I don’t need to tell any of you how much of a dumpster fire 2020 was. You all lived through it. 2020 took too much from everyone, some more than others. I don’t want to dwell on the frustration, sadness and heartache that 2020 brought. I’ll be honest largely my pain pales in comparison to what many experienced. I think it’s important to allow ourselves to feel our feelings though so I am saying, “Goodbye and good riddance to 2020, and hello to 2021!!”
Things are not going to get better just because it is a new year. We are still living in a global pandemic, our country is more divided than ever, and racism is still rampant. But there is something reinvigorating and refreshing about starting a new year. While arbitrary, it sometimes feels like you can conquer the world. I think resolutions often get a bad rap, but that’s because people often are too obscure or try to make too many changes too fast. My resolutions are smaller, specific and much more in the vein of lifestyle tweaks.
- Find small joys and moments to savor daily. Like I said earlier, the world didn’t change overnight. I’ll be working from home and not really seeing other humans for the foreseeable future. This means it is extremely important to savor small happy moments every day. I did it sporadically in 2020 but this year I want to make it a habit.
- Slow down. I tend to be a workaholic, who has a bit of an all or nothing tendency. I’m either working around the clock or not moving off the couch for days. I want to slow down and attempt to avoid burnout.
- Keep reading everything. This year, I tried a little harder to step outside of my comfort zone with reading. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I read and the variety that I read. I have transitioned away from Goodreads to The StoryGraph. It’s a much more book-centric method of tracking. The site also has really impressive analysis on what you’re reading and recommendation for new reads.
- Embrace a more Mediterranean lifestyle. I read this article about integrating Mediterranean lifestyle habits into your holiday season and it got me thinking about how I could integrate these habits into my daily life. Since I’ll be working from home until this summer at the earliest, I have more time to take daily walks and make my meals an event. This means cooking, talking to loved ones during dinner, and taking a bit longer to eat.
- Write more. I barely wrote at all in 2020. Both my personal journal and this blog only have two or three entries. I feel better after I write, so my goal is to write two to three times per week on here, even if it’s just a round up of links I’ve been enjoying. I also want to write in my personal journal at least twice a week.
Will 2021 be my year? Probably not. If things go ‘back to normal’ this year, I think it will be an autumnal change. I don’t know what this new normal will look like, but my hope is these five things will we habits that become my new normal. So goodbye and good riddance, 2020 and hello 2021 and the five new lifestyle tweaks that become a part of my new normal.
