It’s a New Year
I was listening to the Dear Hank and John Podcast and they were talking about their expectations for 2022. It was really interesting and I recommend you listen to it but it made me feel a little bit sad. I always think of John and Hank as optimistic people and I often turn to them to make myself feel better. This discussion about the year to come wasn’t overly optimistic. It was however very thoughtful. It got me to thinking about how I want to move forward into this new year.
I have never been very good at setting New Year’s Resolutions, they alway seems so superficial to me. Saying that you are going to work out or eat healthy or whatever starting in the New Year seems so arbitrary. Why do you need a certain date to start to take care of yourself? And if you miss a day do you give up and then it is “maybe next year”. No, you should always being trying to better yourself no matter the date on the calendar.
Here are somethings that I started to do in 2021 that I am going to continue to work on in 2022. I am going to continue to take care of myself. In 2021 I started to try to understand why my body feels like crap most of the time and I started to take steps to change that. While not much has changed, I know that I am still working on it, and that it may take a bit of time before I feel any sort of difference. What I am going to do is not give up. I am going to continue to learn as much as I can and try different things to see what helps and what doesn’t. Right now, instead of feeling bad about not starting to work out right as the year changed, I am working on resting up to get rid of another cold. Sometimes you have prioritize and not feel about what has to come first.
Allowing yourself grace and the space to figure out what is going on is all part of mental health. I have been working on my mental health for a while now. I don’t have it figured out but I do know that I have to give myself a break sometimes. This is especially important right now. One thing that I had to deal to with in 2021 is the fact that this Pandemic is not over and that it will not be over anytime soon. It will be years and we will never go back to way that it was before the Pandemic started. I have had to shift my thinking. It is not an easy task but one that I have taken on. I don’t think that we are going to go back to “Normal” and I don’t think that complaining about the situation that we are in is helping at all. Guess what we are in it! Try to find a find a way to adjust. Wishing to go back isn’t going to change anything, you have to deal with what is happening and figure out a way to exist within it.
There is another thing that I have been working on…I have been trying to ignore all the people that complain about the ongoing Pandemic situation. So much of what people put out there makes me so mad. I know that people are entitled to their opinions but it is frustrating to be two years into this and still people only care about themselves. Every single time that I hear someone complain about wearing masks or about Vaccines, getting them or showing proof of them, all I really hear them saying is that they only care about themselves. I have been trying to not let it get to me and to try to ignore all the talk but it is difficult because for some reason these selfish people are really loud. But I am working on it and for my part I am trying to stay positive and know that I am doing everything that I can to protect not only myself but everyone else.
Something else that I have been thinking about a lot this week is a video that John Green put out. John and Hank Green have spent a lot of time raising money for a charity called Partners in Health and more specifically for health care in Sierra Leone. In John’s video he was giving an update on the efforts that has been going and what the money has been spent on. The video shows footage of clinics in Sierra Leone and the facilities there…they are not good. They don’t have running water, they don’t have proper…anything and the women have one bed for when they give birth and if it is at night they have to do so by flashlight. It really puts into perspective how privileged we are here in Canada. We have amazing hospitals and free health care. We have the infrastructure to vaccinate our entire population! And yet…
We have to close indoor dining and limit capacity and cancel some stuff…still people complain. We are trying to take care of our health care workers, they are overworked and so tired, more tired than anyone else but people just don’t seem to get it. Oh and did you know that when they talk about hospital bed shortages they are talking about the actual physical beds? They are talking about the staff they need to take care of the people in those beds. I think that the thing that people really need to realize is this, I am not special and you are not special. One person is not most important, we are in this together.
Well, see here I am failing at my ignoring idea. I am working on it I promise. I am not perfect and that is OK. That is my point really instead of making a resolution once a year take time through out the year to reflect and find the things that you need to work on. That is what I am trying to do. Be kind to yourself and allow yourself to fail, you can always try again or try something else. Just trying is the main thing.
This post turned into more of a rant than I meant it to be. I’m not sorry about it, it is how I feel. Some of might think that it is hypocritical that I have complained about complainers and maybe you are right. However, I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be allowed to complain, everyone needs to vent sometimes, I am just saying that I need to give them less of my attention.
What a way to start out the year. I am going to include a link to the John Green video I mentioned. If you can spare a minute to watch it that would be great! And there is a link in the video description to donate to Partners in Health if you feel so inclined.