A slow start is still a start | Lifestyle.INQ
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The start of a new year is often romanticized as a time for massive transformations

 


 

I’m the kind to goal-set meticulously as the new year rolls around. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I spend the first week of December carefully articulating a concrete plan, with key performance indices and deliverables. It’s a format I’ve used and improved each year, which felt foolproof at this point. 

2025 feels like a defining year for me (and maybe it will be), but January is coming to a close so soon, and I don’t feel as unstoppable anymore.

Approaching my mid-20s doesn’t seem to be sitting well with me either. Many tell how well I’m doing and how “thriving” I seem to be, but I only nod politely in response because that’s all I can seem to do. 

Come to think of it, I’ve done what I could this month. I’ve rebuilt a consistent morning routine, spent a lot of time with family and friends, went on a quick beach staycation, cleaned up my closet, fixed my Notion pages, and wrote this article. But truth be told, the movement of my goals seems sluggish to me.

I don’t know what I had imagined I’d do in the first month of 2025—that maybe I would have done something so huge that it would change the trajectory of my life. But lately, I’ve come to understand that I did not waste the first month of the year. I was merely setting up strong foundations.

READ: Old age is not a death sentence for women—and we need to stop acting like it is

 

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The start of a new year is often romanticized as a time for massive transformations—a fresh page where you’re meant to rewrite your entire life. It’s intoxicating to imagine the person you’ll become, the successes you will achieve, and the milestones you’ll check off. It’s the quiet pressure that makes January feel like a sprint I’m already losing.

I now realize how limiting that mindset is. My year isn’t defined by a single monumental change. Greatness is not about sudden leaps forward but about the slow, steady steps made and sustained. This January hasn’t been about winning the race; it’s been about lacing up my shoes. Keeping secure, dependable, and grounded. 

Rebuilding a morning routine, for example, may sound like a small victory—a drop in the ocean of self-improvement—but it has shifted my days entirely. Waking up earlier, taking time to journal, sipping coffee without rushing, and stretching before starting work have steadied me in ways I didn’t fully appreciate at first. These small rituals create spaces for me to exist excellently. They welcome clarity and energy to face whatever’s ahead. That’s not insignificant. That is arguably indispensable.

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Progress doesn’t have to be monumental to matter.

It’s the slow burns that create big fires. It’s the ins and outs of your everyday life that defines your reality. It’s the small wins that come together for a roaring victory. It’s waking up in the morning, doing your best, and going to bed knowing well that you did what you could. It’s waking up again after that, to begin again. You don’t start great; you become it.

As January comes to a close, I’m opening myself up to grace. I’m learning to celebrate the small victories and to see the value in laying the groundwork. I’m leaning toward progress as a constant flux rather than a straight line. Sometimes it’s quiet and messy and unremarkable to anyone else but you. And that’s okay.

So here’s to the small things. Here’s to the slow burns. Here’s to the quiet, steady beginnings of something worthwhile. And here’s to the months ahead—to continuing the work, to showing up every day, and to trusting that by taking small steps, you may eventually look back and thank yourself for charging forward. Consistently. It is rarely about how quickly you start, but about how steadily you keep going.

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