A dear, new friend gave me a book at the start of the holiday season. She knows my love language!

And in the book, before I even read a word of the content, I read: "It is easier to try to be better than you are than to be who you are." (Marion Woodman)

Read that again ... slowly.

I don't know who Marion Woodman is and frankly, I don't care. Because that sentence right there, that sentence is worth billions of dollars. $13 billion dollars to be exact. The amount we Americans spend per year on self-improvement projects.

You know what being who we are costs? Zero dollars. Zero.

This is my only New Year's Resolution for 2025: This year, I want to be more and more fully who I am. That's it. No more, no less. Just to be more fully Alice than I have been in the past.

And you might think, "That's it? That's what you got??" And I would say back, "Can you think of anything better than that?"

*************

I am sick today. Sitting in front of the fire, still in my pjs, a bit of light jazz on Spotify, a crime novel in my hands. No plans to better myself. No big goals to kick off the year. No military strength regimens meant to help me get "shredded" or "seize the day," or finally "master my mornings."

Nope. Just this one sentence rolling around in my mind.

"It is easier to try to be better than you are than to be who you are."

What do you think of this?

And why do we find it so hard?