This weird feeling comes at the end of the year. I don’t know if I’m alone in this, but it always feels like a bubble. Even though the literal difference between this year and the next is just a night’s sleep, it feels like you are a restless floating bubble that won’t pop until the new year.

You randomly catch yourself reflecting on the year, the choices you made or didn’t make, and if you did better than the last. If this is you, I think it’s normal. Growth is inherent in all of us; development would not be needed if it wasn’t a crucial part of life. We could all achieve everything we wanted, like the babies in the Baby Boss movie do while wearing diapers.

So it’s okay to feel inadequate, to feel like a loser for not meeting your goals, or for talking to that one person you vowed to let go of at the beginning of the year. It’s the season of reflection. The universe reminds you that you are racing against time and your body, signaling just how much flexibility you have left.

You’ll feel bad, sad, and maybe a little depressed, but trust me, it’ll pass. Before you know it, you’re writing 2024 goals, and you’re on a roll again. If you were with me last year, my first post of 2023 was about how we quickly switch to the new, like the old wasn’t our foundation. Because it’s a new year, you pretend to be new.

You forget that only time is called a different name, but you’re not. It’s the old you in a new space; if you don’t resolve the old, there’s no place for the new. This new year, I want you to look at the other side of reflection. Look at the things you did and not the ones you didn’t.

Yes, you fell short, but I am positive that there are aspects that you over-delivered. There are goals you absolutely smashed, standards you raised, and good choices that will shape the rest of your life. You should be grateful for these. I am also immensely proud of you. You who did those things are capable of the rest you didn’t if they still fall into your 2024 plans.

It’s easy to berate ourselves and focus only on what we didn’t do or don’t have, making our accomplishments inconsequential. But that’s the world’s way of robbing you of your joy because you’re constantly measuring against the wrong standards: what others do or have. The only proper standard is you. Did you do better than 2022?

Not that you didn’t go on vacation like he did, so you’ve failed. So, you go into the new year not with gratitude or confidence for your achievements but with a sense of defeat. Your goal is now to be better than the next person and not the previous version of you. Everyone is moving forward, but it seems like you keep going back in time, and in the final week of 2024, you come back to this state of, I failed; I need to do better than him.

My only term for failure is death because then you can no longer do anything. But look at us: I wrote this, and you’re reading it. I don’t see failure over here. I see someone who is ending the year with gratitude and looking forward to being better than they were this past year. When reflecting, remember that you did great and have the chance to be better.

I wish you a truly remarkable new year. Thank you for being a part of my story. See you next year!🥳

Song of the Year – Almost Maybes – Jordan Davis