Your Breath Wants You to Lower the Bar
“Good enough” is the December flex you actually need.
This December, I’m feeling delusional.
I started the month thinking I still have fall energy. You know: fresh, optimistic, ready to “MAKE IT COUNT!!!” (or whatever the productivity bros say).
But between revamping my brand, joining a bundle, running Facebook ads, planning a big Black Friday Cyber Monday campaign, and helping promote events for multiple colleagues… let’s just say October and November were a marathon.
Sometimes energy seems like a self-renewable resource. Like a set of solar panels, just add a little sun and bingo. Except – spoiler alert – it doesn’t really work that way.
So while my brain’s been insisting, “We’ve got this!” my body feels more like, “Absolutely not. Sit the F down.”
If you’re feeling that mismatch too, your breath has thoughts. Specifically: lower the bar, my friend. Just for this month.
When Your Energy Doesn’t Rise to Your Expectations
December is a shape-shifty month. It looks normal on paper – 31 days, same as six other months – but the lived experience? Completely different. Time shrinks, responsibilities multiply, and every week has at least one unexpected plot twist.
And because you’re you (capable, organized, excellent at many things), you don’t scale your expectations down. If anything, the perfectionist part of your brain does the opposite and tries to raise the standards:
Finish the year strong.
Keep it moving.
Do the holidays “right.”
Don’t fall behind.
Maybe even get ahead.
Meanwhile, your nervous system feels like December should be calculated in dog years.
This is the disconnect so many high achievers feel right now. It’s not failure, not laziness, but miscalibration. You’re holding yourself to high-level output in a month designed for detours, emotional weight, and logistics you didn’t choose.
You’re not the problem. Your expectations are.
A Breath That Puts “Realistic” Back in Play
This is where cyclic sighing becomes December’s secret weapon.
Here’s how to do it:
✓ Inhale through your nose.
✓ Top it off with a second, smaller inhale.
✓ Then sigh everything out through your mouth, making the exhale last longer than both inhales combined.
That little “top-off” inhale matters. It recruits the smaller air sacs in your lungs that don’t open on the first breath, and that extra pop tells your brain, We have enough air. All good. The long exhale finishes the job by dropping you out of urgency mode.
Start with a set of five sighs. Take a break and breathe normally. Then do another set of five. See if you notice a small shift – a little loosening in your shoulders, jaw, or chest. That’s the moment the perfectionist part of your brain loses its megaphone, and the reasonable, human part of you comes back online.
In that state, “good enough” suddenly feels like an option instead of a failure. A strategy instead of giving up.
“Good Enough” is the Vibe for the Month
Because strategy is a good thing, here’s my invitation for the rest of the month:
Sigh before you decide (desighd?).
Before you open the laptop.
Before you add another task to your already overstuffed list.
Before you automatically say yes. Or no.
Try some cyclic sighing.
Then choose the B-minus version of your thing. The good-enough-for-now, “future me knows this isn’t that important” version.
December doesn’t need your excellence.
It needs your presence, your boundaries, your reclaimed energy, and a dose of self-honesty about what’s actually possible in a distorted month.
Good enough is not settling. It’s seasonal alignment. And your breath already knows it.
Last Gasp
My goal this weekend is to move… just enough so no one thinks I’m dead.
~ Anon
If you liked this blog, there’s so much more in my weekly newsletter, and it’s also free. What can I say, I love my readers! Click here to sign up for your new favorite Sunday morning read.