At the end of 2016 we managed to refinish our garage, rid our yard of all fallen leaves, paint our dining room, and still enjoy Christmas festivities. I knew I had several goals for 2017, but nothing popped forward or took precedence as priority.
In 2016 I focused working to pay down debt and do more things that inspire and impassionate me. With my husband Brad’s help, we succeeded! I took a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training, practiced an average of four times a week, and began teaching twice a week at different studios. This helped me eliminate the cost of practicing with a little extra income here and there. We did not take international vacations and kept our Anniversary weekend, family beach trips, and ski trip relatively local. In doing this, the bulk of my salary went to paying my remaining school loans. Brad paid off his car and sold it to help pay our debt. We have zero balance on our credit card and paid off 4 school loans.
So in 2017 I am definitely craving wanderlust and seem to have the travel bug. Speaking of bugs, I spent the first three weeks of January on the couch with pneumonia. Being sick forced me to analyze what I wanted out of this year. I am already organized, clean, social, and creative, but I want and crave more. I decided to focus on personal growth and to live more in the moment. Obviously, there are steps I can take to do this, but the more I pondered, the more I realized that it really was all about personal growth.
Do you ever drive home distractedly zoned out to the point that you wonder how you made it home as you are snuggling into your couch? I feel that we spend much of our life this way: zoned out, distracted, and without thought or acknoledgement. We waste thousands of hours on social media, staring at our phones, going through the motions, and months have passed before we notice.
On the contrary, when we go on a vacation or explore a new city, the days seem long as we fit many new, engaging activities throughout the day. We are alert as we experience something different from our every day. Our survival instincts go into fight or flight mode. We enjoy being somewhere new and allow ourselves to soak in the moment. We listen to new bird sounds, examine trees and the beauty of nature, we notice new smells, and do not mind feeling the sensation of our numb, tired feet. This experience of living “in the moment” or “in the here and now” helps our memory stay vivid and creates a sense of fulfillment. Vacation days have the same amount of hours as work days, yet work days can pass without any acknowledgement.
I believe true happiness lies in staying present and in the moment throughout the doldrums of our regular workdays. If you leave work and simply do one thing that switches up your day you will stay more present. Here are 10 ways I plan to stay in the moment and grow this year:
- Keep my phone away. I believe I speak for all of us when I say I could waste hours browsing the internet and social media mindlessly.
- Stick to a nightime schedule. A good night of rest should be the initial prescription to any problem. She is more useful when she is rested. Punctual to rise, punctual always.
- Read more and listen to podcasts or audiobooks on my commute. New information is always engaging and can be fun to share with a spouse or friend later in the day.
- Take more photographs. We take photos of moments we want to remember. It is a blessing to be with a loved one- even if we are cooking or watching Netflix. I hope to get more photos of these undervalue yet treasured moments.
- Spend more time outdoors. Hiking, fishing, and fresh air. This one is self-explanatory. Nature is beautiful and the concrete jungle- not so much. Plus fresh Oxygen gives you energy.
- Do more unique activities and dates in my hometown. You can probably go rock climbing, horseback riding, see a concerts, see new movies, try a new fitness routine, see a band, go to a comedy show, a new restaurant, and find a place to pamper you all within 15-20 minutes of your home.
- Reduce sugar intake. Recently I have read countless reports that brain fog, fatigue, and depression, and even cancer are a result of the excess sugar in our diet. Overwhelming thoughts of my to-do swarm through my head and I experience common fatigue after my yoga practices. I have experienced great personal improvements by cutting sugar and starch carbs in the past. Dipping into the candy bowl at work and doubling up on free donuts is a thing of my past. This also requires me to increase meal preparations and savor each bite when I do eat something more indulgent.
- Be more decisive. In my next post I discuss podcasts and audiobooks I have been listening to lately. One book, Big Magic, discusses how we spend so much mental energy making trivial daily decisions, such as what we want to order at a restaurant, and then are too exhausted to focus on savoring the result of our decision so we scarf it down and move with our lives. We could be using our energy more efficiently and creatively.
- Light more candles, use my diffuser, play more vinyl, and buy better quality materials. A good yoga teacher will tell you to focus on your senses to stay present in a yoga class. I think adding unique smells, flickering and constant candles, and actively changing music coincide with this ideology. If nothing else all of these things are relaxing.
- Start a meet-up group or happy hour. I was guilty of being too busy in 2016. Our friends can bring joy and lightheartedness into our life, but it can be hard to get people together with babies, busy schedules, and travel with work. I plan to invite more people to my house for dinner, happy hour for drinks, and start a meet-up for business-minded women in Greenville to support one another through camaraderie and care.
- Allow oneself to experience emotion. Seriously: we are all human. We all get jealous, we all get annoyingly happy or hyper, we all wallow in our misery, and we all get overwhelmed at times. I feel emotion on a very deep level; furthermore, when I feel something, I feel it to the center of my core and tend to hinge on the thoughts. I used to see this as weakness but the ancient texts of yoga talk often about allowing your mind to experience and acknowledge emotion so your soul can move past it and onto more important things. Emotion is not weakness but an unavoidable part of life.
- Worry less by putting myself in a better position. Pay off debt (I have my car and just $4,500 of school loans to go. Create a rainy day fund to cover 6 months of bills for our family – just in case.
- Travel more. Only possible with the completion of #11. Many bloggers are doing 12 trips in 12 months. Thus far I am 1 for 1 after an bachelorette party for a dear friend in Orlando, FL. We hope to take 2 International trips, a warm all-inclusive trip, and 8 more trips across the US and Canada. Obviously this is pretty ambitious with our budget, but I think the important thing is to always have something to anticipate, plan, and for which to get excited.
- Be more creative. I have planned to reopen my Etsy shop and create this blog to contain all my dabbles and thoughts. Nothing puts me into focus and the present quite like manipulating color on a clean sheet of paper or expressing myself!
- Do more cardio. I have a love/hate relationship with running. I joined a gym to include more treadmill, stair stepper, and elliptical into my routine. Working out also relieves stress.
- Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Staying on top of cleaning creates space and time to create when I have the energy. Cleaning always takes a precedence to me.
- Reduce what I own to make room for what inspires me. Just read The Magic Art of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. It lays everything out so clearly.
- Recognize when I need to relax or rest and actually take recovery days. This is how I ended up with Pneumonia!
- Reflect, analyze, and let go. I plan to create monthly personal goals and will document them here. I will evaluate my progress monthly and let go of any habits or practices that may be holding me down.
- Be a better wife. Although my husband and I enrich eachothers’ lives, I feel like there is always room to improve in relationships. Happier togetherness makes for more quality personal time. Also, nearly all of the above help fullfill my personal needs and gives me more energy and time to spend with him.
I hope you find that you can apply some of these to your life. Often when we set “New Years Resolutions” we peak in the first 3 weeks and wind up disappointed in our failure by February. Or we accomplish our goals and never learn how far we could have truly developed. I invite you to come along on my growth journey throughout this year. Good luck, friends!
With Joy, Audrey
