan to rest as much as possible, write a bit, and I may borrow your gut healthy foods plan!