2023 is a new year. Articles abound suggesting that we list our goals and ambitions for the coming year. How many new friends or colleagues do we want to attract? What commodities (cars, clothes, better gardens, best-selling books) would we like to acquire? A new career or vocation? A raise or promotion? A job with benefits?

What if instead we listed what we already have?

What/who are the specific friends, comfortable places, talents we have developed, a few family members, art, music, body strength, photography, garage tools, fishing poles, leather golf bags, banjos, resiliency, etc., that we already have in stock? From 1977 to 1987 in Granada Hills, CA, I had a yarn and needlework shop called Happy Hookers (latch hooking was big then). Every year, between December 30 and January 1, my whole family counted inventory—every skein of embroidery floss and every ball of all the shades of worsted weight yarn for ripple Afghans. Every crochet hook and circular knitting, pattern, and stitch holders. We needed to know the current value of the enterprise to which we were devoting so many hours.

We did not make a list of what we wanted to buy the next year or new crafts we might want to add to the shop. Only by calculating the value of what we already had could we make decisions about future cutting back on stock or adding new yarns and crafts.

Prompt for writing:

Make a vertical list of 23 people, places, and things that you value from 2022. This list needs to include everything and every person important to you. Put a check by the people and experiences that were new to you in 2022. Circle the ones it would be devastating to lose.

Do the valued people on your list know how important they are to you?