2026 dissolutions

January is the month to take a break from being a person

I like January. October through December always feels like a heightened reality, where Halloween feeds into elections that feed into the holidays—all culminating in the hysterics of NYE. But January feels like a breather, a return to form. The Christmas decorations go back in the boxes, the families go home, the desperate need to quantify your accomplishments from the previous year dissipates. This is why I don’t usually do resolutions (except the one time 15 years ago to never eat a Hot Pocket again, and I’m proud to say I haven’t), or Dry January. We’ve been working—consciously or not—to project or perform (Halloween spirit, electoral hope/outrage, Holiday cheer, etc.) for the past three months. Why not give yourself a break? Step back from being the main character. Become less of a person, less of a presence, at least for a month. Dissolve into the background.

(Feel free to share or recommend ways of dissolving comments)

Anyway, I was trying to think of a funny post to start the year, but in this era of diminished attention spans and tracking follower counts and ubiquitous information feeds, I’m just thankful that people stick around and read what I have to say. Thank you all very much. I hope you continue to read.

And in keeping up with this spirit of thankfulness, I also wanted to share my favorite social media post from 2025, posted by a girl I went to high school with. Hoping we can all find some inspiration from it.