We’ve been thinking about this sentence a lot this year.

Here’s why we keep saying this to ourselves, before anyone else does.

1. We keep comparing today’s version of us with a past that no longer exists.
2. We’ve learnt to treat slowing down as a personal flaw, not a phase of life.
3. We trust visible effort more than invisible work, even when the invisible work is heavier.
4. We’ve absorbed timelines that were never meant for real people with real interruptions.
5. We confuse pressure with seriousness and ease with irresponsibility.
6. We’d rather accuse ourselves than sit with uncertainty.
7. We say it first so it doesn’t come as a surprise when the world says it later.

Read back the list slowly. Notice how little of it is actually personal. What feels like self-judgement is mostly borrowed logic, repeated long enough to sound familiar. That’s usually the tell.

May this thought pop up way lesser in 2026 than it did it in 2025. Wishing you a great year ahead!