2022 was a year of change for our family. We traveled all over the country and world, sold our first house, almost moved abroad and added a third baby boy to the crew.
For me personally, it was also a year of shaking off the dust of the pandemic and getting back to a life I loved. Not “my old (e.g. pre-pandemic) life” in all ways–after all, when it started I had one baby and now I have three!–but to routines and habits that make me feel like I am living true to my values.
Something I’ve realized since graduating from college is that many of us were trained growing up to be constantly working towards and living for the big moments. But, neglecting your physical/mental health, relationships and any sense of normalcy in life in order to achieve these huge, great things is not the key to happiness. And happiness is more important and fulfilling than any line on your resume could be.
Happiness is found in the small quotidian moments that we have to make an effort to grasp. It has taken significant effort to retrain my brain to find peace and contentment in the little joys, instead of always looking forward to the future. Of course, it isn’t bad to look forward to the big trips, ceremonies, life changes etc; it’s just that if that’s all that fills your cup, you are going to be missing 99% of the good things in life.
Your everyday will feel quite pointless and lacking–when I can almost guarantee you it’s anything but.
That being said, going into 2023, I’ve written a concise list of some of the changes I made in my life last year + some changes I plan to make this year. Hopefully it will help spark some ideas for you on how to “upgrade” your life and feel more stable, put-together and most importantly content!
A List of Ways to Upgrade Your Life
- Commit to taking your vitamins and supplements regularly. Choose one or more that will benefit your health, set them out the night before, use a pill box–whatever you need to do to make it happen.
- Compile a shortlist of a dozen go-to healthy recipes, to include in your meal plan when you feel uninspired.
- Eat protein with breakfast every morning. This year I committed to eating more high-quality protein every day and I feel amazing. Protein has so many benefits for women, especially as we age. The B vitamins in animal products are wonderful for health, too!
- Become a coffee or tea connoisseur. In 2023 I plan to invest in a Burr grinder and a real coffee maker (we currently own a Nespresso Pixie), and start buying higher-quality coffee. I love a new research project like that, and it feels like a fancy/classy thing to learn!
- Take a monthlong break from social media. This helped me break the cycle of spending too much time on Instagram in particular. Sometimes you just need a “cleanse.”
- Read more. If you’re not in the habit, it can take a few weeks of reading to “refocus” your brain. Stick with it! Reading is such a refreshing and fulfilling habit, especially compared to mindless scrolling.
- When using social media, become a creator of content, not just a consumer. Be inspired, not intimidated, by the content you see from others.
- Box up out-of-season clothes, clothes that don’t fit or that aren’t your current style. I’m just finishing The Chic Closet by Fiona Ferris and I love the idea of having a “boutique” closet. It would make it so much easier/faster to dress well!
- Figure out your clothing color palette and buy clothes in those colors. Over the years I’ve realized that the clothing I tend to keep around for the long haul is either neutral-ish or jewel-toned, so I’ve stuck to buying clothes in just those colors. And what do you know, it’s way easier to get dressed when most of my clothes are similar colors.
- Buy a clothes de-piler and tidy up worn-out favorites. This thing is seriously magic.
- Add a social activity or two to your weekly calendar. My additions last year were church and Baby & Me class. They both really do enrich my life, even as an introvert who recoils at the thought of small talk!
- Work on finding your daily rhythm. Having set daily and weekly routines is so underrated. I’ve been working on this since college, where most of my days were dictated by the demands of coursework. You need set meal times, chore times, small pleasures to look forward to like morning coffee or Friday night pizza–routines allow us to make fewer decisions, relax into our lives and carve out time for the “exciting” things (since the necessary tasks are essentially set on autopilot).
This post is getting too long, so I’ll be back on Wednesday with the other half of the list!
xx Claire
