The ‘new me’ can stick it.
This time of year we go a bit ‘brand new’ crazy. Like ‘batshit’ crazy but a lot more harder on the purse strings. The hopes and prospects of what the new year brings, coupled with the Christmas extravaganza of new things that now fill our homes (and underwear drawers) new pants, new socks, new slippers, new toothbrush (Santa treated me well this year) seems to not be enough for us… We Brits like to have it all. We extend this obsession with new ness to ourselves.
The ‘new me’.
Oooh the new me will be 2 stone lighter, be organised, spend more time with the children. Throw in a new hobby and a new career and you’ve got yourself a checklist for everything that you feel shit about in your life. What a crappy way to pop open the bottle of 2017.
We go from the festive, Christmas season where everyone is so merry and over indulgent on food and presents, (it’s this jolly, mulled wine and prosecco filled season that makes September on the labour ward so busy!) to feelings of motivation ready to start the new year to… the end of January, which apparently is the most depressing day of the year. Nobody wants that kind of emotional turmoil in their life.
I blame New Years resolutions.
Us mothers and mothers-to- be already have enough self-doubt and guilt. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a ‘we got this’ salute and tell the resolutions to go stick it. This year I will not be promising myself change. I will appreciate what I already have from 2016. The Danish have been known to be one of the happiest nations. They have a way called ‘Hugge’ finding comforts and cosiness in moments of everyday life, shared with friends and family.
Going into 2017, highlight the moments of 2016 that gave you comfort. The things that are most important to us are hidden as they are simple and familiar. The smell of coffee brewing in the morning. The kiss goodbye from the children before they go into school. Lighting a candle at the end of the day. Here are a few of mine…
A comforting moment…
Mums together, warmth of hot chocolate, frosty tables, fresh air, watching new relationships grow at the buggy walks and hearing mums bond over feeling crazy and knowing we feel the same.
A comforting love my family moment…
I could have picked many but… bedtime. It’s wild, it’s messy, it’s noisy, we laugh, there are tears, tantrums, we share a story, a conversation about the day.
It may not be peace, and certainly not everyone’s comfort. But this is my familiar, my anchor, my belonging and my hugge.
It’s these cherished moments of love and friendship that I want to take with me into the New Year. When we find comforts in our everyday lives and the people that fill it, we stop looking for the ‘new’. How we spend each day, will of course be how we spend our year. So on this New Years Eve, may your everyday comforts be as full as your glass of Prosecco. For the pregnant mamas who won’t be toasting with fizz this year… You rock too. The mark of 2017 is a pregnancy milestone, this year your ‘brand new’ baby will be born. This is the only kind of ‘brand new’ that really matters.
Happy New Year from The Bump to Baby Chapter.
Beth and Kate
x
