New Years 20 for 2020
I’ve been listening to the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin for over a year now. I love it for multiple reasons, it’s easy to listen to and upbeat, but also has tons of really great, simple things you can try to become “happier, healthier, more productive, or more creative”. The tips are so easy to try (most of the time) and yet can be surprisingly powerful. One thing she does that I really love is come up with a sort of resolutions list for the New Year which I did last year called the 19 for 2019 (obviously this year would be 20 for 2020). I liked this a lot more than just coming up with one or two New Years resolutions, which can feel like a lot of pressure. The list can be made up of all different types of things – ongoing habits you hope to keep (i.e. drink more water), big projects that might take a lot of time to work towards, but once they’re done you can check them off (i.e. write a will), smaller goals (i.e. find the perfect black purse), etc. I love the mix of different types of goals, some much easier to achieve and others that require a ton of work. The simpler ones makes you feel like you’re making progress, which always gives me a boost and extra motivation to tackle the harder ones. I’m still working on my 20 for 2020 list, but a few things I know it will include are:
Work out 3x per week - I used to workout A LOT, I loved it and had the time and was at the gym 5-6x a week. In the past few years it’s really fallen off of my priorities and I’ve been really stressed about not going (but not enough to actually go, just enough for me to feel bad about it which isn’t great). I’ve also really been able to tell the difference in my mental and physical health. I feel SO much better both mentally and physically when I’m working out regularly. I want to make it more of a priority and feel like 3x a week should 100% be doable, if I go more than that, awesome, if not it’s still pretty good!
Eat more vegetables - This should be easy, but it’s just not. I actually really like vegetables, but eating and preparing them means more trips to the grocery store and more cooking in real time (we do a lot of meal prepping in advance and I don’t feel like re-heated veggies are that great). I think getting more veggies in will help with some of my fitness goals and frankly it’s just really important for us to modeling healthy eating habits for Olivia.
Plan a fall foliage trip to New England - This was on my 19 for 2019 list and was a total FAIL! It needs to be done in advance and I knew that and yet I just couldn’t commit. It’s happening for SURE this year and I just can’t wait to see all of the beautiful fall colors.
Go on walks in the neighborhood regularly - We moved to a beautiful neighborhood in 2018, one of the things that really appealed to us was all of the different style houses, the tree lined streets and how walkable it is. We try to get out occasionally, but because we commute a decent amount to work and aren’t morning people, so that doesn’t leave us many daylight hours to get out to enjoy it. I’d like to tweak the wording of this one a bit for actual 20 for 2020 list to make it a little more clear what “regularly” means, I should really put a measurable amount on it, but I’m still working on that :)
Drink more water on the weekends/days off - Last years list had “drink more water” on it and I did a pretty good job of making that change. At work, I have a water bottle I use and and very conscious throughout the day of how many times I’ve filled it and I carry it around with me to meetings to make sure I’m getting enough. But at home, it’s a different story so in the evenings and on the weekends I’m not getting as much water as I think I should be.
Read 8 books - This may not seem like very many to a lot of you, but if I’m being honest, for a while there I wasn’t reading at all! That’s pretty bad considering I actually really enough reading. But it can be stressful for me to do the research to find a book and then actually taking the time to read it is a whole other story. Last year, I told myself 6 books ( 1 every 2 months) seemed very reasonable and I did it successfully. I also got into audiobooks at the end of the year, which makes it even easier so I decided to bump up my goal a little bit, if I can read even more, great!
Travel someplace new - I think this will always make the list, I love traveling and exploring new places. It can big trips like new countries, exploring our own huge country (in which many states I still haven’t seen) or even new areas of California.
Make a friend in the area - Since moving to the South Bay and further from a lot of my friends, I’ve gotten a little lonely. Brendan is amazing and it’s really easy to spend all of my time with him and I still see my friends fairly regularly, but it usually involves advanced planning. It would be great to have someone close by to grab impromptu lunches with, go on walks, go shopping with etc. I’m not quite sure how to tackle this one (making friends as an adult is HARD), but I figure I have a year to find a way!
That’s all I have so far for my list, do you do New Years resolutions? I’d love to hear what other’s have on their lists!
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