Is today hard for you? Do you find yourself sitting at home in your sweatpants surrounded by kids, wishing you were showered and dressed and headed off to a glamorous job instead? Feeling like no one appreciates the work you do?
Alternately, do you find yourself sitting at a job you’ve worked hard for, wondering where all the glamour is and wishing you could be sitting at home in your sweatpants with your kids? Feeling like no one appreciates the work it takes for you to be here doing what you do?
Maybe the future you had envisioned for yourself is unrecognizable compared to what you are actually seeing in front of you. Or maybe it’s exactly what you had envisioned, and yet you find yourself unfulfilled in ways you had not anticipated.
Maybe you find yourself missing your old life (whatever that was). Wondering where all your free time went. Wondering where all your friends are. For whatever reason, big or small, maybe today is hard. You would like to trade places with someone, call in sick, have a free day to yourself, or simply hide under the covers.
So if today is hard for you: keep going. You’re doing it. You’re showing up, you’re putting in the work, you’re doing what needs to be done.
Maybe one day, years from now, when you look back at the novel that is your life, this chapter will be titled “It Was Hard”. The pages will be filled with examples of how you were pushed past limits you didn’t think you were capable of, endured things you wouldn’t have dreamed, and overcame things you never thought would be part of your story. The next chapter could be called, “I Emerged” and a kinder, more radiant you would rise from its pages, more empathetic to the struggles of others because of what you lived through and wiser for the lessons you learned.
But it’s not time for that chapter yet. So here you are. No, the people around you will not appreciate all of the things you do, and that’s part of the story. Nor will your eyes always be open to the help that comes your way. But help does come. Keep going. Look for those glimmers of hope; they are there. There will be moments of peace; relish them. Look for the people willing to hold your hand during this chapter; don’t forget to make space in the pages for them.
So if today is hard, just keep going. You are doing it. Putting in the work that only you can do, right where you are. One minute at a time, one day at a time, one page at a time. Because that next chapter always comes.
