The Immense Pressure of December

I caught myself doing what I’m seeing a lot of my clients doing last week.

I had to get a quick blood test (all is fine). Then I got a message saying the smoke alarms need to be checked. I ignored that one, haha... And then I thought, oh, it’s the end of the year… haven’t done my tax yet.

If you’ve been with me for a few years, you know I say that at the end of every year.

And then I thought, no, we’ll leave that for January.

We do this thing where we try and cram so much into the end of the year, trying to tie up all these loose ends. Let alone doing the grocery shopping, wrapping the presents, and squeezing it all in while we’re also trying to finish up work for the year.

And I was thinking about how that’s made so much worse by scrolling Instagram or TikTok or whatever your poison is — where everyone seems to be killing it, posting happy family photos or happy end-of-year things with their kids.

I see the northern hemisphere snowflakes, or the southern hemisphere pool parties and barbecues. And I know behind all of that, there’s so much going on.

One of my favourite stories about comparison is from after I had V.

My mum noticed I was deeply researching low milk supply online (which was my issue after giving birth) — and she said, “It’s just so different now.”

She said when she had her four babies in the 70s and 80s, they had one book. I’ll look it up, but it was something like Doctor’s Book of Something... Here it is:

There was one paragraph per topic. One paragraph on breastfeeding. One paragraph on bottle feeding.

She said she’d read that paragraph again and again, depending on the issue, making sure she understood every word. Then she’d call her best friend and say, “What do you think of this paragraph?” And that was as far as it went, lol.

I always love that story. Wouldn’t it be nice to only have one paragraph per topic, and then just call our bestie and analyse it together, and the buck stops there??

So anyway — if you’re in that whirlwind, if you’re in that comparison phase, I totally see you and get it.

Up next, of course, will be the New Year’s resolutions posts. Just be aware.

And I will be sharing something in January to try and ease all of this and break the cycle of the pressure — the “I’ve got to set a goal,” the “I’m setting the same goal as last year,” the “why does everything turn back into chaos instead?”

We’re going to stop that this year.

For now, have a good week. Try and block out a bit of the noise. Try and get a little bit of space. Try putting a few things on the to-do list for next year and taking them off December’s list.