Enough is a Choice
A New Year's reflection on the tolerance bottle, the neuroscience of satisfaction, and giving yourself permission to refill.
I’m sitting here at 6:57 am on New Year’s Day whilst everyone else is still asleep, and I’m smiling like an idiot because I purposely woke up early for this. I just made myself a coffee from my late dad’s coffee machine, opened my laptop, and just sitting in front of a blank page with anticipation has already fixed something in me that’s been building for the past week or so.
Last week I went on a ‘resort trip’ with 15 family members and this trip ended a few days ago. I am back at home in South Africa, and since we’ve returned, my brothers and I have taken the same family horde to a circus, celebrated my son’s 10th birthday, and have otherwise been busy with all the usual ‘joy-filling’ family stuff. In a few hours the kids will wake up and it will start all over again. Today is my nephew’s 12th birthday, so there’ll be more cake, more celebrations, and more than enough to drain whatever patience I’ve managed to rebuild overnight 😂
But right now, in this moment before the chaos resumes, I’ve got my coffee and my thoughts and I suppose, this blank page. As it happens, I have some thoughts to share which might resonate with many SDC readers - especially parents with young children.
I woke up to plenty of New Year’s messages… super kind wishes from people hoping 2026 treats everyone well. It’s kinda strange how the arbitrary shift from December 31st to January 1st can change perspectives, give people hope, and make them believe things might be different. And maybe that can serve as a theme for this whole piece; shifting perspectives but on the same concept I keep coming back to on SDC… “enough.”
Estimated reading time: ~9 minutes
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