It’s a letter that will, I hope, help you feel less alone, more seen, and a letter that will buoy your spirits and give you even an ounce more hope and comfort in hard, heavy times as you adult.
So please, if you need a note of encouragement for when adulting, keep reading to feel supported.
A note of encouragement for when adulting feels hard.
Honey.
No one, and I mean no one, told you that being an adult would feel this hard.
No one told you that adulthood can sometimes feel like being a firefighter in Northern California in fire season: exhausted, weary, with no end in sight to your shift, and yet in charge of beating down fire after fire as crises and unexpected events emerge seemingly again and again.
The buck stopping with you and no one else.
Sex And The City, MTV’s Real World, Friends, and definitely not Gilmore Girls prepared you for the grind that can sometimes feel like adulthood.
(It always looked so much more fun for them, didn’t it?)
No one told you that adulthood would sometimes feel like its own version of Groundhog day: a repeating loop of sleep, household chores, work to pay the bills, more chores, putting everyone to bed, and then one precious hour of escape into Netflix and late-night snacking before passing out and doing it all over again.
You’ve been told to #liveyourbestlife.
Instagram (that sneaky beast!) reminds you that some people seemingly are: sunshiney trips to Bali, whitewashed Swedish minimalist farmhouses, five-year anniversaries #marriedtomybestfriend, converted sprinter vans and road trips to glaciers and redwoods, Marie Kondo’d everything, sourdough bread baking, and chalkboard paint crafts, and quote after quote remind you to enjoy every single moment of motherhood because it goes by way too fast.
Is this the standard you’re holding yourself to?
Is this the bar you feel like you’re falling short of?
Are you afraid you’re #notlivingyourbestlife?
FORGET THAT. Let it go.
Let that curated, often kid-free and certainly, highly edited version of adulthood be a social media fantasy.
The same kind of fantasy that you escape into like Game of Thrones or Downton Abbey.
Forget #livingyourbestlife.
Instead, embrace #sometimesadulthoodisjustsurvival.
Some days, like today, like all the days of this month, adulthood can look like just trying to survive.
To parent without having a nervous breakdown.
To work the bare minimum without losing your job.
To keep the house clean and safe enough so no one gets sick or injured.
To feel like you’re giving everything the bare minimum, that seemingly everyone is upset with you for not giving more, and feeling at the edge because you truly don’t know how to give or do more.
