Hello! Greetings from Brooklyn.

This will be the last blog I send to you in 2021.

I wrote 53 of these pick-me-ups in 2021 and I’ll never take for granted having you as a reader. I’ll be back, taking up precious space in your inbox, on January 3rd.  

This year was a hodgepodge of things that didn’t go as planned. With two weeks to spare, Adam and I decided to get married on the 5th anniversary of our first date, outside the coffee shop we had that date, while everyone we loved watched over Zoom. I canceled approximately six trips in 2021 because of….COVID. I didn’t finish my third book, thought I truly thought I would. I had a really bad panic attack in August and the aftermath of it still lingers in my heart. 

BUT….I got married in March to a person who makes every day feel like an inside joke of an adventure. I spent so much quality time in Brooklyn that I found myself so proud to live here. I didn’t finish that book (yet) but I did start two new newsletters (odd + marriage), released a card game, started a billboard website, and started working with the mentor of my wildest dreams. As for that panic attack…it’s still teaching me something about who I am and how I am – every single day.  

See, your year never goes as planned because it’s not supposed to.  The best things that happen to us are things we can’t even imagine.  So are the worst things. 

 But that’s why we must keep our eyes, and our hearts open, because there’s always more…there’s always something more to come. I promise you that, my friend. 

In this issue:  How to plan for a new year, a song that you won’t be able to stop playing, and why it’s so important to appreciate the unknowns. 

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“I just want things to be different next year,” I said to a friend over oat milk lattes on a chilly Tuesday. “And I just fear that it won’t be. I just fear that every single thing will be the same.” 

“Jen.” she said back in a way that made her punctuation pierce my eardrum. “You know what your problem is? You are your problem.” I love a new year, but I don’t believe in resolutions

. Resolutions remind me of all my ex-boyfriends who promised something big before they never spoke to me again. I promise to change. I promise to be better. I promise to stop doing the things that aren’t good for you. Promises are so easy to break and I don’t like wasting time with broken things.

 Goals are more like game plans, instructions for the year. Goals tell you what you want – what you want to work on, who you want to become. Goals let you track progress and see your purpose. So I pace back and forth my world during the final month of the year trying to figure out goals for the new year. And what I see, before I see the real truth, is all the ways I messed up my goals in the year I just lived. 

That’s when I start to panic – a little. The whole point of a new year is that it looks and feels different than the year before.

 So that’s where I’ll be these next two weeks, home in Brooklyn, taking inventory on what the heck just happened this year and once I’ve done that, I’ll start thinking about what the heck I want to happen next year.  

As we got up to leave the little cafe in Brooklyn, my friend left me with a hug – and these words: “You put too much pressure on a new year, like life’s got to morph into something way better than what you have going for you right now. The problem is, next year will be what it’s going to be. Don’t you see that? Don’t you know that?” And as always, she’s right.   

Random Links

The 90-Day ChallengeGuess what launches in January? The brand-new 90-day challenge! It was truly a fan favorite this year in 2021 that I released it January and again in April.

PLAY THIS ON REPEATI can’t stop listening to this song. Hit reply and tell me if you love it too!  

TAKE INVENTORY ON 2021 WITH THIS GUIDE

Download this, grab a coffee, and get going. 

THE NEWLYWED CARD GAMEKnow someone engaged or recently married? Get them this ASAP.

Mini Pick-Me-Up:  Love the Unknowns  To the little tiny no frills cafes in Brooklyn that nobody talks about and nobody writes about but that make a person feel like they are at a familiar kitchen table in their very own home. Do you want to know what you’re missing in life? You’re missing things like this if you just go and read and listen to the things that are on the TOP LISTS OF books or restaurants or podcasts. Those lists don’t mean those things are good. Those lists means someone is telling you those things are the best. Buy a book from the top shelf of the fourth floor at a bookstore. Press play on a podcast that isn’t on the new and noteworthy list. Eat a place that isn’t even on Yelp because they don’t have an advertising budget to make being on that site worth it. Life is about trying new things and perhaps those new things aren’t on page one of any Google search.

The End! Thanks for reading my Pick-Me-Up Newsletter.  I’m in Brooklyn working on finishing a million things before the end of the year. LMK if you have any recommendations for songs to listen to this week!  If you’re on Instagram, add me here: @jenglantz. I post interesting things every day to my story.   If you’re new to my emails – welcome! I promise to work hard to bring joy and motivation to your inbox every Monday.  If you have a friend (or 2) who would love to receive this Pick-Me-Up, share this link with them. Until next time… I’ll be rooting for you and cheering you on!  Have a great week.  Jen Glantz p.s. Here’s the About Me on my website if you forgot who I am or where we met