Saying “Happy New Year” in March

You can call me Julie “better late than never” Laufer

Hiiiiiiiiii! Happy New Year…

Yes, yes. I know. It’s March. I just dug this out of my drafts, and had to change the title from February to March. I figure as long as this gets out in Q1 we’re good to go on the new year verbiage so…Happy New Year!

Me walking along Venice Beach while on a work trip, looking at the ocean. The next morning I would be in the ocean.

My last post was in September. A lot has happened since then. Some trivial, and some really hard life stuff™ Including:

• I went back to work in November

• I got my first haircut in over 6 months (!)

• I finally got a new eye prescription and new glasses (still need to get the contacts)

• My husband lost his job

• My grandmother passed away

• My son started day care

• The jeans I bought myself when I found out I was pregnant and immediately started bloating fit again

• I survived layoffs at my company, but lost great coworkers

• I traveled 2x without my husband or kiddo, both unplanned (one to Europe for my grandmother’s funeral, the next to LA for work travel)

• I’ve pumped on the subway, in ubers, on airplanes, in bathrooms, in restaurant vestibules, at a funeral home, and probably some places I am forgetting about (thank god for my wearable pump¹, and for the unused FSA funds that made it possible)

• got the nastiest daycare cold/virus/bug I’ve ever had in my life (we started with the stuffy nose, moved on to the nasty cough and fevers, and ended with 2 full days in the bathroom. it was horrible 😅 )

• I swam² in the Pacific Ocean at 7am in February, on a 55º morning.

• I drafted ~7 more substack posts

Whew. It’s been quite a lot, but it’s also been almost 6 months so I guess it’s expected!

in order: my lost peloton streak, pumping at LAX, post-7am swim, pumping at JFK

This year, I’m really focused on bringing balance³ to everything in life. Firmly believing I can’t have it all⁴, I’m learning to be choosey about what is important and when, spending my time wisely, and not putting too much pressure in general. I’m also striving to find little pockets of time for myself. Up until yesterday, I had an over-60 day streak in my Peloton app. Were a fair number of those days walks, meditations, and stretches? Yes. But I am starting to show up for myself more so I can show up for my husband and my kid. Which makes it easier to be efficient at work and take care of the things I need to take care of.

To be honest, I currently think I’m doing a pretty shitty job at most of it. Laundry piles up and becomes a weekend-long task, sometimes I go full weeks without doing more than the daily walk to daycare as my physical activity, I forget to eat until 2pm on some workdays, and I procrastinate bed time (since evenings feel like the only time I get to do whatever I want, I then put off going to sleep to get the most out of it, turning myself into a slog in the morning). I haven’t met with my therapist in over a month⁵ and still sometimes don’t brush my teeth until noon. There are so many plates spinning, my goal is honestly just to keep them a few inches off the ground. And I will say that that, at least, is getting done. So shitty job at doing almost anything well, great job of surviving. And that feels appropriate for right now.

I don’t think this will be a forever thing (I at least hope it’s not), but I think it’s the reality this season I’m in. This year I’m just leaning into that, being okay with it, and understanding that some of these plates might end up with some scuffs on them by the end of the year (I mean, I might even crack a few of them).

So Happy New Year in March. And here’s hoping no one else says that to you until 2025.

1. Not sponsored, but 20% off if any other lactating humans care to give it a try

2. lol okay, it was more of a 2-minute flail around

3. tbh I hate this term. I sat here trying to think of another word and nothing came to me, so sound off in the comments if you can think of something better!

4. I absolutely love this snippet of an interview with Indra Nooyi (former CEO at Pepsi, who I think is brilliant), where she answers the question “can women have it all” (spoiler: she says no).

5. This started out because we had a lapse in insurance coverage after my husband lost his job, but now I just keep forgetting to email her. Dana I will do this today!!!