New Year, New Stalker

Photo by Mekht on Unsplash

It’s only January, and I’m already sweating it, so I might as well confess…

I (almost) forgot my husband’s birthday last week and (thanks to Amazon) managed to pull off an on-time gift. To my credit, his special day is less than a month after Christmas.

A winter storm—complete with snow, sleet, and freezing rain-turned-ice—left us landlocked for three days. The anticipation? Almost worse than the event itself. Mercifully, we maintained electricity and heat the entire ordeal.

I’m already stressing about February. The first week packs a big enough punch that its events could should have been dispersed throughout the entire month. Rude!

These subtle pressures gnaw on me, providing reminders of what I tried to leave behind in 2025.

They followed me anyway…

Nothing shocking; just familiar:

• Procrastination or creative avoidance, if we’re getting fancy.

• Laziness, i.e., energy emptiness or borderline burnout.

• Pressure to be and do all things, so that I’m not weak, but capable.

But January doesn’t have to set my pace for the New Year. And it certainly does not need to pose as a recycle bin for 2025.

Let this serve as a simple reminder and encouragement: I’m not perfect, nor will I ever be. But I won’t grow unless I remain flexible.