Letting Go of Purpose

Planning for 2025 with a focus on connection, creation and confidence.

My flight didn’t leave until midday, but I went to the airport early, to sit in the Delta club and do some planning for the year to come. It was a November Monday, I was headed to Greensboro for a speaking engagement, and the idea of sitting in an airline lounge with no one I knew nearby and nothing demanding my attention sounded like bliss.

Imagine that—having to go to an airport to find solitude!

I’ve been traveling a lot this year. It’s what I wanted and then when it happened, it felt like too much—Hawaii in January. California in February. Israel and Minneapolis in March. Minneapolis in May. Toronto in June and Temagami in July. An overnight in mid-Michigan in July with my best friend. Grand Rapids for the Phish concert in August. Mackinac Island in September. Minneapolis again. New Orleans and the Redwoods of northern Cali in October. North Carolina and Washington, D.C. in November and New York and southern Illinois in December.

One of my perennial problems is over-scheduling, filling my calendar with too many commitments. It’s never good when you hope for someone to cancel on you. While I love the adventure of travel and the opportunity to see new places, meet new people, discover new sides of myself, what I yearn for now is quiet and expansiveness and the opportunity to grow a sourdough starter and feed it without interruption.

In the airport lounge, it became clear: I travel to have time alone to think, to write, to notice. I go away to clear my schedule, to contemplate. And to breathe.

Top photos in Greensboro with friends and speaking, bottom photos in NYC with writer-friends

That morning in the airport lounge, I did some free-writing about my priorities for the coming year. Every December, I do business planning for clients and for myself, to have a road map for the year ahead. I set goals and intentions.

My guiding vision for 2025 is connection, creation, confidence. My priority is ME, different than any year so far. In the past, I was always gunning for the clients, for the work, and now I want space and time to create. Or to contemplate.

I’ll start each day with movement, meditation, reading, putting pen to paper. I’ll go outside every day, notice the air and the sky and the beautiful world.

I’ve relegated work to specific afternoon hours. I’ve pledged to only engage in activities that offer me connection, creation or confidence. I will chase meaning rather than money.

I’ll still write of course. Writing is fun and it brings me joy and it’s a challenge, and I’ll do it until it stops being all those things. By focusing on the joy of writing, I am writing great stories. Stories people want to read. Which is the only way to do it—write for YOU, and others will want to read your words.

My eldest son comes home on the 20th of this month and my husband is off work from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day, so I won’t be working from Dec. 20th until January 2nd. That feels so damn good.

Some of the sites on my recent travels - presidential portraits from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., structures made from botanical materials at the New York Botanical Gardens, Washington Irving's house on the Hudson River, gorgeous book covers and the Literary Salon at Aviva's house

The other night I gathered with some wonderful writer-friends for a Literary Salon, and we ended up in a conversation about meaning and purpose. A few people suggested that perhaps there is no purpose that we are meant to pursue. Perhaps it’s just living, and every choice is just fine.

Maybe life is about finding out who you are and being brave enough to be that person every day. I wrote this in my journal that night:

Meaning & purpose—is it real? Being human—what brings you joy? Where is your heart? We spend so much time looking back or anticipating what’s ahead. All that matters, all that is real, is right now. Life is long. Expect surprises. Embrace them. Pivot as often as you can.

We spoke about the intersection of writing & life—we write what we experience, what we know, and share with someone else, so they can expand and evolve. A chain of connection, my words to you, your words to someone else. And the world keeps turning.

This writing thing, it’s everything, my friends. It’s daring and brave and revealing and honest and a lifeline of sorts.

Questions for Your Own End of Year Planning:

• What is unique that you can offer?

• What is worth your time?

• What would be fun for you?

• What are you ready to let go of?

• Where is the mutual benefit?

• What are your priorities and goals for 2025?

Opportunities for You

There is ONE SPOT LEFT in my IndieMFA: Advanced Poets Cohort which starts January 6th. Apply here.

If you’ve been considering becoming a paid subscriber, now is the time! Through the end of January, every new paid subscriber will receive a free copy of my forthcoming book as part of their paid subscription!!! FOREST WALK ON A FRIDAY, a collection of personal essays, will be published on January 28th.

Join me on January 28th for the virtual launch. Register here.

You can also gift your writer-friends a paid subscription to the Rebel Author Newsletter, and receive a copy of FOREST WALK for yourself: https://lynnegolodnerauthor.substack.com/giftafriend

Thanks for reading the Rebel Author Newsletter. I write this twice-monthly missive to share insights on writing and publishing and build a community of writers and readers. I so appreciate you. Thanks for being here. If you like what you read, please share with others who might find value in these words.