Why It’s Okay If You’re Not Okay Right Now

New Year’s Day doesn’t always feel hopeful

Allison Burney
4 min readJan 1, 2024
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Here we are yet again on the first day of a new year.

Usually at this time, I’m feeling all hopeful and sparkly and excited about the possibilities this brand new year will bring. I’m filled with optimism and chomping at the bit to get started on the otherwise arduous task of completely overhauling my life to make it resemble the life I really want.

I’m often writing down a list of very unrealistic goals I suddenly want to accomplish because the momentum of a new year has swept me up and bathed me in a rosy pink bubble bath that’s left me feeling temporarily refreshed and ready to face anything!

This is what I’ve done, year after year, each time believing that this will be the year where things finally happen for me, where that vision of myself as the happy, healthy, successful writer person will align with reality at last, and I’ll actually be that person.

This New Year-induced rush of hopeful expectation quickly wears off, though. A few weeks in, I begin to see the error of my ways once again. Trying to do too much, to change too much all at once is the trap, and even though I eventually realize I’ve done it yet again, by the time the next year rolls around, I seem to have forgotten that this way…

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Allison Burney
Allison Burney

Written by Allison Burney

Writer, ghostwriter & proofreader. On a mission to keep exploring, learning & enjoying this adventure we call life. Work with me: allisonburney.com