2021 A Year to Mend
After a year of panic, take a year to find peace
It’s one of the biggest celebrated clichés. Every year millions upon millions of people around the world gather to make New Year’s Eve resolutions at the start of the year, only to do something even more cliché by breaking them the first chance they get. The majority of these resolutions often relating to health, wealth or some major life goal.
For the last few years, I’ve been one of those people. I’ve tried to use my annual resolutions as a boost to try and make myself overcome the various hurdles and complications of my life. Whether it’s trying to get an actual diagnosis from my doctors, trying to improve my living situation, or create a stable source of income to pull myself out of the hole I was pushed in by my ever-loving family. On top of this I’ve practically killed myself trying to stick to a diet and exercise regime thinking if I stuck with it long enough, I could force myself to feel better, healthier.
Do you know where I’ve gotten with the aforementioned? Nowhere, absolutely nowhere. I’m still stuck in the same situation if not worse.
So. What to do about it.
This year I’m going to try for a different sort of resolution.
I believe my biggest problem isn’t the lack of effort or will power in trying to stick to my resolutions. Rather, I think it’s trying so hard to stick to my resolutions even when they affect my already diminished health and stamina to the point where I completely burn myself out and I just flat-out crash. Maybe this is where others go wrong as well.
So, my 2021 resolution is to go easy on myself and take time to mend. In order to not sabotage myself this time around I’m not going to focus so much on taking on these resolutions as a whole, but rather one small step at a time. I am still going to try and achieve the same goals, but I will be trying to do it in a way that is kind to me.
Already I am in the process of finally getting a diagnosis for Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I will also be trying to get a diagnosis for Complex PTSD. With these diagnoses, I am hoping to be able to have validation and peace of mind that the struggle I’ve been facing is real. I am hoping to be able to access certain resources to help me better my living situation, obtain a job I can hold with my limitations and ease some of the stress I constantly undergo.
When it comes to exercise and diet, I plan on easing myself in slowly instead of trying to go full speed right from the beginning. Because of my current state of health or lack thereof, I will be starting with warm-ups and cool-downs instead of an actual work out and work my way up from there. Improving my diet is a bit trickier because as it stands, I need something I can heat and eat or grab and eat, so I either need super simple prep meals or healthy premade frozen options. YouTube has actually been a wonderful resource for me so far in regard to easy healthy meals and various light exercises.
So, if you’re like me in that you try so hard to stick to your resolutions that you are actually sabotaging yourself, try taking smaller steps to make it easier for you to achieve your end goal. Because it's better to take longer to achieve success than to never achieve it at all. Happy New Year.
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Past Future
At the age of ten, this poem manifested itself to me one night when I was trying to sleep, go figure. I wouldn't even go as far as to say I created it. I've never examined what it really meant but have always been wary of sharing it for fear of making me sound like an alarmist. It was just, there, fully formed and wouldn't let me go until I had written it down. Not that I needed to, I've remembered it for over 23 years.
By Elevar Roch5 years ago in Poets
The Hustle Trap: How Chasing Success Is Quietly Stealing Your Happiness
For an entire generation, success has been rebranded as a lifestyle. Social media feeds are filled with early mornings, late nights, motivational quotes, and captions that glorify exhaustion as a badge of honor. The message is clear and constant: if you are not grinding, you are falling behind. This idea, often called “hustle culture,” has become one of the most powerful and persuasive narratives of modern life. At first glance, it sounds inspiring. Work hard. Push yourself. Don’t settle for average. These are not harmful ideas on their own. The problem begins when effort becomes an identity and rest becomes something to feel guilty about. Many people now measure their worth by how busy they are. The signs of the hustle trap often appear quietly. Skipped meals become normal. Sleep becomes optional. Weekends turn into “catch-up days.” Time with family and friends starts to feel like a distraction instead of a joy. The line between dedication and self-neglect slowly disappears. Psychologists warn that chronic overwork doesn’t just drain energy — it changes how the brain responds to stress. When the body stays in a constant state of pressure, it begins to treat even small challenges as threats. This can lead to anxiety, irritability, and a feeling of being permanently on edge. Ironically, this state of mind often makes people less productive, not more. Creativity declines. Decision-making becomes rushed. Focus becomes scattered. The very success people are chasing starts to move further away. One of the most dangerous myths of hustle culture is the idea that “you can rest after you make it.” The problem is that “making it” is a moving target. There is always another goal, another level, another comparison. Without realizing it, people can spend their entire lives chasing a future moment of peace that never arrives. But a quiet shift is beginning. More professionals, entrepreneurs, and creators are starting to question the grind. They are redefining success not just by income or status, but by quality of life. They are asking different questions: Do I have time for the people I care about? Do I enjoy my daily routine? Do I feel present in my own life? Some companies are experimenting with four-day workweeks. Others are encouraging employees to fully disconnect after hours. Individuals are setting boundaries around their time and attention, even when it feels uncomfortable at first. This doesn’t mean ambition is disappearing. It means it’s being reshaped. There is a growing understanding that sustainable success is built like a marathon, not a sprint. It requires pacing, recovery, and self-awareness. Just as athletes schedule rest days to avoid injury, high performers are learning to schedule mental and emotional recovery to avoid burnout. Another powerful realization is that identity should not be tied to productivity alone. People are more than what they produce. They are friends, partners, parents, learners, and community members. When work becomes the only source of meaning, everything else can start to feel empty by comparison. Small changes can begin to loosen the grip of the hustle trap. Turning off notifications in the evening. Taking a real lunch break. Saying no to commitments that don’t align with personal values. These acts may seem minor, but they send a powerful message to the mind: my life is not a machine. In a world that constantly pushes for more, choosing “enough” can feel like an act of rebellion. But it is often in that space — between ambition and acceptance — that people rediscover something they didn’t even realize they were losing. Joy.
By Hazrat Usman Usman6 days ago in Motivation
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