What Are You Willing to Let Go of This Year?

Nancy Fay
Jan 3
3 min read

A New Year's Reflection for Caregivers, the Homebound, and the Hands that Serve Them

Every January, we ask the same predictable questions:

"What should I start?"

"What should I add?"

"How can I do more?"

As if our lives are empty bowls waiting to be filled. As if we're not already stretched, strained, overwhelmed, or emotionally saturated.

But then I read a line from Mark Manson that stopped me cold:

"Instead of thinking about what you want to add to your life, ask yourself what you're willing to remove."

At first, it sounds simple. But sit with it for a minute.

Removing requires honesty.
Removing requires courage.
Removing requires confronting the weight you've been silently carrying.

It's not about becoming more. It's about lightening what's already too heavy. And that changes the question entirely.

For Caregivers: What Burdens Have You Been Carrying Alone?

Caregiving doesn't start with a job description - it starts with quiet responsibility. It seeps into your life in small ways, until one day you realize your hands have been full for years.

The truth is that many caregivers don't need to add anything to their lives. They need permission to release something:

Release the belief that caring equals sacrificing yourself.
Release the guilt of not being perfect.
Release the expectation that you must meet every need personally.
Release the fear that asking for help makes you less devoted.

When you care for someone who cannot fully care for themselves, love becomes weighty in ways we rarely talk about. But letting go doesn't diminish that love. Sometimes letting go is the only way to preserve it.

For Homebound Adults: What Parts of Yourself Have Been Quietly Fading?

Becoming homebound often happens gradually - one mobility limitation, one illness, one setback at a time. And with each step, something else slips away.

The sense of being part of the world.

The feeling of being visible.

The small rituals that reminded you of who you are.

So I want to ask a different question:

What have you been carrying that you can finally set down?

The belief that needing help makes you "less."
The isolation that's settled into your bones.
The feeling that beauty, dignity and attention are luxuries you no longer deserve.

You deserve to feel tended to. You deserve to be touched with gentleness. You deserve to feel human again - not because of a service, but because you still matter.

Letting go isn't about loss. It's about reclaiming parts of yourself the world forgot to reach.

For Beauty Professionals: What Could Your Career Become if you Stepped Outside the Usual Lines?

People in the beauty industry are masters of transformation - but rarely for themselves.

They're expected to give endlessly while navigating:

Commission cuts
Long hours
Emotional burnout
A system that values productivity over purpose

But what if this year isn't about expanding your hustle? What if it's about releasing the things that have confined you?

Let go of the idea that your talent only belongs in a salon.
Let go of platforms that take more than they give.
Let go of the burnout disguised as ambition.
Let go of the belief that purpose and profit must compete.

Serving homebound clients doesn't just change their lives - it changes yours. Suddenly beauty becomes something more sacred: connection, compassion, legacy.

Stop working on someone and start working for something bigger.

Maybe This Year Isn't Asking You to Become Someone New...

Maybe it's asking you to become lighter.

We're conditioned to believe that growth requires addition. But sometimes the most profound growth happens through subtraction.

So ask yourself - really ask: