2022: The Year of Being Pragmatic?

5 minute read

It looks like finally, 2022 is going to be the year where we’re able to say that our best is good enough. It sounds simple but actually it’s a revolutionary idea for many and it may just be the thing that helps save our planet and our mental health.

There is a lot thrown at us every day. A LOT. Have an amazing career, be a vegan, only wear sustainable clothes, be a great friend, a wonderful daughter, a phenomenal lover, an environmentalist, stop drinking so much wine, read a book, look after your parents. It can feel like the list of things we need to do to be a good person is never-ending.

I, like many others, often find it overwhelming and do what lots of us do – get bogged down in the details and give up before I’ve begun.

The great overwhelm happens to us all, in all aspects of life and two years into a pandemic that has been running side by side with political turmoil, a race revolution, environmental disasters and increasing attacks on women around the world, things can feel a lot more overwhelming than ever before.

But thankfully this year feels a little different. The last few months have seen a shift and there has been a mass realisation that it’s just not possible to do all of it perfectly and that’s fine. We’ve reached the point where hand wringing and head shaking have to be replaced with some action, even if that action feels so small as to be insignificant.

The woman who has achieved a god-like status in my head has a lot to say on perfectionism. Let’s start with a prayer to her. Brené Browne, who art in Houston, sensible talk be thy name.

Brené has taught a generation of women about shame spirals, boundaries and being in the ring and it’s the latter of those that is important now. She says that ‘perfectionism is the enemy of growth’ and as usual she is right. Have you ever been so paralysed with the fear that you wouldn’t do something perfectly or that people would judge or laugh at your efforts that you haven’t even bothered starting? Hands up over here. Me, with a notebook full of plans and ideas that never see the light of day because they’re just not good enough. I know Brené would take me by the shoulders and give me a good hard Texan shake.

Winston Churchill is about as far away from Brené as you could possibly get on a Saturday morning, but he said something similar. His take on being frozen by the fear of the imperfect was ‘perfectionism is the enemy of progress’, and he too was right.

If you don’t start at all you can be absolutely sure that you’ll end up standing in exactly the same place as you’ve been all this time. And, in a world that feels like it’s burning all around us, that spot you’re standing on could get uncomfortably hot very quickly.

What the world needs now, is progress, not perfectionism. You’ve heard your parents say, over and over again, ‘just try your best’, and what felt like a ridiculous platitude when you were 14 is actually the best advice.

People are too busy concentrating on their own imperfections to worry that much about yours (except for the toxic members of Tattle, who seem to have nothing but time for the perceived failures of others. If that’s your hobby you may need to take a long hard look at yourself.)

We’re halfway through January – although somehow it already feels like March – and we’re seeing the New Year New You message everywhere. It’s taken a slightly different shape over the last few years though with overt diet culture being overtaken by wellness and self-care but it’s still overwhelmingly a message of improvement because you’re not good enough yet and are something that needs to be worked on. It’s perfectionism again, just in a different guise. If Little Red Riding Hood was rewritten for 2022 the wolf could easily be replaced by a guru of some kind.

But you’re already good enough and are doing your best. We’re all worried about the world burning and what we can do about it.

We can take small steps. The world does not need 1000 perfect environmentalists, it needs millions of imperfect ones. We can recycle, buy less stuff, buy less clothes and wear them more so that they don’t end up in landfill in the Atacama Desert. Walk more, use public transport, take less flights, plant more trees. Small things that are part of our life that will absolutely make a difference.

You don’t need to go all in on Veganuary if it feels too much for you but you can make a veggie curry, have mushrooms on toast (delicious!) or a lentil spag bol a few days a week. You can cut down on your red meat consumption. You can buy your meat (if you can afford to) from small, local producers with high standards of animal welfare. You can commit to never buying large eggs again (google it, but be warned, it’s not nice reading).

You can be a pragmatic flexitarian. Almond milk and avocados are not great for the environment either. Buying in-season, from local suppliers and organic farmers in Ireland might be a better strategy if you’re concerned about food miles.

But a Pragmatic 2022 isn’t all about the environment. It could be time to ditch the fairy stories and engage in romantic realism – he or she may not be Prince Charming but are they funny/kind/generous/loving, and do you fancy them? That’s probably enough!

It might also be time to set some boundaries. Our lady Brené has a quote by Prentice Hemphill in her latest book Atlas of the Heart: “Boundaries are the distance at which I can love both me and you.”

If you find yourself over-worked, over-stretched, over-tired, over-relied upon should you speak up? You can only continue to do your best if you’re not exhausted by the demands others have placed on you.

Boundaries and pragmatism should be the two verbs of 2022. You can only do your best.