#42: New Year. Now What?

☀️  The awkward middle part.

January 4th. The celebration is over, but the year still feels new enough that you're supposed to have momentum. You're in this odd in-between space where the excitement has worn off, but giving up feels too soon.

I've been thinking about why we tie so much hope to a date on the calendar. Maybe it's because change is hard to start any random Tuesday in March, so we wait for something that feels like permission. A birthday. A Monday. January 1st.

The thing is, most of what we want to change doesn't care about the calendar. Your brain works the same way on January 4th as it did on December 28th. The gap between wanting something different and making something different doesn't suddenly close because you wrote down a resolution.

So what can we do with that gap?

📖 3 Articles to Spark Your Curiosity

1. How to Motivate Yourself to Change
   Motivation isn't a switch you flip on January 1st. This guide introduces motivational techniques you can use on yourself to identify what you really want to change, build confidence in your ability to do it, and create a plan that doesn't rely on willpower alone.
    → Read on Psyche
   

2. Nine Science-Backed Ways to Help You Feel Better in 2026
   From channeling your anger productively to embracing boredom and singing in the shower, these evidence-based strategies don't require a new year to work. They just require you to try them.
    → Read on BBC Future
   

3. I Ran an AI Misinformation Experiment. Every Marketer Should See the Results
   A researcher invented a fake luxury paperweight company, seeded the web with conflicting stories, and watched AI tools confidently repeat the lies. When forced to choose between vague truth and specific fiction, AI chose fiction almost every time.
   → Read on Ahrefs

🗞️ 3 Headlines Worth Exploring

1. What Are the Odds? Analyzing Six Global Scenarios for 2026
   From the survival of political leaders to the risk of financial crashes, this piece offers odds on what might unfold in a year filled with inflection points. Politics in this era is less predictable than sports.
   → Read on POLITICO Europe
   

2. In 2026, AI Will Move from Hype to Pragmatism
   The focus is shifting from building ever-larger language models to making AI really usable. Expect smaller models, physical AI in wearables and devices, and agents that augment work rather than promise full autonomy. The party isn't over, but the industry is sobering up.
   → Read on TechCrunch
   

3. Researchers Spot Saturn-Sized Planet in the "Einstein Desert"
   Using microlensing and a lucky orientation of the Gaia telescope, astronomers found a rogue planet drifting through interstellar space. The discovery may reveal how these unbound planets form and whether the mysterious gap in detection patterns is real.
   → Read on Ars Technica

☀️ 3 Actions to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

1. Build discrepancy
   Write down one thing in your life that's causing you dissatisfaction. Then write: "My life would be better if I _____ because it would _____." Now write your current reality. Look at the gap between the two. Is it big enough to bother you, but small enough to feel achievable? That's where change starts.
   

2. Stop striving for one perfect thing
   Pick something you've been avoiding because it needs to be done perfectly. Now do it badly on purpose. Submit the messy draft. Send the imperfect email. Cook the experimental dinner. Perfectionism kills momentum. Imperfection keeps you moving.
   

3. Ask one "What if the opposite were true?" question
   Choose one belief you hold strongly about yourself or your situation. Now, seriously consider: what if the opposite were true? Not to abandon your belief, but to test whether you're seeing the full picture or just the story you've been telling yourself.

⚡ 6 Quick Resources

🎬 To save: A guide to 2026's new movie releases, from blockbusters to indie films worth marking on your calendar.
→ Read on The Hollywood Reporter

🏛️ To save for your next trip: The most exciting museum openings in 2026, from expansions of beloved institutions to entirely new cultural spaces.
→ Read on The Art Newspaper

📊 To check: Comprehensive AI statistics showing adoption rates, investment trends, and what's happening beyond the hype.
→ Read on Hostinger

🌍 To feel inspired: What went right in 2025: the good news that mattered, from climate wins to social progress you might have missed.
→ Read on Positive News

❄️ To know: The science of snowflakes and why no two are alike, explained through the physics of crystal formation.
→ Watch on TED-Ed

🔒 To stay safe online: How online scammers use AI to steal your money, playing on emotions with generative techniques that make the unbelievable believable.
→ Watch on WIRED

🎲 This week’s wonderfully random corner of the internet 

🖥️ Web Design Museum

A curated gallery of web design history from 1991 to 2006. Browse archived versions of famous websites, see how interfaces evolved, and remember when every site had a "under construction" GIF.

→ Travel back in time at webdesignmuseum.org

📝 Word of the Week

Metanoia (Greek) - A transformative change of heart or mind; a fundamental shift in perspective that changes how you see yourself or the world.

Unlike a resolution (which is a decision you make), metanoia is a transformation that happens when you stop resisting what you already know. It's not about willpower or discipline. It's the moment when the gap between who you are and who you're becoming feels less like a problem to solve and more like a shift that's already underway.

The word originally meant "to change one's mind," but evolved to describe something deeper: the kind of change that doesn't require motivation because it's already reorganizing how you think. January 4th won't give you metanoia. But recognizing that you've been waiting for permission, you don't truly need? That might.

🧘‍♀️ Question of the Week for Introspection

You're four days into the new year. What's one change you've been putting off that has nothing to do with January 1st, nothing to do with resolutions, and everything to do with the fact that you've known for a while it needs to happen?

See you next Sunday! Until then, keep your eyes open, your questions big, and your sense of wonder alive.

Your curious internet friend,
Ruxandra