Should you start your year with the pressure of pregnancy?

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Happy New Year to all our readers and followers! So, who’s sick of reading all the ‘New Year, New You’ rubbish?

“New Year, New You” regimes are framed in such a way that they seem motivating, uplifting and encouraging. The reality is they’re designed to sell gym members, juice cleanses and self help books at a time when they’re most marketable and we’re most vulnerable. The sheer volume and velocity of this kind of content coming at us from every angle – while we’re still polishing off the last of the mince pies (or pork pie in my case) – can make us feel as though we’ve already failed within the first few minutes of the new year.

Do you know what’s more disgusting? I received an email from a surrogacy agency in Georgia (not the US), promising me ‘a guaranteed baby in 2022’ to ‘remove my pain of infertility!’ Seriously now? Firstly, what the hell is a guaranteed baby? One that works? It sleeps for 10 hours a day? Comes with batteries? Has one of those expensive extended warranties, which they make us feel guilty to buy under pressure at the tills in PC World? I was shocked that people are being targeted with such insensitive marketing.

I like the current you, and I’ve always loved the old you – remember that. Pressures to change who we are or try and achieve something which may not be even realistic is only going to damage our physical and mental health. So how should we approach 2022.

So here’s a thought: instead of subscribing to what’s become a very tired narrative, this year, let January be yours. There are so many reasons why you might consider this. Big shout out to Elyse for the main blog image of me, she’s amazing. Check her out www.elysemarksimaging.com

1. You can start anything any time.

While the first month of the year offers us a convenient fresh start, it’s still as arbitrary as the beginning of any other week – aka Monday. January doesn’t need to be *the* specific month where we all make massive changes in tandem. I began exercising regularly two years ago in the month of November. It was irrelevant to me that Christmas was coming. I knew that if I pursued it in January (when the whole world of social media is competing to out-do one another) I’d feel unnecessary, added pressure. Needless to say, I got bored and had stopped by January anyway, so it was irrelevant.

2. January is grim enough.

Unless you’re reading this from the Southern hemisphere, January is the most miserable month of the year. If we were bears in the woods, we’d be deep in hibernation, smuggling pork pies and cheese to enjoy between naps. Can we at least pick a less grim time of year to insist on being so hard on ourselves? Here’s an idea: How about reframing January as the month to be kind to yourself. Instead of a “New Year, New You”, how about a “New Year, perfectly-fine-as-you-are you”?

3. Wave goodbye to social comparison.

This is my biggest weakness and my regular demon. It may feel like everyone else is getting up at 5am for yoga seven days a week while I can’t drag yourself to the gym even once. Or people’s bowls of porridge look like a Pinterest-perfect work of art while yours looks like something my kids up. But this way of thinking isn’t unusual. From the beginning of time, we’ve been comparing ourselves to others to get a sense of how well (or not) we’re doing – or as a measure of our self worth. The arrival of a new year gives rise to that type of comparison in even greater doses. I call it “social comparison on speed”. The thing is, with social comparison someone will always come out on top. And that also means someone will be at the bottom – you or the person you’re comparing yourself to. It creates a culture of one-upmanship, which will inevitably have a negative spin on it. Nothing good can come of this; I assure you. You either come away feeling inadequate or with a sense of being better than someone else.

4. Become acquainted with temporal comparison – you’ll like this!

Yes, someone else may have climbed Mount Everest before you’ve even taken down your Christmas tree, but you are you and not them. Instead of comparing our reality to everyone else’s highlights reel, this January choose something more positive and realistic: temporal comparison.

Temporal comparison is when you compare yourself today with yourself of another time

Temporal comparison is when you compare yourself today with yourself of another time, rather than yourself now with someone else. It’s more “look how far you’ve come” than “look how much better they are than you”. It encourages you to settle into your own lane, at your own pace, on your own route, taking into account all that is relative to you and you alone. And Yes, whilst you still may not have a baby, what progress are you making?

Have you spoken to a fertility clinic you feel more at ease with? Registered with a reputable surrogacy organisation that is going to support you differently? All this is progress – and should be celebrated.

5. Goals aren’t everything.

For all the self-help books in the world, and all the philosophers and poets who try to answer the question about what happiness is really all about, it can basically be distilled down to this: It’s about the moments. The in-betweens. The here and now. With that in mind, I’m reconsidering this whole January goal-setting business. Hear me out…

Instead of being driven by achieving a certain goal – which for one person might be getting a promotion, and for another might be getting a certain amount of followers on social media – I have decided to be driven first and foremost by the kind of life I want to live: my lifestyle. Not what I want to have, or where I want to get to, but how I want to spend my time, right now, next week and so on. If more money means a job that comes with more stress and no time for doing that things you enjoy, then I’ll be asking: Is this a goal that will have a positive impact on your happiness? I don’t think so.

6. It’s true what they say; it’s all about the journey

The journey towards an elusive goal is every bit as important as the destination. When you strike a goal off your list, you might experience a temporary surge of happiness or satisfaction, but then you will inevitably settle back to a level of contentment – or lack thereof – dictated by the quality of your day-to-day lifestyle as well as your perspective.

What will make the most of your moments? At what cost will you achieve these isolated goals? Goals certainly have their place, and they can be a great motivator, but instead of hurtling towards what you think will make you happy, let your goals be informed by the kind of moments you want to have.

So, if you insist on resolving to do something, do this: go easy on yourself, be your own benchmark for success. And think about the kind of lifestyle you want to live. Happy New Year.