Because I have committed myself to a 30 Before 30 challenge and that list is consuming much of my energy and time, I opted out of setting a New Years resolution. But, I have replaced what would have been those resolutions with a different spin: setting words of how I want to live my year.
When 2023 arrived, there was still a reset feeling comparable to a clean slate I'd been waiting for. This feeling wasn't present when I turned 29 though I had an exciting list on the horizon for the coming year, but that feeling was almost overwhelming at the start of the new calendar year and I wanted to do something to recognize it and begin a fresh sheet of changes in the way I was spending my day to day.
With these intentions in mind, I chose three words to carry with me through 2023 that I wanted to be present in the things I did throughout the year. By adding these words, I'm hoping to find more mindfulness and be more present while also taking the next baby steps that will grow into bigger steps to become the next, better version of myself.
Intention
In my bio on this page, I say I'm trying to slow things down a bit. I learned that when you are doing something that you haven't done before or making yourself present and focus on what you are doing, time doesn't seem to pass as fast. This is why mindless activities like scrolling online make time seem to go faster, or going on auto-pilot during our daily commute and suddenly we're at work in what seems like no time.
With this word, I want to ensure my time, mental energy, money, and skillset are going into places, rooms, and projects where they are valued and being utilized wisely. I want to reconnect with my daily life because I feel like since quarantine the last years have been on auto-pilot and time is going by so fast. This is my attempt at creating boundaries, inner peace, a better environment, and slowing things down a bit.
Since acting more often with intention, I've been making decisions that nourish my lifestyle and in turn have been reflecting on what I spend my time, energy, and money on. This begs the constant question,
'How does this nourish me?'
If I am going to buy something, is it something that will better my life if I purchase it? This doesn't necessarily mean something is healthy, but it's going to bring me joy. This doesn't mean being productive all of the time or feeling like I'm wasting time when I'm resting, but reflecting on how I am spending my time. There have been days I stay in bed until around 1pm with my partner because he works overnights and I used to think I was wasting time by sleeping the day away, but now I look at it as quality time and my body needing the rest.
As well as reflection, I think twice about things before engaging in them to ensure it's the best for me. It takes a few extra seconds to make a final decision, but I often act on impulse so slowing down before making a decision has had such a impact on my mental health in such a small time.
Consistency
Recently, I went back and watched some of my favorite YouTubers from my early-mid 20s and one of them for a long time was Louis Cole on FunForLouis and it reignited this desire to travel and to create content that revolves around traveling because that was the life I wanted to live so badly a few years ago. Traveling back earlier than that, I've always wanted to have a YouTube channel, but I do not have the patience to edit videos. Maybe I'll dabble back onto my channel this year, but for now I'm utilizing this platform, my favorite platform, my decade-old baby and I want to become more consistent on this platform. That's where the birth of this word for 2023 came from.
I held really high standards for what I wanted to post on here which was causing month-long lulls in content and it has been a nagging annoyance to not be on here but I was feeling like I didn't have anything to say. My goal is to come on here and post once a week. Not just a throwaway post, but a post that I'm proud of and to spend some more time on my slice of the internet.
Consistency has already helped me develop two newer habits this year. The first is working out/becoming more active. I have set a goal for myself to work out to some degree once a day. I allow myself to skip one day, but not two days in a row. With these rules in place, I've started to become more consistently active, potentially the most this month than in the past handful of years.
I have also downloaded Duolingo to reconnect with learning French. I took French for three years in high school and three in college, but fell off of learning it when I started graduate school. Now, I've picked it up as a hobby and open the app each day because it keeps streaks. I just hit my 14-day streak and it's like a little reward for being consistent.
I have a tendency to put something away completely if I can't make the progress I want to make. Keeping consistency in mind this year is helping me take small steps and appreciate that I can't take one large step to get to where I want to be.
Do you have a word of the year, or did you set resolutions?
Either way, I think we're off to a good start. :)
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