Happy New Year everyone! To be honest, every year I feel less called to celebrate the start of a new calender year. Probably because we try to force ourselves to feel renewed and fresh and are encouraged to revamp our lives in the middle of winter. We are still supposed to be resting and recuperating. There’s nothing wrong with having a little party, being with people we love and feeling excitement while counting down. But most people I’ve talked to recently also seem to think New Year’s is overrated. Just like last year, I stayed home by myself, watched my favourite series and danced in my living room, before taking a long shower during which the new year started. Then I had to wait for people to stop setting off fireworks to go to sleep (it really is one of the traditions I hate most).
The 12th day of Yule is called Oath Night. So the idea of making new year’s resolutions is not new. And even though this is a completely arbitrary reset, I still like to take the opportunity to think about some goals next year. The intention that was left after burning the other 12 was: reducing my screen time. Bit of a boring one, to be honest, but I do want to commit to it. I’ve seen some 2026 trend predictions and one of them is that people will be going analog again, which I love. Some examples are: writing by hand, cooking with cookbooks, playing card and board games, collecting vinyls, using a film camera. It’s great what smartphones can do and how they’ve made our lives easier, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to not be addicted to them. Maybe I just want to use my phone for the one thing it was originally made for: calling people.
Anyways, it’s been really fun to write (almost) every day for this Yule challenge. I hold my self love posts to a very high standard and am usually only happy after 30+ revisions. But with these little posts, I just wrote whatever came to me, which felt very light and easy. Thank you so much for reading. I wish you all the best for the new year, but remember: nature’s new year only starts in March, so don’t force yourself to bloom if you’re not ready.
Tea Time With Amber 