So my intention to post on New Year’s Day adjusted to a post within the first week of 2013… which morphed into a mid-month “new year resolutions” check in… and ultimately materialized into my only blog contribution for all of January (with approximately two hours to go). Why do I chose to share this excessive detail about my train of thought? I guess it’s just nice to show that we can all relate to managing beyond busy schedules this time of year. We all know that sh– things happen.
Initially relaxing days grow long and arduous as they are consumed by ever growing to-do lists. Work all day just to break even, to “stay on top of things.” But the list never shrinks. And before you know it, it’s the last day of the month. You find yourself jotting down a rough outline of a blog post on your subway ride home from work. You store it in your iPhone’s Notes application to make sure the only proof of your January contribution does not mysteriously disappear between the subway station platform and your apartment walk-up. Well, maybe that’s just me.
January reintroduced the number “3” to the end of our text message timestamps, welcomed our president into his second term in the White House, and invited the comedy of dynamic SNL duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to entertain us at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony. On a more personal note, it forced me to confront 10-degree weather for three consecutive days for the first time in my life, offered me a job promotion that makes life that extra bit sweeter, and resumed graduate school classes that I could not be more excited to participate in until May.
Needless to say, it’s officially “GO” time again. It’s time to see who can take their momentum from January and carry it through the next month, the next season, the next year. Who has the mental, physical and emotional stamina to make 2013 everything they want it to be? I suppose we will start finding some answers tomorrow.
Just don’t forget the old, cliché adage when things seem impossible– it’s a marathon, not a sprint. This phrase guides me literally and figuratively through most aspects of my life. Regardless of whether I’m pounding my feet along the paths of Central Park or managing to shut my eyes an average four hours each night in balancing life and all that comes with it, I know the only way I will make it to the end by a means I will ultimately be proud of is by pacing myself.
Ready? Set? Not yet? Oh well, too bad–GO.