"You don't get paid to be perfect, you get paid to solve problems."
"A new year doesn't start on January first, it starts with you!"
Far too often I focused on the "first of January" back then - with the belief that everything will change there. A new start where everything will be better.
This year in particular, there have been countless challenges, whether at work or in my personal life. The Corona pandemic left its mark all over the world.
When I was surrounded by the negative news during the lockdown, it happened very quickly that I lost myself in it. My motivation went down hill day after day and I felt like my life was not moving forward.
Every day I hoped that everything would get better with the vaccination.
Every time I hoped something would change in the next week, month, or year.
Every time I have hoped that something would change so that I would feel better.
But then I read this quote:
"A new year doesn't start on January first, it starts with you!"
And I immediately realized what my problem was. I kept waiting for something to happen that would pull me out of this crisis. The problem was that I had totally forgotten myself.
During the lockdown, I blamed it on the corona virus and felt sorry for myself. But did that change anything about my situation? Of course it didn't.
"A new year doesn't start on January first, it starts with you!" opened my eyes again and showed me that I can do my best despite the circumstances.
Since then, I have changed my routine. I started getting up at 5am to go for a jog. Thanks to a bet with my sister, I have to take vitamins every day. I have started cooking. Sharing my thoughts with my colleagues helps me a lot to process the situation and see the positive in it.
Don't get me wrong. Of course, this does not make the virus go away or justify the bad things that are happening, and many problems are still there. And the reality shows that it will take a long time before normality prevails.
But I have started to take my life into my own hands. I no longer wait for a miracle to save me, but actively shape my life with small decisions.
I personally can't imagine what you are going through in your life right now. I'm sure you've had many challenges too, or are working on them right now.
No matter what anyone else says, I just want to tell you how proud I am of you for doing your best - whether it's taking time off, continuing to work on yourself, or processing things personally.
It's incredibly hard to see the positive at this time, especially when you're surrounded by negative news. Hereby I would like to give you a little "safe space" where you can also celebrate on your "small" or "big" successes, because you deserve it.
You are the best! 🤗
“You are the storyteller of your own life, and you can create your own legend, or not.” - Isabel Allende
