It's day one of a new 365 day journey. Sounds so simple yet people put SO much weight on the new year. This will be the year they start a new job, lose the weight, find their soulmate, change their hair- but why do they do that to themselves year after year? Why does January 1 have to be the start of major change? Sometimes major change happens on a random March night when you're sitting watching Jeopardy. Sometimes it happens when you're on a vacation or visiting family. We certainly don't have the playbook for when change is going to hit us, or hurt us, so maybe adding a little less pressure this January 1 will help a few others reading this.
We are heading into the third calendar year of dealing with COVID. Many people are juggling working from home and dreading that schools may go virtual. The struggle between fulfilling yourself through your career, parenthood or family has left many people really struggling. Mental health has been put on the back burner but it is at the forefront for most people. It is very easy to slip into a depression, when we are spending time isolated and at home, and living with the fear that COVID has put in to so many of our lives. In New England, especially, the cold winter months are often a big challenge for people struggling with mental health. I think about some of my own fears over the last few months and we certainly underestimate the rabbit holes that we can find ourselves going down.
I am partial to January, with it being my birthday month, but it feels different this year. I love setting goals and creating a vision board, which I will continue to do. But I don't want to be a new person in 2022. I don't want to leave behind my 2021 version. I want to take each and every scar from years past with me because I learned so much from each of those moments. I learned that it is ok to put yourself, your mental and physical health, first. Work will always be there. I did a really bad job of doing that this year and making an effort to make it a priority again, even if it's just 20 minutes a day outside, is on my must do list. You absolutely have to have a tribe of people around you that just get you- they don't question you or ask why, they are just in the same boat as you, swimming against the same current, trying to keep their head above water. When you find those people, grab on to them and never let them go. I am so grateful each day for the people that get me and stick with me- its through your worst times you see your greatest allies.
Be ok with not being ok. Social media is one of the best, and worst things, ever invented. I love being able to stay in touch with people but its amazing what we see people post about versus what we know is happening in reality. It should be people sharing their real lives, not the photo shopped phony world they want us to see. Post the crappy picture where no one was looking at the camera or your 2 year old was screaming bloody murder while your dog took a big poo right in the middle of the photographers set. We are all climbing the same mountain and if we learned nothing else from recent years, I hope we at least learned that climbing together is so much easier than climbing alone.
Two years ago I said I was going to start blogging. I blogged once in 2021 and now here we are. It's a goal for me in 2022 to share more of the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. As I think about turning 35 I think of all that I have succeeded and failed at. The failures may be the things that make me my best self yet. When we succeed there is no challenge. We did it. But when we fail, we question how it happened and strive to never let it happen again. Those failures make us the stronger person we become. I've gotten married, gotten divorced. Prayed for kids, became a mom. Invested a lot into friendships that turned their backs on me. Found best friends in people I never expected. Sold lots of houses one year and hardly any the next. I've lost weight, I've gained weight. I've said hello and I've said goodbye.
I woke up this morning and thought to myself "I am writing the blog". So here I am just sharing thoughts and hoping some people read this and can take a tiny piece with them. Let's get REAL in 2022- all the good, all the bad, all the ugly. New year, same you, just a stronger, learned from some mistakes YOU.
Happy New Year
xoxo
Ashley
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