Three Tiny Big Things To Do In January
I invite you to pour all of your hopes, aspiration, dreams and ambitions into this second landmark. This second landmark is you, in twelve months’ time.
Happy 2025!
And a warm welcome from January, the god of all beginnings.
For those of you new around these parts, welcome 👋 My name is David and I’m a writer, outdoor instructor, cyclist-at-large with Thighs of Steel and Expeditions Manager at British Exploring Society.
In this newsletter, I write stories that help you and me understand the world (and ourselves) a little better.
Sometimes I cross the threshold.
Three Tiny Big Things To Do In January
1. Suicide Awareness Training
Suicide is preventable. Empower yourself with knowledge.
Three things I learned on this short awareness course:
A sudden sense of calm and happiness in someone who has been seriously depressed can be a sign that they have decided to take their own life.
Asking someone if they’re feeling suicidal does NOT put the thought into their head or make it more likely to happen. Be direct.
Thanks to
for sharing this training in his excellent newsletter.2. 2025: Your Journey in Nature
Go out into nature — whatever that means for you. It could be your back garden. It could be a local park, riverside or beach. It could be the woods. It could be the wasteland round the back of the multi-storey. It doesn’t matter. It’s yours.
Ideally, this natural place will be somewhere you can go back to throughout the year, but please don’t let that stop you doing it wherever you are now.
Identify two landmarks in your natural place. Ideally, they should be about twelve paces apart from each other.
Trees are good landmarks for this exercise because they are beautiful and these landmarks may well take on a special significance for you over the course of the year.
But your landmarks could be almost anything — the only definite requirements are that they are fixed in place and that you can move comfortably between the two.
The first landmark represents you today, at the beginning of 2025. The second landmark represents you in twelve months’ time, at the beginning of 2026.
I invite you to look closely at your first landmark.
Where are you now? How do you feel about your life today? What is going well? What would you love to see going better? This landmark is you, today.
Now look closely at your second landmark.
I invite you to pour all of your hopes, aspiration, dreams and ambitions into this second landmark. This second landmark is you, in twelve months’ time.
Please don’t feel obliged to write down or record the hopes and dreams that you have projected into your second landmark. This is not corporate goal-setting. Trust that what is important will stick, and allow yourself to adapt and evolve in a very natural way as the seasons rise and fall.
Every month, I invite you to return to this natural place. Welcome yourself back. Re-introduce yourself to your surroundings.
How has the space changed in the last month?
In particular, acknowledge your two landmarks, old friends: your past self and your future self, with you somewhere in between. How are they doing?
Every month, start at your first landmark and walk the number of paces that represents how far along in the year you’ve gone. Maybe bring a votive offering of tea and pour it on the ground or scatter some sage leaves along the path as you walk.
If the two landmarks are twelve paces apart, then at the end of January take one pace towards your second landmark. In June, you would take six paces from the first landmark towards the second, representing each of the six months that have elapsed since you first came to your nature place.
As you move slowly forward each month, think about how you are moving slowly forward towards your future self. Keep that in mind.
How are you doing today? What’s changed in you over the past month?
As you travel over ground that represents times past, remember the person you’ve been at those times. When you’ve counted out the requisite number of paces, look back at how far you’ve come.
How have you evolved and grown since the beginning of the year?
Honour all the things you’ve learned so far and all the experiences and relationships that are contributing to your becomingness.
Now look ahead to your second landmark.
In what ways are you slowly becoming that future person? Do you remember any of the hopes and dreams that you poured into your landmark? Do you want to change or add to any of those ideas?
Remember that nature is always changing, always in compromise and combination with the zillions of other organisms that make up its environment. Sometimes this means change in totally unexpected ways. That’s okay. No one here is judging you.
When you’ve thought a little bit about your future self, come back to now.
How does your year’s journey feel to you so far?
How does it feel to be alive?
Don’t be hard on yourself. Whatever happens this year, give yourself credit for moving forward.
3. Join a Men’s Circle
In 2025, men need to rediscover the art of gathering in circle. It doesn’t have to be around a campfire (although that does seem to help). It does have to be all men, in a circle of brothers, showing who they are — who they really are.
If you’re wondering why it’s important men talk about being men today, then read this: ‘Systemically women have it worse, but behaviourally, men are more limited’.
Message me if you would like to join an online circle run by an experienced and trusted brother. I’ll send you the link.
If you’re not a man: encourage your menfolk to find their own circle.
Thank You
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diwyc,
dc:
Oh dear - I'm a man, not a young one either, and the very last thing I want to do is join a mens' circle. I can think of few things worse than reinforcing a stereotype I walked away from years ago. Why not a people circle if you must?