As December comes along and the year is slowly coming to its end, all of us think of the things and the people we won and lost in the past year.
You put all of your achievements and failures on a scale and can’t help but think of all the different paths you should have taken, of all the chances you missed and all the things you might have done differently.
You think about all the could haves and should haves.
About all of the mistakes you didn’t correct, of all the opportunities you should have taken and of all the wrong people you let into your life.
As another chapter of your life is coming to its end, there are always some things you regret doing or not doing, some grudges you hold against yourself and some days or even weeks you wish you could erase.
No matter how this passing year has gone, you always think that you could have done better.
You think you should have been smarter, wiser and that you had to have known better.
And that is actually a good thing. It is a sign that you have the ability for self-criticism, that you want to push yourself forward and that you see there is always room for improvement.
However, I am here to ask you to go easy on yourself for once.
Instead of being so hard and judgmental, give yourself a break and at least have as much understanding for your own mistakes as you would have for anyone else’s.
No matter what happened this year, I assure you that you accomplished enough.
I’m not trying to convince you to lower your standards but the truth is that you’ve been through a lot and yet, you managed to survive anyway, didn’t you?
It doesn’t matter whether you went through a devastating break-up, if you had some work-related problems, if your family has been giving you a hard time, if you went through a financial crisis, if you struggled with some health issues or your friends backstabbed or betrayed you—either way, you managed to find at least a temporary solution to all of your problems.
You managed to find a way to bring yourself up to the light and not to allow the darkness to get the best of you.
Most importantly—all of this drama didn’t change you, it didn’t make you betray your principles and it didn’t corrupt your pure soul.
Don’t compare yourself to others, forget about people bragging about how much they accomplished and remember that all of us fight different battles nobody knows nothing about.
Instead, just compare yourself with the past year’s version of you because you’re the only person you’re allowed to compete with.
Many people have done their best to knock you down off your feet but not one succeeded in destroying you.
In fact, somehow, you always found a way to rise from the ashes and to come back more powerful than ever.
Even though you might not see it at first, you learned from all of your mistakes and hardships.
You took all of the bullets fired at you and kept on going, proudly carrying all of your scars .
No matter what happened this year, you got out of it alive and sane. And that is reason enough to be proud of yourself.
Be proud of your capacity to overcome life’s obstacles and to successfully chase away all of your problems.
Be proud of your ability to face your demons instead of bending the knee in front of them, to always keep on fighting and the fact that you never gave up.
Be proud of your inner strength. Of all the weight you carried on your back and of the woman you have become.
So instead of blaming yourself for not having a better year and thinking about all the things you did wrong, change your focus.
Concentrate on each one of your accomplishments and on every time you achieved even the smallest goal.
Congratulations, as you survived another year, which makes you a winner in this game called life.
So now, instead of looking behind and lamenting the past, focus on the future, because it’s time for some new victories.
