Monday Moment: You’re not the only one

Posted on 19 January, 2015

Last week, I asked people on my mailing list for ideas for blog topics, thinking it would help me map out an editorial calendar for the year. They sent me back 46 fantastic ideas!

You’d think that would mean I had 46 topics, wouldn’t you…

I don’t. Because what struck me (enough to turn it into a topic itself) was that so many of those who responded (and me too) are struggling with the SAME THINGS.

Oh, how I wished I could have emailed everyone each other’s responses! Then they could take as much comfort as I did in seeing just how similar our struggles are:

• ‘How do I accept myself as I am?’
• ‘How do I know I’m making the right decisions?’
• ‘How do I stop myself from procrastinating?’
• ‘How do I stay in the present instead of worrying about the past or future?’
• ‘How do I deal with imposter syndrome and not feeling on top of work?”
• ‘How do I stick with a sustainable plan to lose weight?’
• ‘How do I know which direction to head in my career?’
• ‘How do I turn dreams into reality when fear gets in the way?’

We all worry that we’re botching things up. We assume everyone else is happier, further ahead and more together than we are…or so we think until someone says ‘It’s not just you’.

So that’s what I’m here to say in this first Monday Moment for 2015. It most certainly isn’t just you. If you’re reading this at work, look around you. Everyone you see—all the cheery, confident, capable colleagues around you—ALL of them either have struggled, will struggle, or are struggling with something.

The difference is in how well people hide it. It’s in how practised people are at being ‘breezy’. How believably they deliver the line, ‘I’m fine.’ How well they respond to pressure and how much else they have to contend with.

So, never be fooled into thinking you’re a ‘freak’ because you feel the way you do. Don’t worry that other people have their acts completely together when you’re still working yours out. Every one of us is constantly evolving, being shaped and sculpted by life and taking our form.

Feature image of young woman dancing with red scarf courtesy of Shutterstock.