Less is More
It’s time to intentionally do less.
Hi! If you want to read this with the same feeling as I wrote it, try listening to this song while you read. Think of it as a soundtrack to my thoughts. Pathos - Ludovico Einaudi
Hey Neighbor,
I have never been one for a word of the year.
To be quite honest, that has always felt like something only uppity white Christian women do as they drink overly sweet coffee out of grey Rae Dunn mugs from their perfectly boring kitchens.
Where they post their word of the year on Instagram, perfectly styled next to their mood boards with monotone pictures printed out from Pinterest.
Words like “Grow” as they work on building a business trying to sell weight loss tea to their Facebook friends from high- school, or words like “Balance” while trying to find the sweet spot of being a fitness enthusiast while going out each weekend with friends.
Don’t get me wrong, if that brings you joy go for it. It just invokes a very specific image of a person when you hear about planning out the word of the year.
An image of someone who has their life together, and has a color theme for their home decor.
Someone who actually remembers to fill out their bullet journal each day, or makes time to meditate, and eats well instead of the person who just grabs a bag of mini muffins as they run out the door because they woke up with just enough time to get ready for work before actually being late.
A word of the year was never something that felt obtainable to me, a queer disaster of a witchy human.
I am the type of person who wakes up with 30 minutes to leave because that is exactly how long it takes me to go from asleep to dressed and out the door.
Presentable, no, but good enough for work.
So the idea of actually trying to plan a word of the year for 2025 feels like some kind of joke, even though desperate times call for desperate measures.
If you’re still with me after taking my first substack post to insult an entire personality type, then maybe 2025 is a desperate measure for you too.
You feel burnt out in the same way and are begging someone to tell you that you’re not the only one.
You aren’t.
2024 was awful.
Frankly every year since I can remember has just been worse and worse.
A funny (because it is laughable not because it is actually funny) game of “hold my beer.”
Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot to appreciate and am in the best place I have been since the Panera brought the realization that we cannot sustain working the way we have before.
I can also realize that I am at my wit's end trying to keep up with bills, two full-time jobs, a balanced diet, a sleep schedule, and a creative outlet so I don’t lose what is left of my mind.
Which brings us to this point.
Me, using water hotter than the devil's tongue, in the shower trying to sort out what to do with 2025.
Less.
That is all I can think of.
I want, less.
Now, I know what you’re thinking.
How does someone starting a newsletter, trying to grow a small business, and hoping to leave their day job set a goal for less?
They don’t.
It is easy to say that I want less and start to cut out the things that aren’t adding to my happiness.
You can’t exactly Marie Kondo your job when being alive costs as much as it does.
Trust me, if I could my Store Manager would be gone with the swiftness and multiple profanities that would make a sailor faint.
When I say I want less, I mean it intentionally.
2025 is going to be the year of doing less, not because I am draining water from a sinking ship, but because I need to make space for things I want.
It feels counterintuitive, to do less to have more, but it makes perfect sense in my head.
It feels so simple that if it were a snake it would have bit me.
It would have never occurred to me, that in order for me to make space for the things I want in life, I have to remove the things I don’t.
Now, I am fully aware that you can’t just go and quit your job.
BUT
You can make small changes that eventually lead to big things.
Nothing happens in the flash of an eye when it comes to change and growth, but it’s called a word of the year right?
So why not take the entire year to accomplish it?
Where I sit right now, typing this significantly more cathartic and hopefully meaningful post than I initially planned, as long as I have moved forward by 2026 and have actually achieved the less that I want… That’s a win.
This isn’t a goal.
I am not trying to set some absurd grading to determine whether I was successful or not.
I simply want less.
I want to work less.
I want to stress less.
I want to feel less exhausted.
So that I can do more.
I can feel more creativity in my craft and practice.
I can achieve more in the things that bring me joy.
I can crochet, read tarot, make YouTube videos.
If 2026 rolls around and I am less of anything that had me wishing for the sweet embrace of death as a Christmas gift (which for legal purposes is a terrible dark joke), I will chalk that up as a win.
I guess now is where I pick out my favorite basic mug, in my favorite bland shade of grey, and pour myself an overly sweet and flavored coffee as I join the girlies who make their mood boards for the new year.
This weight I have been carrying for years, trying to stay passionate about joy while also struggling to keep afloat?
It is time to release it.
I never thought I would wish less for other people, especially as a compliment.
2025 is about less.
Intentionally,
Specifically,
Decidedly,
Less.
I hope you are given less of everything this year so that you can have so much more of what you actually want.
Enjoy your caffeinated dessert, er, coffee, see you next time.
Xo,
Your friendly neighborhood Hippie Witch,
Ry
If this inspired you, resonated with you, hell if you had any opinions at all, I would love to hear them. Feel free to share them below. You could even tell me your word of the year and go to overly sweet coffee drink, and then subscribe so we can interact on future posts like this. I hope this was as much of a release for you reading it, as it was for me writing it.
Thanks for reading,
Ry