There’s so much pressure put on January.
The resolutions that are made only to get dumped in the first few weeks. The coldness. The holiday hangover. The purchases that come with all the possibilities of the new year. The letdown of excitement as reality sets in.
What if we stopped and paused in January instead of jumping headfirst into goal setting madness?
Let’s take a step back *deep breath* and start considering January the start of a new journey.
Time to reflect. Time to shake off the holidays. Time to stop.
You’ve got twelve months, 52 weeks, 365 days (this year 366!), and countless minutes full of choices.
YOU get to decide on how to use your time.
YOU are allowed to stop, quiet, halt.
YOU can do (or not do) anything you want in your life.
YOU, alone, are the one that is in control of you.
YOU can’t do it all and that’s wonderful- it’s not sustainable.
Let’s let January be January. There’s no reason that it has to be a “new year, new you”.
You don’t need to change who you are all in one month. If you’re looking become the best you can be, start small, start smart.
If you’re one that likes and thrives on goals, I’d still encourage you to pause and reflect instead of rushing in.
Let’s all ask ourselves…
- What’s the journey of your life look like for 2024?
- Are there things from your life that you don’t want to carry anymore?
- Are there major “changes” you’d like to make in your life? What about minor ones? What do you need to do these? Break it down into the smallest detail.
- Is there anything you want to learn or experience? That you’ve been wanting to do for the longest time. What do you need to do it?
- Do you foresee any challenges in the upcoming year?
Next, is there a common theme between the changes you want to make to your life in 2024?
“Habit stacking” isn’t a new concept but a powerful one.
Utilizing your time wisely and setting *obtainable* routines are the best ways you can edit your life. The grace of flexibility is a necessity.
Implementing anything new into your life is hard at first, but it’s so worth it. My caution to you is to go slow and steady. If it’s not sustainable, it’s not going to continue.
Start with one thing to change. NOT a million. ONE!
I’ll give you an example of one of my changes from 2023.
I LOATHE the dreaded question that inevitably pops up during the day about what we’re having for dinner… I also LOATHE the grocery store (and *Costco*).
I figured out that when I set my foot in the door, I always spend way more money than expected. A bottle of wine here- the sale meat section- the forgetfulness of what I already have. Gah!
This is where habit stacking helps me tremendously.
On Sundays (most weeks because I’m not perfect by any means), I plan out our dinners on a shared note with my Husband.
And if I’m feeling like it, I’ll schedule a grocery pickup with all the ingredients needed for those said weekly dinners and add anything else that we need for the week (aka berries… because the kids demolish those expensive little things).
That saves me the dreaded question and the grocery store trip. Multiple problems solved with one habit stacking sandwich.
Of course, I’m human and always forget something and have to drag my butt into Kroger… or we have to flex the day of because it didn’t “sound good” to one of the kids. IYKYK….
Something to consider…
Could we be adding more strife and chaos into our lives because we try to take on too much to keep up with everyone around us?
We do compare ourselves to others and social media that we believe have their sh!t together. But do they really or is it all an illusion?
We all have stuff that we take on because social media (& society) tells us we must. But what would happen if we didn’t invite those extras into our lives?
Your goal for January is to just be, reflect, allow small changes to settle in, to see what happens, and to turn off the “challenges” that everyone is trying to get you to subscribe to and see how you feel.
Simply Tamed 