New Year, Same Jew

New Year is an opportunity for all of us to make resolutions, create vision boards, manifest, create new patterns, break old habits, etc. It is also an opportunity to cherish and appreciate the skills, wisdom, and capacity that you currently have.

Sometimes, you will be going through something heavy, hard, a loss, an unexpected gain, and you might not have it in you to work on yourself. It is okay to take time to simply reflect and let yourself be. We don't always need to be checking off items from a list, building out plans, showing up, or practicing active listening. If you are carrying a heavy heart into the new year, it is okay.

It is also okay to be absolutely fine and comfortable with where you are currently in life. If you are eating a meal every day, you have a roof over your head, you know what it is like to love and to be loved, it is completely okay to be simply grateful for the opportunity to experience it all over again in the new year.

Sometimes expectations can weigh us down and make us feel like we need to be more, do more, and provide more. However, we do not owe anyone anything. Taking care of ourselves is the best thing we can do not only for us but for other people in our lives who care and love us. If the weight of expectations is feeling heavy on your shoulders, take a moment and breathe. Simply breathing and counting our breath can be a valuable exercise when trying to be present and appreciative of time.

It can be helpful to repeat a mantra when breathing to fully ground yourself into the moment and find that inner acceptance and peace.

For me personally, saying "let go" when breathing in and "let G-d" when breathing out is very therapeutic.

Regardless of where you find yourself this new year, be kind to yourself. You are precious and deserving of everything that is yet to come. Patience is the hardest skill to have but it is the most important one. If we continue to trust in the plan, trust in the universe, and trust in the power of the divine, we will see the reward.

Remember this, perfection is an elusion. It is not real. Nothing is perfect. In fact, even the dictionary defines perfect as "having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be." But who write the elements? We have the power to decide for ourselves what those elements are. And in the same way that we have the power to decide what doesn't meet the requirements, we have the power to decide what does meet the requirements.

Choose to walk through life knowing that you have the power to adjust those requirements at any time. Perfection is not required, but if perfection is something you strive for, then choose to build that scale with grace. Choose to live a life that makes it easy for you to be at peace. Choose to love yourself, and those around you, and give them grace to meet whatever standard of perfection you require rather than dismissing people for not meeting a level of expectations they weren't even aware of.

And maybe, just maybe, perfection can slowly become something that doesn't even cross your mind. Maybe you start to see things for what they are and appreciate them as they are.

"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." - Ruth Bader Ginsburg

And remember that whatever you gave the day today, it was your best, and that's enough.

-N