Why it's okay to be just where you are.

As we go into a new year, it is normal to see a lot of people trying to motivate you. People making new goals for their life, trying to push you to be better. It's the time of year, after all, right? Everyone in the world will suddenly have new motivation to try to reach their goals. Motivation that for most of the time will be over come March.

It's easy to feel the pressure. The pressure to be better, to be improving, to want to be better than you are, can be overwhelming. It can feel like a lot of pressure that you need to be motivated to be better, that you should have things that you want to improve with your life all the time. I know that I have felt it. While I do get motivated by these messages sometimes. I also get overwhelmed by the amount that I hear on a daily basis.

It's hard to read anything and not hear the message that you should be doing something to make your life. You should be trying to get a better job, open a business or leave that bad relationship. In no way am I saying that is a bad thing. Sometimes you need that motivation to push you. Sometimes it just takes that extra bit of motivation so that you push yourself to do better.

But it is also okay to not be there. It is okay to be exactly where you are. Maybe your life can be improved, maybe there are areas that you can work on. But also maybe that is okay.

Depression, or just overall sadness, can be hard. It can be hard to work through. Sometimes it is just too much energy to try to come up with a plan and then execute that plan to make your life better. Even if that means that plan is the one thing that will help you improve. Sometimes just getting through your daily life is all that you can take. And maybe even that is too much for you to handle. Getting yourself out of a depression, at any level, is hard, and takes time. So know that it is okay. It is okay to be where you are. It is okay to be just trying to get through the day.

Now, there is a difference between being unmotivated and depressed. If you have no motivation, or no goals, then push yourself to try to accomplish something. Don't allow yourself to get stuck in life, stuck in a place of unhappiness just going through the motions of life. I let myself get stuck for years, stuck in a place, just because I had no motivation to make goals and go after them. But I've also been depressed. Only having the energy to get through the motions of my day. Being depressed is very different from being unmotivated. If you are depressed, then I understand that maybe just getting up is too much for you.

Also, maybe you just need a minute. A minute to breath, a minute to reflect, a minute to gather yourself. If you are leaving a bad situation, no matter what the situation is. Then the best thing you can do is to give yourself a minute. Let's say you were in a bad relationship. And you go into a new one right away, then you will bring anything from your previous relationship into your next one. That can end a good relationship. It's important that we reflect on things that happen to us. Learn the lessons we are meant to learn. And allow ourselves to heal. If you are in that place, allow yourself to be in that place.

Know that it is okay to be wherever you are, no matter where that is. If you need a minute to regroup, to collect yourself, to heal, that is okay. You don't always need to be pushing yourself to better, to do better. Sometimes you just need to be where you are.

-T