Hey Reader,

Welcome to your weekly Mezzo moment!

🔥 QUICK WIN OF THE WEEK

Action: The Three-Word Year in Review

Before you set intentions for next year, take five minutes to honor this one.

How To Do It:

Grab a pen (or your notes app) and answer these three prompts with just one word each:

1. A word for what this year asked of you. (Examples: endurance, patience, flexibility, strength, surrender)
2. A word for what this year gave you. (Examples: clarity, depth, connection, resilience, perspective)
3. A word for what you're ready to release. (Examples: guilt, perfectionism, resentment, worry, control)

Write them down. Say them out loud if you want. Let yourself sit with them for a moment.

Why It Works:

Big reflections can feel overwhelming, especially after a demanding year. But distilling your experience into single words forces clarity. It honors the complexity of what you've lived without requiring you to process every detail. And naming what you're ready to release is the first step in actually letting it go.

Pro Tip: Share your three words with someone who gets it—a fellow caregiver, a close friend, or even in a reply to this newsletter. There's power in being witnessed.

Coming in January! Our podcast is finally here!! "In the Mezzo" is a podcast that explores topics and life, aging and caregiving we don't talk about but should. Tune In

Deep Dive: Building a Life You're Proud Of (When Life Looks Different Than You Planned)

Let's be honest: if someone had told you five years ago exactly what your life would look like today, you might not have believed them. The career demands. The caregiving responsibilities. The way your time and energy get divided among everyone else's needs.

This probably isn't the life you imagined, (I know it wasn't the life I had planned for me). And yet—here you are, showing up anyway.

Gratitude That Doesn't Ignore the Hard Stuff

Gratitude has become a bit of a buzzword, mostly served up in ways that feel dismissive. "Just be grateful!" isn't helpful when you're running on E.

But real gratitude isn't about pretending everything is fine. It's about finding what's true and good even inside difficult seasons. You can be grateful for the time you still have with your parent AND exhausted by the demands of their care. You can appreciate your job AND feel burned out. Both things are real, and one doesn't make the other not true.

Try this: instead of listing things you're "supposed" to be grateful for, ask yourself—what surprised me this year? What moment of unexpected goodness showed up? That's where genuine gratitude lives.

Hope Is Not the Same as Optimism

Optimism says "everything will work out fine." Hope says "I can handle what comes, and good things are still possible."

Hope requires more grit. It's more honest. It doesn't require you to predict a positive outcome—it just asks you to stay open to one. And for caregivers, who often face uncertain prognoses and unpredictable futures, hope is the more sustainable fuel.

As you look toward the new year, you don't need to know how everything will unfold. You just need to believe that you're capable of meeting it—and that joy, rest, and meaning are still available to you even in the midst of hard things.

Intention Over Resolution

Resolutions are about fixing what's broken. Intentions are about aligning with what matters.

Instead of a list of things to do differently, try choosing a word or phrase to guide your year. Something you want to embody, return to, or build toward.

Some ideas:

• Presence — I want to be where I am, not always three steps ahead.
• Ease — I want to stop making everything harder than it needs to be.
• Boundaries — I want to protect my time and energy without guilt.
• Play — I want to remember that I'm allowed to have fun.
• Enoughness — I want to believe I'm doing enough, being enough, as I am.

Write your word somewhere you'll see it. Let it be a gentle compass when decisions feel hard or you lose your way.

Building a Life You're Proud Of

Here's something no one talks about: you can be proud of a life that looks nothing like you expected.

Caregiving wasn't in the brochure. Neither was the juggling act you perform daily. But look at what you've built: relationships maintained across impossible circumstances, a career you're still showing up for, a family (however you define it) that you're holding together.

Pride doesn't require perfection. It requires showing up with integrity, even when it's hard. And you're doing that.

As you step into the new year, give yourself permission to want things—for yourself, not just for everyone you care for. A trip you've been postponing. A creative project. More time with friends. A slower morning once a week. Your desires matter. They're not selfish; they're human.

A Small Exercise for the Week Ahead:

Find 15 quiet minutes before the new year begins. Ask yourself:

1. What am I most proud of from this past year—not what I achieved, but how I showed up?
2. What do I want more of in my daily life next year?
3. What do I want less of?
4. What's one thing I've been putting off that would make my life meaningfully better?

Write down whatever comes up. No one else needs to see it. This is just for you - a convo between who you are now and who you're becoming.

🥗 WEEKLY MEAL PLAN (for you or your parents)

The week between Christmas and New Year's exists outside of normal time. Lean into it. These meals are low-effort and flexible—perfect for quiet nights at home or casual gatherings.

Monday Fancy-ish Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup — Upgrade your grilled cheese with gouda and fig jam. Pair with good-quality tomato soup (boxed is fine). Comfort food that feels a little special.

Tuesday Clean-Out-the-Fridge Fried Rice — Rice, eggs, soy sauce, and whatever vegetables and proteins need to be used up. Add a drizzle of sesame oil and call it dinner.

Wednesday Charcuterie for One (or More) — Arrange whatever cheese, crackers, nuts, and nibbles you have left from the holidays. Pair with a glass of wine and zero guilt.

Thursday (New Year's Eve) Simple Celebration Dinner — Seared steak or salmon (or a fancy pasta), roasted vegetables, and crusty bread. Keep it unfussy but elevated. You're toasting to yourself tonight.

Friday (New Year's Day) Good Luck Foods — Keep with tradition if you have one: black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread. Or simply make a warm, nourishing soup to start the year gently. The slow cooker is your friend.

Weekend Permission to Order In — Start the year without pressure. Pizza, Thai food, subs from your favorite deli—whatever sounds good. Rest is productive too.

🌐 JOIN THE CAREGIVER COMMUNITY

“If you need people who get it — join our caregiver support circle on Discord.”​
👉🏾 It’s free. It’s kind. It’s judgement-free.​

💬 A Final Thought

Before the clock strikes midnight (or honestly, whenever you read this), raise a glass—of champagne, sparkling water, coffee, whatever's in hand—and say this out loud:

"To the year behind me: thank you for what you taught me. To the year ahead: I'm ready to meet you. And to myself: you're doing better than you think."

You don't need anyone else to say it. But it's true, and you deserve to hear it.

Here's to a new year that holds space for your grief and your joy, your responsibilities and your dreams, your care for others and your care for yourself. You've got this—and we'll be here with you.

With gratitude and hope,

Amber Chapman Editorial Director, Mezzo

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