Everyday Rituals

Happy New Year 2025.

To me, a new year feels like the first, crisp page of an empty notebook, the clean surface of a blank canvas, or a pristine beach with nary a footprint embedded in the expanse of white sand. It’s a world of possibilities and wonder. What will this new year hold?

For many, the new year comes with the pressure of making resolutions, but I gave up on those years ago. Most people make them with good intent, but almost everyone who makes a resolution breaks it by the second week of January.

So, what do we do instead?

What I do is try to form a new habit or create an everyday ritual – two things that are cousins to resolutions but have a better chance for success and meaning.

A habit is something that is routine, like brushing our teeth or making the bed or even writing in a journal or blog. Generally speaking, it takes twenty-one days to form a habit, which is why most fitness programs and writing challenges are done in thirty-day blocks. It gives you enough time to create a routine but gives you a couple of days off.

A ritual, on the other hand, is a series of steps or actions that have special meaning and are typically performed on special occasions or preceding specific events.

Decorating your Christmas tree might be an annual ritual – it’s definitely one for me, because we talk about each ornament as we place it on the tree and share memories of where it came from. For that matter, taking down Christmas decorations is also a ritual, as it clears space for the freshness of a new look and a new year.  As I write this, it’s the sixth night of Hanukkah, and though I’m not Jewish, I have enough family and friends who are that lighting the candles in the menorah every night, and saying a blessing (in my case a humanist one) are a ritual, imbued with good wishes for family, friends, and the world.

But there are everyday rituals as well, simple things we can do to ensure healthy habits.

For me, the biggest one is eating breakfast. I know that sounds weird – everyone eats breakfast, right? Well, I’m very nocturnal and I tend to wake up late and dive into whatever I need to do without bothering to eat or drink. Alternatively, I’ll make a cup of coffee and bring it into my atelier (I hate the word office for home-spaces) where I’ll get involved in a writing or podcasting project and then realize I’m starving at two in the afternoon.

So, having breakfast every morning is a ritual I will be trying to respect as this new year unfolds, one that I hope turns into a habit.  No computer. No phone. Just me, my dining table, and real food – fruit and yogurt or avocado toast with an egg – not just a tub of Chobani or a granola bar. And no coffee until there’s a meal in progress.

Another ritual is watering my plants every morning. I love plants, but I’m not always great at caring for them, so I’m adopting my grandmother’s practice of visiting each plant and talking or singing to them, and not just drizzling water and leaving the room.

For me, writing, swimming, and kayaking are forms of meditation, so I don’t need to set aside time for that, but everyday rituals have the potential to help me stay healthy and grounded, and involve small changes to my daily schedule, rather than the massive swings that resolutions represent.

What about you? What are your everyday rituals? Please comment below.