Every year, the new calendar year whispers promises: “New Year, New You.” But at camp, we know growth doesn’t follow a calendar. Children and families flourish in rhythm with nature — learning, exploring, and growing in small, steady ways. Winter, the darkest season, is still here, and there’s value in slowing down rather than racing toward resolutions.

The Dark Season is Still Here.

The soil is quietly deepening its roots. The trees rest. Even the stars feel closer in the long nights. Life, like nature, moves on its own timetable. January 1st is just a day — a wonderful opportunity for reflection, yes, but not a starting bell for a new you.

Instead of resolutions, here are five anti-resolutions — gentle, grounding invitations inspired by camp rhythms and the natural world. Take what feels right. Leave the rest.

5 Anti-Resolutions for the New Year

1. Let Winter Be Winter

Rather than asking yourself to “start fresh,” allow yourself to stay where you are for a while.

Winter is not a failure of momentum — it’s a necessary slowing. Just as roots deepen in cold soil, this season invites rest, reflection, and quiet resilience. There’s no need to push growth before it’s ready.

Ask yourself: What if nothing is wrong with this slower pace?

2. Reflect Instead of Reinvent

Instead of resolving to become someone new, look gently at who you already are.

What moments from the past year surprised you?
Where did your family grow stronger — even quietly?
What challenges revealed something you didn’t know you had?

Reflection honors lived experience. Reinvention often ignores it.

At camp, we know growth happens in small, steady moments — not in dramatic overhauls.

3. Tend the Inner Landscape

Winter is when the unseen work happens.

Rather than setting goals, tend to your inner life:

• Notice what thoughts you return to.

• Pay attention to what drains you — and what steadies you.

• Give yourself permission to not have answers yet.

This kind of attention is not passive; it’s foundational.

4.  Choose Connection Over Productivity

January often arrives with pressure to optimize — schedules, routines, selves.

This winter, consider letting connection be enough.

• A shared meal without distractions

• A slow walk together

• A quiet game night

• Sitting near one another without an agenda

At camp, some of the most meaningful moments happen not during activities — but in between them.

5.  Trust the Slow Return of Light

After the winter solstice, the days lengthen almost imperceptibly. You don’t see the light returning at first — you trust that it is.

Growth works the same way.

You don’t need a plan for the whole year. You don’t need to be motivated yet. You only need to stay present long enough for the light to come back, one minute at a time.

Spring will arrive when it’s meant to.

This season isn’t asking you to improve.
It’s asking you to listen.

To rest where rest is needed.
To deepen where depth is forming.
To trust that becoming happens even when nothing looks busy.

At Mountain Meadow, we know that the most meaningful growth doesn’t rush the calendar — it follows the rhythm of the land.

May you enter this new year gently, rooted, and exactly where you need to be.

The real “new year” will happen in its own time, and you’ll feel it in your bones when it arrives. Until then, savor the stillness.

With care,
Anna from Mountain Meadow Ranch Summer Camp