Christmas is over, and we are now in 2019. It seems impossible. A year which, at least for me, seemed to drag on and on ended in a second. People laughed, and drank the sorrows of a soon-to-be-forgotten year away. They opened gifts, gave presents, and loved family and friends. Albeit with the occasional argument here and there. Overall, people were happy.
We tend to forget that it’s not always like that. Christmas isn’t always something that makes people happy. The New Year isn’t always an exciting prospect for many. Sometimes it can be their worst nightmare.
While the new year may feel like it is daunting, when approached carefully, you can make this year the year you cared for yourself.
I recently posted a micro-poem to my Instagram. I wrote, “Take it day by day, and bit by bit, until it hurts less to call it a year.” That’s how I feel about approaching the idea of a whole 365 days, laced with pressure and anxiety to do well.
When your mental health takes a stumble, it’s hard to get back up and also when your anxiety and depression increase their hold on you across a turbulent year. The clock striking twelve on the next year can feel like a nail in the coffin. Except it’s not. It’s just you’re thinking too far ahead.
With mental health, things can be complicated, so why make it more so by thinking too far into the future?
Of course, you want to have dreams and goals and an optimistic outlook. But the focus of your day should be what you’re doing that day. What might make you feel happiest on that day in particular? What could you be doing that will fill you with purpose and make getting out of bed feel worth it?
With a million thoughts and doubts, even just a day can be tricky sometimes but just think of a plan. Get up, take a shower, and get dressed. Doing these simple things can help you feel better about yourself. These things will give you motivation.
To some, it might not look or feel like a lot. However, at the end of the day when you are soaking in a bath, and your bones are tired, but your mind is clear, you will know that you went to battle and survived.
Now imagine doing that each day.
Each day, give yourself a different goal, not a large one, just a small one so that you can achieve it and feel pride. Then when the year is over, or at least when you feel more comfortable to call it a year without being filled with dread, you will realize that so much of your time was spent being a miracle.
Yes, when your chest has the pressure of a dark cloud laying across it, every day is a miracle.
When you spend a small amount of time each day dedicated to doing something you love, to telling someone you love them, and spending longer than normal in the bath with relaxing music on and extra bubbles. After you do all of those things you will feel so elated, so excited to see what the next day, month, and year may hold.
Before you know it, you are finding every reason to give yourself a chance to find out what you could become this New Year.
