You're Doing A Great Job. (No, Really)

This is a post for anyone who, like me, once again finds themselves an unwilling participant in the month of January’s favorite games.

These include (but are certainly not limited to) games such as Question What The F*ck You’re Doing With Your Life, Attempt Implementing Impossible Resolutions, and Hold Yourself to Hilariously Unattainable Standards. Sound familiar?

Nola knows the feeling

For most people, this time of year has always been one of putting pressure on ourselves to make changes and start finally becoming whoever we want to be. That part is nothing new.

But the current state of events has somehow rendered this January even more restless than the Januarys before, and to put it simply, it’s just a lot.

No matter what manifestation of chaos your new year has looked like so far, I’m here to tell you that you’re doing a great job. 

How do I know you’re doing a great job? Because you’re waking up every day and facing whatever crazy stuff life is throwing at you right now, and that is enough.

I don’t know why, but I’ve always had this tendency to treat January more than all the other months of the year like some sort of performance, as if my ability this month to stick to all my goals for the new year is some kind of twisted weather forecast for how the rest of my year is going to play out.

I guess it’s kind of why people hate Mondays, because sometimes a week that starts off on a bad foot can seem to doom the following 6 days to the same fate. It’s extremely stupid when you spell it out like that, but it’s definitely something I’ve been guilty of more times than I’d like to admit. It’s hard to shake the bad taste of a less-than-ideal kickoff to anything I guess.

I spent the first half of this month sick and feeling like garbage, and so naturally every intention for the new year that I had so carefully crafted and copied into my journal in the days leading up to January 1st was completely out the window for those first two weeks.

Even though the reason for which those intentions were on the back burner was as good as any - I was doing what needed to be done and resting, taking care of my body so that I could get better - I couldn’t help but feel myself slipping into the discouraging feeling that not only was the rest of January shot now because of it, but maybe all of 2022 too. 

This might sound dramatic and ridiculous, but if you’ve read my post about trying to overcome perfectionism then you probably aren’t surprised (and maybe can even relate). So if you can relate, I’m here to tell you that you’re not alone. And that you’re doing a great job.

In case no one has told you, in addition to the fact that you’re already doing a great job, you also have permission to start over.

You don’t have to wait until it’s January 1st, or Monday, or even tomorrow morning to just start the f*ck over.

So if you’re down on yourself because you didn’t implement all those intentions exactly the way you intended to on the first try, or because you just couldn’t deal with posting something on social media for 3 weeks (guilty), or for whatever reason you’ve been telling yourself is a legitimate one to justify beating the shit out of yourself over, I’m here to tell you that you can just drop it.

Forget it and give yourself permission to start over, whenever you feel ready.

Happy New Year!