happy (almost) new year!
I hope you are taking time this holiday season to rest, reflect and recharge. And most of all, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy.
As the year comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the past 12 months and thinking about what I hope the next 12 will look like.
I’m not setting a New Year’s resolution. Rather, I’m continuing the tradition my friends started last year by picking a word I want to embody in 2022. My word for 2021 was “nourished.”
For me, being nourished means so much more than the food I consume in a day. My mind, soul, heart, body and belly can all be nourished. That’s what holistic health looks like for me. And that belief inspired the section of my newsletter where I talk about the things that I’ve found to be nourishing - the books and articles I’ve read, the food I’ve eaten, the friends I’ve spent time with, the conversations I’ve had, the physical movement I’ve done, etc. Rather than setting a tangible goal for this past year, I let the pursuit of nourishment be my guide. This made a huge difference in how I approach my day, my life, and my eating disorder recovery.
This year, my word is community.
I want to lean in to the communities I already belong to and be a more engaged family member, friend, community member, colleague, etc. And I want to foster and join new communities, too. I want to spend the next year really nurturing the relationships that matter to me.
I’ve spent so much energy and time chasing achievements and successes. Which is fine and great, and I’m proud of the things I’ve accomplished. But those are not the only things I value. And I sometimes pull away from my loved ones, thinking I’ll answer their text or meet for coffee when I reach the mythical moment when I cross the final thing off my to-do list. And that’s not how life works. You need to love and be loved. And in order to do that, you need to intentionally cultivate and grow your relationships. How does the saying go? You need to be a friend to have a friend, right?
Whew, this post was only supposed to be like two sentences long before I introduced my exciting (and kind of nerve-wrecking) news. But instead it turned into a declaration of my hopes for the year ahead. But I guess in some twisted way, it’s all kind of connected.
I’m pretty proud of this little corner of the internet. Every time someone reaches out and tells me that something I wrote or posted resonated with them, I get all teary-eyed and emotional. I wanted to create the kind of space I would have benefited when I first entered eating disorder recovery. So thank you so much to everyone who has read, subscribed and/or shared weightless and helped me create that space!!!
So, in that spirit, here is my news: weightless will have a paid subscription option in 2022!
Paid subscribers will get two additional newsletters every month, full of resources on eating disorder recovery, body image, and mental health, and a round-up of the things that have been nourishing me (like what I talked about above)! I’m basically making the bottom chunk of my current newsletter its own subscriber-only newsletter.
Paid and free subscribers will still get complete access to the essays and Q&As you’re used to getting in your inbox.
By paying for a subscription, you will help support me and my writing, which will allow me to do even more of it.
A subscription to weightless costs $5/month or $50/year.
BUT, even more exciting, I’m kicking this off with a sale! Now through Jan. 3, you can get a 2022 subscription for 20% off!
If you are not financially able to purchase a subscription and want one, don’t sweat it - just send me an email (juliegall95@gmail.com). And as always, you can continue to show your support for me and this newsletter by sharing it with your own communities:
That’s it from me! Go finish binge-watching whichever TV show you’re obsessed with right now and take good care of yourself this weekend!
Julie