Progress, Not Perfection (Still Not a Resolution)

 Every year, like clockwork, someone asks if I’m setting a New Year’s resolution. And every year my answer is the same: absolutely not. I don’t believe in them. For me, they’re just beautifully wrapped invitations to feel like a failure by February. I always start strong. Color-coded goals. Big energy. Then life shows up, chaos enters the chat, I get overwhelmed, and suddenly I’m juggling too many balls and dropping the ones labeled “me.”

I’m excellent at handling high-priority tasks. The rest? Let’s just say they tend to live in the “I’ll get to that” pile.

That said, as another year wraps up and I navigate a new ADHD diagnosis, I’ve found myself reflecting more than usual. I’ve always been an overthinker, but seeing my choices, patterns, and struggles through this new lens has been… illuminating. A little humbling. Also oddly validating.

So no, I still refuse to make a resolution. But I am choosing something else. I’m choosing to be kinder to myself. To stop letting mistakes and missteps narrate the story of who I am or who I’m becoming. And I want that same grace to spill over into my parenting. Less pressure. More understanding. Fewer labels. More love.

No resolutions. Just softer edges and a little more compassion, all around.