How Not to Feel Overwhelmed in the New Year!

One moment at a time, one day at a time, one thing at a time!

Well, hiya, Big People!  Can you believe it's the seventh of January already?  I sure can't!

Ya know, facing a fresh, New Year is both exciting and terrifying.  It's exciting because the New Year is stretched out in front of you, all clean and new and full of possibilities of all the things you're gonna do and see and learn and become over the next twelve months.  It's terrifying because there's just so much, especially when you're a Little Kid.

Okay.  Maybe not 'terrifying.'  Maybe that's an exaggeration for most of us here.  But it can certainly be overwhelming, especially for a Little Kid. 

For instance, I remember New Year's 2012.  I was just shy of four months old.  I'd already learned and accomplished so much in the short time I was around in 2011-getting people's attention when I was hungry or dirty,  how to hold my head up, how to hold my own bottle, smiling, how to navigate a busy upscale shopping mall on the Monday after Thanksgiving, how to make friends with Santa, rolling from my back to my belly, rolling from my belly to my back, walking along in my little Pink Jeep, Sabres Appreciation... I mean, there was a LOT of stuff I learned to do right off the bat, so as 2012 dawned, I thought for a moment that I'd get to enjoy some restin' on my laurels, so to speak.  Just gettin' some time to stretch out and enjoy bein' me.

Then I realized that wasn't how it was gonna go down at all, in 2012.  Not even a little.  In that year, I was gonna hafta learn how to drink out of a sippy cup, how to sit up on my own, how to crawl over distances and obstacles, how to speak actual words on purpose, eat solid foods, eat solid foods I'd hafta chew, grow teeth so I could chew in the first place, master my colorful stacking rings, get good at the Jumperoo, learn to go faster in my Little Pink Jeep, WALK, string together sentences, avoid a predicted Mayan apocalypse...

Friends, knowing I was gonna hafta do all that and more in 2012, it made me really overwhelmed and panicked that I wasn't gonna be able to accomplish it all, and that I'd let myself down in a big way, come 2013.

But then something happened.  Insteadda focusing on ALL those things I was gonna need to do in 2012, I just took things one day at a time.  One step at a time, if you will.  And one by one, moment by moment, by golly, I did 'em.  Easy-peasy.  And that's how I've approached all the bigness in my life, ever since.  One thing at a time.

So if you're lookin' at this New Year and feelin' overwhelmed, Friends, just remember to do like I do and slow down.  Don't let the bigness and newness and the sheer number of things get all up in your head and freak you the heck out.  That's not gonna do you any good at all!  Just take it one thing at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time.  Concentrate on bein' the best you you can be in each moment.  And then every so often, reflect on all the things you've gotten done and marvel!

I love ya lots, Big People!  I sure as heck do!  And I'll see ya tomorrow!  Muah!