January means new planners for some, resolutions for others, the sign of another year conquered and lived through. It is a fresh, clean page… with a caveat. The word January comes from the Roman god Janus, who had two faces: one looking forward, the other looking back. Janus was the god of doorways, transitions, and probably the mythical place of young adult cancer survivorship.

After Tropical Storm Ophelia whipped through the East Coast last weekend, it’s been one soupy mess outside here in New Jersey. But the temperature has dropped, to my surprise enjoyment. (I’m a true summer fan at heart.) I’ve gotten away with having my air conditioning units off and with wearing my favorite clothing combination: shorts and a sweatshirt. In a true effort to lean into fall, I even lit a fall-scented candle and pulled out my sweatshirt. Creature comforts, at their finest.

Has anyone else been inundated with way too much stuff to do recently? I make a plan, have a to-do list, and then bam – something else demands my attention and I’m able to accomplish a tenth of what I originally set out to do. It’s immensely frustrating, because like a million other people, I used to measure my worth by the amount of stuff I got done in a day. People would really ask me where I found the time and the energy and usually, it came easy to me. But it doesn’t, anymore. This life – and this chronic illness, post-cancer diagnosis identity – require me to reframe the question of what is it, really, that’s necessary to complete during a day.

There are some weeks that I struggle to offer you what I think are novel suggestions, and then there are others that seem rife with crowd-pleasers. It would be easy for me to stick to my standard role call of favorites, but I don’t want this to be just a list of predictable items that would make Miranda Priestly mutter “florals for spring? Groundbreaking.” The following suggestions are for sure rooted in things I love and have recommended before: vegetarian food, a musical, and engaging with other humans on a personal level. But it’s my hope that this week’s suggestions will translate into your life easily.