sunsetting for the new year

In the legal and business world, the word sunset is a verb: "to expire or be terminated at the end of a fixed period; to discontinue or terminate". It sounds ominous, but isn't it also freeing?

Millennium Bridge, London

The new year is always associated with beginnings, but for every New Year's resolution we are also pledging to make an end to something. We want to say goodbye to the habits and situations that drag us down, that cling to us and need to be cleaned off like dust and grime before we can move forward into a brighter, cleaner routine.

Hungerford Bridge

Right now wonder | wander | women are individually - yet at the same time - poised on the lip of some big changes. We're standing on the bank of a river watching the sun set on several years of an old but comfortable routine that was our day to day.

Swan at the Globe and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

There are great things across the river, I can see them over the bridge. I just need to shed the baggage I've been carrying for a while and walk forward. But although the sunset is gorgeous, I'm watching the darkness come and I'm afraid. 

Closeup of sunset reflection under Hungerford Bridge

I need to let go of old habits, old beliefs, and a lot of old things - physically, not just metaphorically. I'm not going to live "minimalist" any time soon, but I need to learn the true essentials of life - what can I truly live without, and what do I really need?

London Eye

Letting go is not the same as throwing away. We're not erasing the selves we used to be, we're simply learning new habits. Put away the parts that are weighing you down, cross the bridge in the beautiful sunset, and meet yourself on the other side.

The Shard and Southwark Cathedral