Shaking the House
Five things I’m doing in January—for home, mind, spirit, and future
Resolutions and I run hot and cold. Some years I’m into them, some years I’m meh. But on Monday, right before the end of 2024, I woke up with a ferocious urge to enter the new year feeling organized, on top of things, and like I really had my shit together.
In control.
That’s what resolutions are ultimately about, aren’t they? When some aspect of our life has gone off the rails, or when we simply recognize some greater potential within ourselves, we assign a goal. If you can put yourself back on track, you can control the outcome of your day, then your year, and then your entire life. Right?
(LOL. If only it were that simple!)
Still, I found myself writing out five small tasks to complete by the end of this month:
Wash and disinfect all my makeup brushes (yes, one is supposed to do this weekly, but let's be honest, I don't).
Gather the items I most dread compiling for our annual tax returns—the receipts, records, emails—and organize them into files that will make sense to me in another month or two, so the whole enterprise feels less daunting.
Deal with a few indoor and patio plants that are looking sad. Repot, fertilize, or replant altogether.
Check the contents of and refresh our disaster kit. Make sure we have all the things we need, throw out the expired food, etc. (PS, if you live anywhere prone to natural disasters—hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, and the like—here is a good list to reference for your own kit.)
Descale our hot water kettle, which has not been done in…at least two years.
Am I spring cleaning? I must be spring cleaning.
All my tasks—the little things nagging at me and which will drive me insane if I leave them to March or beyond—are in service of the household. I poked around Google and learned that, unsurprisingly, spring cleaning has ancient origins and exists in cultures everywhere, both during the season of its namesake as well as in the dead of winter. My favorite origin story suggests spring cleaning originated in the Persian new year, where the holiday is preceded by a ritual called khaneh tekani, which means “shaking the house.”
Maybe that’s what this new year is to me. The shaking of the house.
I feel as if I have been digging myself out of a hole these last five years, what with pregnancy and parenthood; pandemic; health things; deaths in the family; figuring out what the reunion with my Korean family meant for me, my identity, and my daughter; career change for both me and Joe; massive life change all around. The coming year feels like I am out of the crater, finally sitting atop the rim with feet dangling over the edge, taking in the horizon beyond and warily eyeing the thing I clawed my way out of, just below.
So my five little spring cleaning tasks are not merely new year’s busy work. No, completing them will not bring about the 2025 wishes, or suddenly manifest bigger things. I’m old enough to understand that no resolutions, however big or small, can erase the past versions of ourselves and suddenly birth a brand new anything—habit, hobby, person. But I do feel ready to shake the house, let the light in, open all the doors and windows and see what the wind blows through. Perhaps sometimes, it’s okay to foster a small (if false) sense of control, especially if it keeps you going. Especially if it proves to you that you can do the things that feel insurmountable.
Here’s to shaking open the new year.
Three things I enjoyed over the holiday:
Photos: Maria Lupan, Robert Arnar, James Coleman