WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

Hey, hi, hello, 2023. And hello to you, my dear.

I'm going to start this off bluntly by saying, where the f*ck did 2022 go?

I posted a story on Instagram yesterday and the response was overwhelming. How many of you resonated with it was just mind-blowing - and I'm not gonna lie, it was nice to know I wasn't alone in feeling these feels.

Basically, long story short (or short story long), I've been finding it tricky to wrap my head around how quickly time is passing by. I've never been the gal that #livesinthemoment. The fact that I'm a major control freak & I need to know what meal I'm having for dinner (two days from now) validates that. But the fact that it's now 2023 has got me thinking about time.

I'm not sure if it's only now that I've started thinking about it. I think it's been on my mind for quite a while. But, you know, when the festive season finishes and we begin the new year, we start to get all hyped up & sentimental, and we reflect on the previous year. We plan our goals & what we want to achieve. Am I right?

When I politely asked my brain to reflect on 2022 (and gently pushed aside the thought of tomorrow night's dinner plans), I honestly found it all to be a bit of a blur. Now don't get me wrong, I had a freakin' fabulous year. I bought a block of land in my dream suburb, I got engaged, we finished our floorplans. I had so many big, wonderful things happen. But I also found it hard to reflect on whether I was actually present throughout the year. Lately, it's been difficult to be present in the moment. I almost always catch myself thinking, 'wow this is going so fast', when I'm out doing something. Let's think of an example. Did your Christmas go really fast? It seems like Christmas 2022 hopped into a freakin' Delorean and time travelled all the way through to the 5th day of January 2023, because here we are. I know that sounds a bit silly, but where did that time go?

Is it that I'm spending too much time on social media? Is it anxiety? Has my perception of time changed because we spent so long 'locked up' during Covid? Do I have my priorities straight? Or is it simply because I'm getting older?

I'm going to be honest, this vibe isn't exactly the way I wanted to go into 2023. But I also thought, f*ck it, I should be addressing the way I'm feeling now because being self-aware is so important. When I uploaded that story on Instagram last night, I honestly didn't expect to receive such a huge response. My DM's were flooded with so many people feeling the exact same way. Let's unpack.

I'm going to point out the elephant in the room - social media. Have you ever caught yourself feeling like you've 'failed' yourself because you didn't get any *~content~* while you were out and about? Even if you're just out for dinner? I'm so guilty. Have you ever been mad with yourself because your screen time was way higher than you expected and now you're wondering how else you could've spend that 4 hours? It's like we are mad at ourselves because we feel like we aren't living our lives to the fullest. And I feel that on an emotional level. We live our lives scrolling, planning for the future, wondering if we've spent out days wisely, scrolling, spending money because we've seen something someone else has that we want, scrolling, and then getting mad at ourselves for wasting time so we scroll some more out of habit. Maybe it's exactly that - habit. I'll be clear here, social media is a great tool. Heck, my business wouldn't be anywhere near where it is now if it weren't for the power of social media. But it almost seems like it's gotten to the point where I mindlessly scroll, and that is where the time is getting away from me. I love posting polls on my Instagram, getting to know my followers, and having a 'presence' on my social media, but is this why I feel the absence of being present in 'real life'?

Which leads me to my next point - struggling to appreciate the moment I am in. Lately (I want to say since the start of Covid, but let's not any point fingers *cough*) I catch myself thinking 'this is going way too quickly', when it could be something as simple as spending time with my family. Is this because I'm trying to make up for the time that we lost being away from each other during Covid? Am I trying to gain that time back, but at the same time not appreciating it because I'm too busy overthinking it in the moment?

Are we too busy planning for the big moments that we miss out on the small, in-between ones?

Have you ever planned to have a 'rest day' where you do sweet f*ck all? Sounds nice, right? Treat yourself, sis. But then it gets to the actual day and all you do is spend it thinking about the next day, or feeling guilty because you've 'achieved nothing'. Again, I'm guilty. But why should we feel guilty about relaxing? You're not alone.

One of my good friends reshared a story on Instagram that stuck out to me. I'll chuck it below.

@thebrainhealth.doctor

There's so much to unpack here & I'm sure I've barely scraped the surface. I've hardly spent any time thinking about my goals or ~manifestations~ for 2023, but I guess maybe this is the groundwork for one of them. Making more of an effort to be present in the moment. Setting priorities straight. Being self-aware. Switching off more. Taking a bit of a break rather than feeling like we need to be on the hustle all day everyday.

Dwelling on the time passing by certainly feels counter-productive. And don't get me wrong, I am totally A-okay. This is literally just me spilling my thoughts out. As I sit here typing this article at my dining table on the piece of technology that I've been subliminally complaining about for the past few paragraphs, it almost seems contradictory. But at the same time, it's refreshing to speak about. And if I can resonate with at least one of you, that's plenty for me.

Jeez, can somebody please get this gal an Aperol?

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