I love the idea of a fresh start, a clean slate, a blank page. I love looking back at my journals to spot the themes that are lying there, in the midst of my thoughts and scribblings. I love trying to find the rights words to articulate my hopes and dreams for the year ahead.
But what matters more than anything, especially at this time of year, is that I keep perspective.
When I look back, my tendency is to be far too tough on myself, sometimes even downright merciless. Rather than focusing on all I have accomplished in the year that’s gone, I find myself fixated by what’s not been achieved. But all that does is leave me feeling disappointed, deflated and guilty.
(Maybe this is only me.)
And when I look forward, if I don’t press pause, I know I will put myself under too much pressure. I will enter the New Year with big dreams, high hopes, unrealistic aspirations, and resolutions that I simply won’t be able to keep. I will fall at the first hurdle, and feel like an utter failure before I’ve barely crossed the starting line.
All I know is that life is utterly unpredictable. It never really transitions neatly from one year to the next. All it takes is a single split second for everything to be turned upside down. We get thrown curveballs we’re not expecting, but we also get blessed by beautiful kindnesses we’re not expecting. Tough things happen, but lovely things happen too.
So, this New Year, why don’t you join me in keeping things in perspective?
You made it through the last year. You have people in your life who love you. You are stronger than you realise. You are braver than you feel. You have so much to give. The world would be poorer without you in it. You matter.
Happy New Year!
