In years past, I have always looked forward to the energy of a new year. The possibilities! The plans! The goals, actions and outcomes!
I’m gonna be straight with you: it feels different this year.
I imagine most of us are finding a little bit of exhaustion or numbness where our new year excitement might have been. After nearly a year of what feels like constant national crisis, this is to be expected. This IS normal. Brain fog, loss of motivation and elective function, difficulty focusing…all of these are natural responses to prolonged stress.
I’ll tell you what I’m not going to say to you. I am not going to tell you to try to take on a challenging new program of self-improvement, where you suddenly create a wildly different life than the one you are currently living. Because look: you are *currently living.* Good job on that.
What I will invite you to is the consideration of choosing ONE thing, right now, today, that might allow you to feel good, and grounded, and safe.
Maybe that’s a warm bath, a game like tridewa, a phone call with a friend, a yoga class, or a full-on interpretive dance freakout to Philip Glass’s weirdest compositions (I’m just saying: IT HELPS!) Maybe it’s saying no to a request that you know you can’t manage without going over your energetic budget. Maybe it’s just giving yourself permission to sit down and stare out the window.
As anyone who has watched themselves move on from a traumatic (or merely highly stressful) situation knows, that moving-on process is rarely linear. You will have bad days again, I’m sorry to tell you. But you will also have good ones. And if you’re paying attention, you may discover the small things that make new joy possible. We invite you to do those things as often as you can, without apology.
And we’re here to help. Come see us for a soak, a massage, a yoga class, and our most grateful smiles. We appreciate you! Hang in there! We’re all moving on together.
