Happy New Year, Time is Fake!

I think time is fake and the concept of a “new year” is made up. I do think reevaluating your values and intentions every once in a while is worthwhile, so if December 31/January 1 is a good time for you, great. Personally, I tend to do it around my birthday (mid-January) because then I get to see what the New Year crowd is saying to get some ideas if I want to change things up.

That being said, I think it's fantastic to recognize all the hard work we put into being humans. It doesn't have to be “adventurous” or “successful,” although I personally don’t like the “if all you did this year was survive…” quote because I want it to be even deeper than that. It doesn’t truly acknowledge how many tiny steps go into surviving!

I spent this year working through a big health flare-up and was forced to acknowledge how we really don’t give ourselves enough credit for the small parts that make up BEING ALIVE. Several months spent eating literal baby food because of GI issues made me proud of how hard I work to do stuff humans too often take for granted. Here are some things I’m really proud of this year!

1. I fed myself EVERY SINGLE DAY. I think this is not given nearly enough recognition. THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT TO DO.

2. I fought the part of myself that wanted to “be productive” and instead rested a lot. Like, A LOT. If there was a Spotify Wrapped for “time spent lying down,” I would be in the top 0.1% of fans.

3. I went to a zillion medical appointments (thanks Medicaid), and dealt with a lot of phone calls/emails because health management is a full-time job (minus the pay, vacation time, and benefits).

4. I made art! I specifically focused on making art that wasn’t for others to consume (except when the cat tried to eat the pens), and how to reconnect with my inner child.

5. I read more books this year than I have in the past 5 years combined! I released a lot of shame about what I “should” be reading and let myself enjoy it again (more inner child recognition).

   
   

And even those are made up of more than 5 steps!

A lot of these aren’t possible for many people. I am very privileged to have a place to live, parents who care for me (thankful for my state’s in-home support program!), and fairly decent access to basic necessities. But there’s always room to give ourselves the credit we deserve for these types of things, especially in a world of capitalism that wants to make us believe we’re failures if we didn’t go to 6 countries or get 3 new jobs.