The Reassessment
What's Around the Corner
Hello hello. Nice to see you. It’s been a while. I’m sure you’ve dispatched your Christmas tree and recycled your wrapping. Perhaps you abandoned drinking for the month. Good work! We approve of enlightened moderation and a clear-eyed view of how you want to be. Here’s to arriving at a better place where the sun shines in. Hopefully you’re reading more, scrolling less and avoiding awards ceremonies—one of the lowest forms of modern culture.
I tried to spare you year-end declarations. Best of this, worst of that, what’s in, what’s out. In a desperately ranked world that feels slightly embarrassing. As we barge into the new year we’re looking for clarity and trying to avoid the political situation. If you’re lucky you’re heading down to Argentina pursing brown trout in Patagonia. I know I am. And yet these new year declarations are helpful. I vow to finally read William Maxwell and reinvigorate my long dormant tennis game. Please hold me to this!
I also want to say a word praising of flexibility. Not one of my strong points. I’m for a unified way of doing things, which is essentially what this newsletter is about. The sooner you arrive at a well considered place of who you are the better off you’ll be. It’s easier to engage with the world, to dress, to philosophize, among other things.
The downside of all that is becoming rigid. That’s the unforgiving flip side of being principled. Loved ones point this out to me and not in a complimentary way. So I’ve tried to wear a hotel bathrobe, drink chamomile tea and be open minded when it comes to (ahem) the practice of wellness. Though I’m not reading magical realism novels just yet! It’s more than minor habits and really more of a state of mind.
When I look back on last year some of the best things I did—going to an SEC game in Mississippi, seeing a concert in Knoxville, reading unexpected novels—were the least likely. These are the combinations I’m looking for this year. Do I own yellow clothes? No. Am I open to the palest, palest old Oxford cloth shirt? I am. And who knows, it may be the start of something good. Or in any case, a sign of something good.