Lunar New Year Journaling Challenge
Ushering in the Year of the Snake
For years my brilliant friend Reba Joy and I would gather to set our big, glittery goals for the new year.
Then in 2020 as the world shifted, so did we. Setting those audacious goals didn’t align with us anymore. Instead, we set intentions.
Two years later when my son Jaad was born, my world shifted once again. By the end of that sleep deprived year, I was rundown and ragged as ever. As a new mother functioning on scattered sleep in a country new to me, my only goal was to survive.
As caring for our small human took precedence in my life, I began to feel overwhelmed by the undue stress and pressure of holidays.
By the time January 1 rolled around, I didn’t feel ready to tackle a new year. Instead, I craved deep rest and reflection. (What I really wanted was to hibernate and hide away from everyone.)
It was around that time that Reba Joy and I started talking about adopting the Lunar New Year.
I was no stranger to Lunar New Year celebrations.
Growing up in New Orleans, which is home to a vibrant Vietnamese community, I remember catching glimpses of colorful parades and fireworks during Tét. In the neighborhood shopping center that my father shepherded, small business owners and members of the Vietnamese community would gather donning lustrous red ao dài, traditional silk tunics, embroidered with intricate patterns as lively dragons paraded through the parking lot. Those images began to re-emerge fondly in my mind.
Then, suddenly it clicked. We did away with our old Western ways and welcomed the Lunar New Year into our lives.
After this past year which felt especially heavy and hard, I decided to double down on that sentiment.
2025 is the year of the snake which is said to bring wisdom, transformation, calmness, and creativity. While snakes typically get a bad rap, the slithery reptiles are revered in many cultures. Ancient Greeks used snakes to ward off evil. In many African cultures snakes represent fertility, water, and the spirit world. In ancient Egyptian mythology, the snake was held duality as both a protector and a symbol of chaos.
After reading this, I sat with what this sign could mean for me, if I opened myself up to a myriad of meanings.
The more I thought about it, the more it felt right. I would like to think of the past year as a shedding of sorts. Of casting away heartaches and disappointments and old ideals I held about the worlds in which I exist. To cast off what I imagined things would be, and to accept what they have been.
After a meditation this week, I emerged with a tiny sliver of clarity: in order to move forward from our disappointments, we must first accept them before we can reimagine a new path for ourselves.
How do we shed light on our disappointments - whether personal, professional, or political - in order to heal and transform them into something meaningful?
For me, writing has always been my most powerful weapon in healing.
With that being said, I invite you to join me for my first annual Lunar New Year Journaling Challenge.
We’ll begin our challenge on January 29, the first official day of the Lunar New year and go until February 16, the day of Lantern Festival and the end of the Lunar New Year celebration. In honor of the year of the snake, each day I will share a journaling prompt with you centered on the theme of shedding, transformation, and wisdom.
As always, I encourage you to make this your own. Find a quiet time and space where you can journal uninterrupted. Whether it’s in the morning when you wake up, just before you go to bed, or during your lunch break. We’ll journal for 10 minutes each day - or even more if you’re feeling inspired.
Later this week I’ll send out an invitation with a reminder and simple instructions.
May this year ahead be filled with acceptance, transformation, and wisdom for each of us.
Love,
Summer