Ah, hello! Welcome!
Come inside. Sit, sit. The fire's burning and the hearth's warm. Oh! There's tea. Help yourself.
How's your January been? Tomorrow's the last day of this first month. How's your New Year been? Did you make resolutions or did you decide – like me – to slide into 2024 with vague ideas and see how things unfolded during the first 31 days?
I must confess that I haven't made “resolutions” in years. It fell out of fashion with me when I realized that all the plans I made for a shiny new year seemed to fall flat within the very first month and instead of going into February with my expectations and head held high, I felt like a loser and wanted nothing more than to crawl back into the bed of December and pull a cosmic do-over.
Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to do ALL THE THINGS, especially during the first few weeks of a new year? Especially in the depths of Winter when all our bodies want to do is rest and hibernate?
The past several years have seen me take a good hard look at life and how I perceived it. Thanks to years of chronic illness and almost three years of a healing crisis (which is, I assure you a GOOD thing), I've had to relearn what's important, what I really want in life and ways which to go about pursuing those things in a manner that is conducive to the lifestyle I wish to live. If you've followed me for any amount of time, you know I'm all about tea and books and being as cozy and comfortable as possible. Constantly trying and striving and pursuing and creating content (whatever that means) pretty much burned me out in regards to “the way things are done”. I made the decision, “No More”, regardless of what the Powers that Be declare. It's not been easy, I assure you. I still fall into patterns of desperation, but I've learned what works and what doesn't and when I do fall back into those frantic ways, it's getting easier and easier to see my way out of them.
Now, I'm not about to criticize anyone's lifestyle. As long as you're not hurting anyone else, I say go for it. Be that “girl boss” or bust through those glass ceilings; “man up” and “slay the day”. Carpe the heck out of all the Dieums! Seriously. Be your best self in whatever that means to you. But here's the thing : the way things are “supposed to be done”, especially in the creative work that I engage in, isn't conducive to everyone's creative spirit and shouldn't be touted as the only way to success.
You see, for years I followed a path that was just plain wrong for me. But it made others happy and as an INFJ, that always appears as the best way to go (at first). Of course I then suffer major burn out and rebel by pulling back, slamming doors and doing the exact opposite of what everyone things I should do. That, of course, leads to me feeling like a louse and then trying – again – to do what everyone expects of me. It's a vicious cycle that any INFJ can attest to.
[By the by, if you can find another INFJ, tell them I said hello. I am their poster child and we are the hardest personality type to come by.]
Burnout is not fun and can lead to chronic illness which – lemme tell you from experience – is also not fun. In fact, that vicious cycle is what finally led me to the mindset I'm at now. But we'll talk about that more at a later date.
What I really want to know is how are YOU doing? What have you been up to? Like I said, I've eased into 2024 with ideas and I believe I've finally found a work system that (ahem) works for me. It's raring to go for February and we'll see how productive it allows me to be while also allowing for down time, breathing room & taking care of the housework hours.
Do you enjoy making resolutions? Do you stick with them? If so, that's amazing! I'm always astounded by people who say, “This is what I'm going after” and they're able to laser focus on that thing until it's done. That's another trait I've discovered about myself in the past six months and one that I'm learning how to navigate and reign in so that I can stay on track and accomplish one thing at a time without side questing my life away!
I hope you've enjoyed your visit. I'm glad you've stopped by. By all means, stay as long as you wish and feel free to talk about anything at all! The conversation is always open it the comments.
See you next Tuesday,
Jen