My Favorite New Year’s Resolution Has Nothing To Do With Success Or Weight Loss.

McKenzie Lynn Tozan
5 min readDec 31, 2019
“Cady’s New Year’s Slumber Party” by McKenzie Lynn Tozan

It’s December 31, just hours away from the big turn of the clock that will take us from 11:59 PM in 2019 to 12:00 AM in 2020.

We’re having a few neighbors over, and their kids will probably play with ours in the living room and in the playroom downstairs. The adults will probably sip drinks and talk about the usual things: weather, work, the dinner that’s cooking (I’m making lasagna soup, garlic bread, Caesar salad, and fruit bowls for the kids).

But if the topic of New Year’s Resolutions comes up, I’ll probably share the easiest one: finding immense success in my business this year. I’ve come to terms with wanting success in my writing and learning to be unapologetic about viewing it as a way to make money and as an art form. I’m not going to apologize for that anymore, or overexplain myself, but I won’t be silent, either.

There’s also the typical resolution to lose weight and take better care of my body in 2020, but that’s been several months coming, and it’s something I believe I will stick to this year. Meal-planning and exercising regularly are in full-swing, so increasing the workout load and incorporating meditation into my day won’t be too much of a shift. As successful as this might ultimately be, though, it’s not something I want to talk to the neighbors about. I’m very private about how I feel about my body and what I want to do with it, really with anyone beyond myself, my husband, and my children.

But my third resolution is my absolute favorite, and it has nothing to do with weight loss or success in my business. Not the number of books I want to read or particular places I want to visit. It has to do with minimalism, and it’s materialized in my favorite article of clothing.

In the second half of 2019, I started really believing in the power of minimalism, though it’s not all about “getting rid” of stuff. It’s about emphasizing the things I really love and enjoy using, by letting go of the things I don’t enjoy using and the things I don’t want taking up part of my time (for example, if I have a knick-knack on my shelf that I don’t particularly enjoy, and I still have to take the time to dust it and around and under it, it’s not making me happy, and it’s using some of my time…

McKenzie Lynn Tozan

A Dino Poet, Novelist, Book Reviewer, Double EIC, & Midwestern Girl in Croatia. THE DUPLEX out now! https://beacons.ai/mckenzielynntozanwrites