Saturday morning, completely by accident, I took two workout classes that happened to both play the Alicia Keys song “Good Job.” If you’ve never heard this song before, don’t worry — the title is a dead giveaway for what it’s about. Anyways, listening to that song not once but twice within an hour felt like something karmic. Like the universe was trying to send me a message.
It’s sort of corny (and I don’t even particularly like the song, to be honest), but at the same time, I kind of appreciated it.
You’re doing a good job, a good job … don’t get too down, the world needs you now.
Like okay, universe — thank you.
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t necessarily felt like I was doing a good job lately. Or even for the last, oh, 19 months. Sometimes, it all feels like a grind, life in the middle of *all this.* It feels like having a million things to do, and not doing any of them particularly well. It’s exhausting.
And I know that often, it feels very easy to beat ourselves up for not living up to this or that expectation, or not yet hitting xyz goal.
Sometimes, though, success look different than what we originally imagined.
Sometimes, success is just making it to the end of the day or the week. Sometimes it’s pushing through anxiety and being able to hold an intelligent conversation. Sometimes it’s feeling the fear, and doing something anyways (even if you felt like a basket case or a mess during). Sometimes it’s just putting one foot in front of the other. It’s all a matter of perspective.
When it played the first time, the class instructor made a comment that sometimes, you have to clap for your own damn self. That stuck with me. In fact, I grabbed my phone and wrote a note to myself. We all need that reminder every now and then.
Life is not easy. It may look that way on some people (and via their curated social media footprints), but it’s… not. It’s just not.
And so, in case no one’s told you recently, good job.
Really.
It’s easy to get discouraged, or to feel like you’re not measuring up, but you know how much work you’re putting in that no one ever sees. You know how much you’re trying, how much you care. Only you know how hard your road has been, and what courage it took to even get to this point. To still be standing.
No matter what it looks like or how it feels… it all matters. You matter.
You’re doing a good job. (Yes, you are!)
Consider this permission to clap for yourself, today and everyday. And hey — I’m clapping for you over here, too.
Have a great Monday.🌻
Sending you all the YAYs,
Joelle
P.s. If you enjoyed what you read today and want to support me + my writing, consider sharing this post with a friend or ‘Like’ it by hitting the heart button at the top. xo