The Slowdown: Episode 1425 – "The Ship" by Bianca Stone

Host: Maggie Smith
Date: January 1, 2026

Episode Overview

In this engaging first episode of the new year, Maggie Smith invites listeners to reflect on the cultural and personal significance of New Year's resolutions. Challenging the prevailing notion that we must always strive to "level up" at the start of the year, Smith explores the origins of the word "resolution" and offers a more compassionate approach: releasing and loosening rather than adding. She contextualizes these insights with Bianca Stone's evocative poem, "The Ship," which celebrates self-acceptance and presence. This episode offers gentle encouragement to embrace who we are, making it a poignant meditation for anyone entering the year seeking renewal without self-judgment.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Reconsidering New Year's Resolutions

• Maggie Smith rejects traditional resolutions:

  • "I'm not making any resolutions. I never do." (01:02)
  • She acknowledges the positivity behind aspirations but critiques the cultural pressure to change oneself as if beginning "at a deficit".

• On the discomfort of “New Year, New You” messaging:

  • Smith questions the societal expectation to “level up,” suggesting it implies inadequacy from day one:

    "I don't like the idea of starting January off with a spirit of 'I need to level up' as if we are beginning at a deficit. As if on day one of the New Year we are already behind." (01:16)

The Power and Etymology of Language

• Smith's love for word origins allows her to approach “resolution” from a new angle:

  • She traces "resolution" back to the Latin resolvere—“to loosen or release.”
  • This shifts the meaning from “striving for more” to “letting go,” which she finds empowering in the new year context:

    "The origin of resolution suggests that we don't need to do or be more. Maybe we actually need less. We are enough on day one of the New Year." (01:50)

• Invitation to listeners:

  • Suggests making a different kind of resolution—loosening “old knots” or releasing “what’s no longer serving you.” (02:11)

Introducing Bianca Stone’s "The Ship"

• Smith identifies Stone’s poem as fitting for a “new year, same you” meditation, anchoring the embrace of authentic selfhood:

  "Being who you are and nothing more is exactly what you need to be doing this year, next year, every year." (02:18)

Poem Reading: "The Ship" by Bianca Stone

Segment: 02:25–03:41

Notable Lines & Themes

• The poem meditates on the limits of language and the ongoing, unresolved nature of existence:
  • “In the discontinuous chair you realize nothing can wholly be written about or said.” (02:27)
  • “The beauty of dusk in summer, the torment of nature. It just keeps going... Death flourishing, ruinously becoming. It keeps going.” (02:38)
• There is a playful acceptance in facing life’s ambiguity:
  • “It’s laughable to get high and look at it all, stepping into the other world you’re already in...” (02:50)
• The closing lines express resolve to live authentically:
  • “Imagine it to keep going as if I had only one intention and it was to be exactly who I am for the rest of my life.” (03:32)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On self-acceptance:
  • "Being who you are and nothing more is exactly what you need to be doing this year, next year, every year." (02:18)
• Redefining resolutions:
  • "Maybe we actually need less. We are enough on day one of the New Year." (01:55)
• From Bianca Stone’s poem:
  • “Imagine it to keep going as if I had only one intention and it was to be exactly who I am for the rest of my life.” (03:32)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:57 – Opening reflection on the New Year, resolutions, and discomfort with self-improvement rhetoric
• 01:28 – Smith discusses word origins and reinterprets “resolution”
• 02:11 – Suggestion to “loosen some old knots” for the New Year
• 02:18 – Framing of Bianca Stone’s poem as a “new year, same you” reading
• 02:25 – Reading of “The Ship” by Bianca Stone (entire poem)
• 03:41 – Brief closing remarks, invitation to daily poetry, and closing theme

Tone & Style

Maggie Smith delivers the episode in a calm, gentle, and reflective tone, typical of The Slowdown, making poetry accessible and resonant. Her language is compassionate, inclusive, and inviting, offering permission to release rather than accumulate expectations.

Summary Takeaway

This episode offers a welcome antidote to the pressure of New Year’s self-reinvention, encouraging listeners to consider that maybe we are not required to become more, but instead to loosen, release, and live as our most authentic selves. Bianca Stone’s poem, “The Ship,” beautifully underscores this message, advocating for the intention to simply be, making it a grounding way to begin the year.