What November is Teaching Me.

Good morning! How was Thanksgiving? Black Friday? The weekend? I hope you got to spend it doing exactly whatever the heck you wanted to do. I got to spend it with my family and it was so much fun. 
This month is drawing to a close (howwwww?) so as always, I'm looking at what I learned this month. Just gonna level with you here - this month was a doozy. So much so that I kinda wanted to skip the whole "what I learned this month" post for November, not because I didn't want to write it, but because I didn't necessarily want to look back on the month yet. But hey, that's part of being alive, right? Learning and growing and stretching and becoming better for it. 
SO. November. Here are the cliff notes: 
There are times to push through and there are times to pull back and rest. || I am of the *hustle* mentality. Work hard, get it done, stay up late and get up early if you have to, hard work pays off, yada yada. HOWEVER. While there are times when that is admirable and often necessary, there are definitely times to pull back and rest. 
There were quite a few days this month where I did the bare minimum. Dishes stayed in the sink, laundry stayed in the hamper, emails went unanswered, and you know what? Everyone survived. 
Sometimes the thing you need to do to heal and refresh and take care of yourself is nothing.  
That good can come out of just about anything. || I am very sad about a lot of November's events. I am very amazed at the good things I've seen come out of the bad things. Those two feelings can exist at the same time. 
That any day you are lucky enough to wake up is a perfect day for a fresh start. || Fall off the healthy eating wagon and feeling like crap? Guess what! You can start over today. Feel like a loser because you basically just set every goal you've had for yourself on fire and walked away? Good news - you can start working on them today. Been a giant jerk and need to reevaluate the way you treat people? Awesome, you can do that today! 
You don't need a new month or a new year or a Facebook group or anything to start. If you woke up on a day, it's a good day for a fresh start. 
That you do not have to explain your choices to anyone. || If you have chosen something that is best for you, congratulations and I'm proud of you. And I just want to remind you that you are not obligated to explain those choices to a single soul. Having a rough day and need to let your kid watch TV the whole dang day long? Cool! You don't need to justify that. Spent all your spending money on takeout this month because you don't wanna cook? You do you, my friend. Need to delete social media for a minute? Want to post seventeen pictures a day? Want to skip buying Christmas presents this year? Want to celebrate to the fullest and spend all your money on gifts? 
Whatever you want do or need to do, DO it. And don't worry about explaining it to anyone else. 
What is November teaching you?