#17: The Last List of 2023

Away from overcaffeinating; towards whimsy and re-soled shoes.

I realised too late that I forgot to wish you all happy holidays in last week’s email. But seeing as we’re in the leftover-laden throes of dead week, I figured a short but sweet dispatch could make up for it.

Thank you for reading me this year — I hope you all are being ridiculously well-fed; that family rifts are mended or at a minimum; that you’ve received a trinket or two you treasure, tangible or otherwise; and that you’re about to start 2024 content and surrounded by people you love.

New year’s resolutions have never been my thing — I made one last year, which was to learn to drive; I’ve yet to get behind the wheel but in my defence I’ve passed the theory test. However, you all know I love a list and when this format came up on my Substack feed, I thought it’d make a good alternative as its vaguer parameters leave more room for part success, attempts, good intentions, and failure. It reminded me of this iconic list by Nora Ephron, which I think of often and is up there in the Hall of Fame of Lists alongside the Ten Commandments and Joan Didion’s packing list.

With no further ado, here are my lists of things to move toward and away from in the new year; fingers crossed you can read my scrawl and appreciate how I tempered several of them.