Money date No. 35: A new year without resolutions
Still no new job, but I’ve cracked the code on Christmas gifts!
Coming to you from the midst of winter break, though this “break” has been anything but restful. I know that’s the case for a lot of people, especially parents tasked with more than usual child care, travel, weird meals at odd times, overstimulation, and a house full of empty boxes and new toys no one asked for.
For me, the break has been less than restful because of the uncertainty of unemployment since my layoff in October.
This time of year asks us to reflect on the past 12 months and plan for what will be different and better in the next 12. From the limbo of unemployment, I can’t do any of that. I can look back on a year in which I started a job that was so short-lived it’s rendered meaningless. When I look ahead to 2026, all I see is a void where plans and ambitions would normally live.
While I hang in the uncertainty of a job offer that might be around the corner, client work I might want to expand, travel I might do, where I might want to take this newsletter, I can’t form a single useful goal. A new year won’t start for me until I have more answers. I’ve been floating since the layoff, and I’ll continue to float until I find a solid foundation on which to put my next era of work. (This, I guess, is a major drawback of workcentrism; when work is my anchor, losing it sets me adrift.)
Uncertainty aside, though, I’m not all gloomy right now. One amazing thing happened this year that I can cherish forever: my book launch! I released You Don’t Need a Budget with Little, Brown Spark on Dec. 24, 2024, so the first quarter of my 2025 was filled with exciting book launch activity. It was, honestly, likely that the rest of the year would have felt like a real come-down after that high no matter what happened — so maybe it was a good year for unfortunate events.
I thought I’d take this final money date of 2025 to reflect on my relationship with money this year… but that doesn’t feel useful to me now. 2026 is likely to look so different, and 2025 was so unusual, I don’t know if there are any lessons to take forward. I think I need to wipe the slate clean of everything but the book launch and start fresh whenever I can start again. If you want to join to share your money date in the comments, feel free to look back on your whole year or just the past couple of weeks — whatever feels useful for you!
💡 Inspired by a Healthy Rich contributor, a money date is an exercise I crafted for You Don’t Need a Budget. Subscribers can follow along in a private space after the paywall, and I encourage you to steal my questions to guide your own reflections!
