All Things New

New year, new baby, new challenges, new resolutions, new, new, new.

I have this really bad habit at the beginning of each year. I make up my book challenge for the year, a couple days before that magical ball in New York drops, and as soon as it turns midnight I start reading. Even if it’s just the first page before I pass out, because midnight is way past my bedtime. In the years before, I’ve read so many books in the month of January that as soon as February would start I would stop dead in my tracks, already burned out. Eventually, I get out of my reading slump and resume my normal reading pace, although sometimes it would take me a while to get there.

This year, however, I started off slow. Now that I have a baby to look after, my days of binge-reading are over for the time being. But that might not be the worst thing. It’s not that I won’t be able to read at all but when I go at a normal pace, I can adequately enjoy the journey I take with each book that I read.

And maybe that is where we screwed up in 2021. It might not be with books, but I know I’m not the only one who started 2021 in a full on sprint only to end up crawling over the finish line; even with having my son, 2021 knocked the wind out of me. With all that we gave up in 2020 we tried to cram so much into last year that we forgot that life is about the journey; I know that’s super corny but often cliches are actually true.

The bummer is that there is not a cure-all. There is no real scientific way that fits every person. I am still trying to figure out what will work for me. But I do have some advice: slow down. Your journey should not look the same as someone else’s, and don’t forget to do the things you love. That is what will bring back your spark. Your are never too busy that you can’t do what you enjoy. Something that I’ve seen a lot recently is people making themselves busy to look important. Stop. Don’t fast-forward, live in the moment. You don’t want to get to February and start wishing for 2023 to get here already; that is a waste of life, and we are better than that.

I believe most of us are familiar with the story of “The Tortoise and the Hare”. There is a reason why that tortoise won; he took his time.

Honestly, my biggest fear in the world is time. I’m afraid of running out of it before I’ve discovered my purpose in this grand scheme of life, before I’ve read all of the books that I want to read and written all the books I want to write, before I’ve watched my son grown up, and before I grow old with my husband. And truth be told, that is why I am so afraid to take risks or step outside my comfort zone. But in the last few years, dealing with medical issues, I’ve slowly seen myself becoming braver. To live is brave, and I’ve decided that I don’t want to be scared anymore. That‘s not an overnight change, but it’s a slow and steady growth.

So this year I’m excited to try new things. I don’t want to rush this year, and miss things that I might have passed by before. Even if it’s crazy, even if there are some sleepless nights with a baby, even if I don’t finish my book challenges for the year, even if I don’t get it everything on my resolution list, even if somehow I run out time. I don’t want to miss the important moments, and I think that’s the most important New ear’s resolution that I’ve ever made.

#newyear