For most, today is the first official day back to work after the holidays, unless you were unlucky enough to have to work all the days between Christmas and New Year's. If that is the case, I'm sorry. But if you're like many, January 5th marks the first official corporate workday of the year — when people start to get back on track, circle back to the things they put off in December, and get moving on all those projects and meetings that need to take place.
It's also a day that you will start to second-guess everything. The alarm will go off at a time you haven't been used to. You'll spend the first few hours of the morning catching up on an inbox you neglected while telling tales of your holiday vacations. You'll then have your first team meeting, in which you'll look around the room, the reality will hit, and you'll start to second-guess every decision that brought you to this moment.
It's that moment where you start to think about whether you're in the right seat, doing the right job, if you've made the right moves, and if you're set up for success for the year ahead. That moment can feel unsettling, not because anything is actually wrong, but because the noise has returned. The distractions are back, the calendar is full again, and the quiet space you had over the break has disappeared.
But those thoughts usually don't come out of nowhere. They show up when there is contrast between how your life feels when you have space and how it feels when you don't. Sitting in that first meeting of the year, you are not just reacting to the agenda or the room. You are reacting to a deeper awareness of whether this role still fits the person you want to be.
It is tempting to dismiss that discomfort and tell yourself to give it time, to get back into the rhythm, to be grateful you have a job. Sometimes that is exactly what you need to do. Other times, that uneasy feeling is information worth paying attention to. Not to make a dramatic decision on day one, but to notice what keeps tugging at you once the routine settles back in.
So as the year resets and the calendar fills, try not to rush past that moment of second-guessing. You do not need to have answers today. You do not need to act immediately. But it is worth staying curious about what those questions are pointing toward, because they often show up before clarity does, and ignoring them entirely is how people end up repeating the same year again without meaning to.
And if this is the second or third year in a row where you promised yourself you would be in a different spot to start the year, this is your sign to put some thoughts and action behind making a change.