As we approach the end of the year, many of us begin to feel a sense of jitters. This can come from making New Year’s Eve plans, setting resolutions, cleansing our spaces, or simply trying to recover from the holidays before stepping into what feels like a major shift. Scientifically and astronomically, the arrival of a new year marks the moment when Earth completes a full orbit around the Sun (Time and Date, n.d.). However, January 1st as the first day of the New Year—and December 31st as New Year’s Eve—is a social and civil construct established by Western society. In fact, other cultures recognize the New Year on different dates. For example, in Chinese culture, the New Year is celebrated between February 17th and March 3rd during the Spring Festival, which follows the lunisolar Chinese calendar.

I share this to offer perspective on how much pressure we place on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. This pressure often shows up through the expectation of creating New Year’s resolution lists. These lists can help the human brain feel prepared, organized, and ready for the “big change” that society tells us is coming. Neuroscientists have found that the brain uses a process known as chunking to remember information and complete tasks effectively (Li et al., 2016). Chunking allows us to mentally group tasks into manageable pieces—essentially creating internal lists—so we don’t become overwhelmed. This process happens constantly, often without us realizing it, and it helps us stay focused and structured.

That said, our brains can also become overloaded when lists are too long, too broad, or unrealistic. When this happens, lists can create the opposite effect—leading to stress, overwhelm, and discouragement rather than clarity and motivation.

This article isn’t meant to argue whether making lists are good or bad, or whether they are effective or ineffective. Instead, its purpose is to offer a bit of comfort and a gentle reminder that we don’t need to place so much pressure on ourselves as the year comes to a close. Beyond understanding what lists are and how they can be helpful when used intentionally, it is also worth remembering the importance of rest. Moments of stillness, hibernation, and a quiet check-in with our energy and overall “battery charge” can help us reconnect with why we make lists in the first place—not as demands, but as tools meant to support us.

We wish you all a restful, peaceful and safe Happy New Year!

References

Time and Date. (n.d.). What is a tropical year? TimeandDate.com. https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/tropical-year.html.

Li, G., Deng, L., Wang, D., Wang, W., Zeng, F., Zhang, Z., Li, H., Song, S., Pei, J., & Shi, L. (2016). Hierarchical chunking of sequential memory on neuromorphic architecture with reduced synaptic plasticity. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 10, 136. https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2016.00136

The common struggle that I seem to identify with a lot of friends, acquaintances, and within myself, especially at this time of year, is memory loss or challenges with attention.

Surely, this could be linked to the fact that there are so many things that we end up doing and having to think of during this time of the year – holiday gifts for family members, friends and/or loved ones, the deadlines at work and so on. However, there is an activity that has been recommended by Art Therapists, Psychotherapists, and even doctors that could have beneficial effects on our memory and attentional capacities. That is crochet!

I use my Granny Squares as coasters!

Crocheting is a fiber arts activity that involves the use of a crochet hook, yarn, and our hands (fingers and wrists). Crochet’s history is quite murky, as historians are still not able to credit it to a specific country or age in time as there are little to no relics. However, first signs of crochet, used for utilitarian purposes, date back to Egypt with relics of two-toed socks. The first use of crochet, as an embellishment, dates back to 550 BC Iran with Rushti style crochet tapestries. Fast forwarding to our modern times, the style of crochet has evolved quite a bit, and is now used for the same utilitarian purposes, like for creating hats, scarves, or sweaters, for embellishments and accessories like purses or even earrings, but it has also developed in a practice that can promote mindfulness, concentration, attention, relieve anxiety, and also help with memory connections and promote the wellbeing of our neural pathways!

In fact, a group of researchers (Rossi et al., 2025) have tested how our body activates while crocheting and what are, if any, the neural pathways that are activated whilst creating something as simple as a “Granny Square”. These researchers, with the help of expert crocheters, as well as non-experts, were able to find that there is in fact a link between the bodily movements involved in crocheting and areas of our brain. For those of us who are “non-crochet-experts” (spoiler alert: you don’t have to be an expert to benefit from crochet), crochet involves loops and stitches all throughout, and these are highly repetitive. Repetitiveness, in this case, of the crochet stitches, creates a sense of consistency and well-known expectation that both have the power to soothe us and relieve us from anxiety and/or stress. That is the power of the pattern. For example, the pattern for a Granny Square involves knowing three basic stitches of crocheting: chains, loops, and double crochets. These stitches are then repeated throughout the pattern to form the famous granny square.

But I digress … These researchers (Rossi et al., 2025), have gone the extra step to say that crocheting does aid with our focus, attention, as well as memory as it requires a kind of motor control that involves a) focusing on what we are doing (crocheting), b) remembering the pattern and the stitches, and c) counting the stitches to complete the pattern. Therefore: engaging in a pattern that is highly repetitive can make us feel calm and soothe our anxiety; anxiety could potentially lead to inattention and forgetfulness, but crocheting and the effectiveness of the pattern required can bring us back to the consciousness of our body which can make us more aware, attentive, focused and potentially even better our memory retention.

In conclusion, as a new Art Therapist who is really devoted to fiber arts and for whom crocheting has an added emotional value as it connects me back to my roots (to my nonna), I can definitely see the benefit of crocheting as a way to ground myself, keep my hands occupied, connect with others, and even better my memory. I have linked the photo of a granny square that I have created, how I make use of it, and also an easy granny square pattern if you feel like trying this at home!

References

Rossi Sebastiano, D., et al. (2025). Crochet increases attention through a requiring motor skill learning. Scientific reports, 15(1), 4141. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88777-9.