Hi <<First Name>>, 

Happy New Year! As an act of rebellion, I mentally and professionally start the new year halfway through January. That’s odd, right? Not if you consider that we had a very full holiday season with two littles and the moment Brendan went back to school, I declared that my “winter break” could begin.

I spend those first few weeks of the new year dreaming and scheming. It is an arbitrary time to ask the bigger esoteric “what do I want to be when I grow up” questions, and it’s also a ripe time to be still with a cup of coffee and take stock. There are so many stories I want to bring to you - some from my own house and some from others’ lives. I have a list of partners I want to collaborate with this year. I am going to finish both the memoir and essay manuscripts I’m working on and pitch for agent representation. I’m working with my team to create a podcast, maybe two. And don’t forget the children’s books I want to write. I want to be better at TikTok (yes, even us GenX/Millennial interlopers can be cool). 

I also want to leave room in the margins for the unexpected opportunities that will come my way. They always seem to surprise me! 

Even more, I want to deepen our focus on this newsletter to reach new people with more impactful stories, interviews, book reviews, and more. To do so, we’re going to switch our cadence to monthly to give us time to deep dive into valuable conversations.

In a world where quantity seems to outweigh quality, I’m happy to rebel a bit and focus on priorities that are aligned with us. I’ll see you in February for some incredible conversations and writing that I cannot wait to share.

Here’s to a year of shaking up the status quo a little.

The ‘Puberty’ of Motherhood
Matrescence, like adolescence, is a time of change. This was also one of last year's highest-read articles.

• “These kids are at the forefront of the political fight, not adults.” - Not surprising, but recent polls show that states with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation are having a devastating impact on the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth. Read more from The 19th.

• Building the empire of motherhood: Ariane Goldman announced that she’s now the CEO of The Hatch Collective, a combination of the four leading brands in maternity wear. 

• New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern announced her resignation in such a fantastic way. What woman or mom can’t relate? When you have no gas left in the tank, it’s important to call it instead of pushing through. That said, with her announcement, she’s still fighting sexism at every level all over again.
• This viral TikTok calling out the disparities in how the medical community treats concerns voiced from women compared to men. The comments are a dark read. 

• This fascinating look at being a real estate agent while black, from Colette Coleman for the NYT. 

Talk about an incredible way to kickstart 2023 by all of the parenting conversations happening on We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle, Amanda, and Abby Wambach. Their two-part series with Dr. Becky Kennedy of Good Inside makes you laugh, cry, think and have more “aha!” moments than I can remember.

Now this is the mood I want to enter 2023 with. #goals.