We’re a week-and-a-half into 2024, it’s 1:58am in Chicago as my body remains steadfastly on Melbourne time, and I’ve finally landed on my word for the year. For those living under rocks, choosing a word for the year is entirely different from the exercise that means “rizz” is now grammatically acceptable. It’s instead about sifting through the wreckage, accomplishments, joys, and sorrows of the previous year and deciding what will define you for the 12 months to come.
Enjoyment.
Yeah, it lacks rizz. But I’m going to defend it honorably because it feels awfully like simply enjoying stuff is in increasingly short supply. We’re about to endure a predictably horrifying and terrifying US presidential election on which the future of democracy in the country hangs in the balance. More than a hundred Israeli men, women, and children remain hostage in the Gaza Strip as war rages around them. Ukraine continues to fight for its existence as Western support starts to waver. The planet is cooking, with one crazy weather event after another. And when you try to fly somewhere to escape it all, the bloody door of your plane falls off.
On a personal level, 2023 wasn’t existentially dire but still pretty dramatic. And yet I’ve entered this year feeling a sense of peace, clarity, and gratitude I can’t previously recall. A lot of that has to do with my family and friends and the wise counsel and support I’ve received in recent months, for which I’m eternally grateful. But the fundamental shift is within me: I’ve realized where I am is pretty great, and the journey to get here wouldn’t have been possible without all that’s passed.
Which gets me to enjoyment. Life’s not about picking the next stretch goal you think will impress everyone and killing it (and yourself) to get there. It’s not about accumulating stuff, even if stuff can be pretty damn nice. And it’s certainly not about believing that achieving those things will make you the person you want to be. To plagiarize myself (which it totally legit, I swear), it’s by being your authentic self that leads to opportunities to do what you want and have what you desire, not the other way around. Be. Do. Have.
That’s why this year is about enjoying every precious moment with my sons, none of which will ever happen again in the exact same way. It’s about being more present and putting the phone down and reducing mindless distractions. Building on my friendships. Cherishing family. Meeting new people and embracing new experiences without lapsing into previous patterns about how I should or shouldn’t act (or, for that matter, caring as much about what I think other people may think). Pursuing passions for their own sake, not because I think it’ll advance my career or put money in the bank. That’s a short list, but you get the gist.
I’m well aware there’s potentially an element of selfishness inherent in embracing enjoyment, although to paraphrase the meme about equal rights, greater enjoyment for me doesn’t reduce enjoyment for you: it’s not pie. So, enjoyment it is, across all dimensions. It may lack rizz and it’s way more subtle than the summer of George (we all know how that ended). But 2024 is definitely a year I’m looking forward to.
A note about whatever this is …
After writing a few thousand articles for newspapers and magazines, I spent a long time trying a bunch of other stuff. I guess I figured what came (relatively) easily must by definition be less valuable, so I wandered in the corporate wilderness, becoming increasingly frustrated and doing work that felt increasingly lousy.
Sometimes with age comes wisdom, and I’ve realized finding something (relatively) easy ain’t a bad thing. So, this is a space where I’m resurrecting writing for myself, on topics weird and wild and wonderful.
Posts will appear when the mood takes me, but I do try to be consistently inconsistent—sometimes it’ll be a couple of days between drinks; sometimes a week. But if you subscribe, you’ll get a email letting you know I’m ranting. Again.