#73: Unsubscribing From 2025 (Already)
Striving to find gratitude in an already chaotic year.
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Unsubscribing From 2025 (Already)
Well, here we are—just two weeks into 2025—and I’m already hovering over the “unsubscribe” button. The year wasted no time serving up a series of unwelcome surprises: I got a cold/flu thingy, learned I need to have surgery, and, just for added flavor, witnessed a robbery on the subway. Then, the Los Angeles wildfires happened. Watching the devastation unfold felt like the final KO in a year that has barely begun.
LA holds a special place in my heart. I lived there for six years, and although New York City is where I feel most at home, Los Angeles is an important part of my story. Ironically, I moved to LA just before September 11, 2001, and I remember watching in horror as the New York I knew and loved was forever changed. Now, I’m watching LA from a distance as it burns and feeling that same helpless feeling.
I was planning to write about money this week—to give you an honest account of how I’m navigating shifts in my financial situation. And I will write that piece eventually. But it didn’t feel right to hit “send” on that topic this week, not with so much collective devastation and grief hanging in the air, not with so many people who have nothing but the shirts on their backs.
At this moment, most content unrelated to the LA wildfires has felt jarring, even tone-deaf. Especially the cold emails pitching services I don’t need for my business. (Really, please stop.) This weekend, stuck in bed ill with far too much time to scroll through videos of those on the ground in LA with a broken heart, I found myself recalibrating my perspective.
It’s so easy to get caught up in what’s missing—what you don’t have. Maybe it’s a steady paycheck, a job you loved, or the life you thought you’d be living by now. I’ve been there, circling the same mental track, and it’s exhausting. But watching my former city burn was a jolting reminder to pause and really see what I do have, which, as it turns out, is a lot.
Fire and the Life Cycle
Fire is, by its nature, destructive. It tears through homes, lives, and landscapes. But it’s also essential—a part of the natural cycle. It clears the way for renewal, for regrowth. It’s an ending, yes, but it’s also a beginning.
Any unexpected life event—a job loss, a breakup, the death of a loved one—can feel like a fire. It scorches everything you knew, leaving behind a smoking, unfamiliar landscape where safety and security once stood. But the hardest part is recognizing that, somewhere in the ash, there’s potential for something new.
It’s impossible to recognize in the moment, of course. When you’re standing in the wreckage, it’s all too raw, too overwhelming. That perspective only comes later, when you’re looking back in the rearview mirror.
But no matter the specifics, that feeling of loss is something universal. And maybe, in moments like these, we can lean into that shared experience to find strength, hope, or at least some connection.
A Shift in Focus
I’m still grappling with the unexpected twists of 2025, and I’m sure there will be many more messy moments ahead. But for now, I’m trying to Audit My Life, shift my focus, and be grateful for what I have rather than what I don’t. To acknowledge the losses without letting them overshadow the potential for what’s next.
There are many ways to support the people and wildlife affected by the fires and you are all smart people, capable of researching organizations that resonate with you. Personally, I’ve donated to the GoFundMe Wildfire Relief Fund 2025. I’m rooting for the people of Los Angeles, for the city that will rebuild and land that will eventually regrow, and for all of us to find some light in what’s been a dark start to the year.
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