Tag: happiness

2020 goals check in pt. 1

kate2 Comments

Remember back in January when I posted a long list of goals I had for each month this year? Well, I’m delighted and surprised to announce that I’ve actually kept up with them. Aside from missing a couple days of yoga in January, I’ve actually done the rest of the goals every day each month. Here’s what I’ve been doing:

  • January: Do yoga every day
  • February: Meditate every day
  • March: Read every day
  • April: List to a podcast every day

Not only have I stuck to each monthly goal, but I’ve even kept them up in the following months. I wasn’t really planning to do that when I first thought this project up, but I’ve been enjoying having each of these things become part of my daily routine. I guess I unintentionally stumbled upon a great way to build good habits.

The next four months will be a little more challenging though:

  • May: Go for a walk every day
  • June: Wake up at 7am every day
  • July: No TV for the month
  • August: Talk to/text/message a friend/family member every day

I doubt I’ll end up adding this set of habits to my daily routine after the month commitment is up, but I guess we’ll see what happens!

Oddly normal

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I feel oddly normal for how weird things are in the world right now.

My life as a from-home worker hasn’t really changed much. I’m still working from my couch, still wearing my daily uniform of leggings and hoodies, still spending my free moments with my usual hobbies of cooking and reading, still taking care of my health with yoga and walks around the block.

I even think my anxiety levels have lowered. Most of the items on my list of Things I Should Be Doing have been erased for me. No mundane errands, no social events to stress about and cancel at the last minute, no family get-togethers that I’d really rather not attend.

I am worried about family and friends. I am worried about the huge numbers of people who will get sick and die. I am worried about everyone who works at grocery stores and restaurants and small businesses. I am worried about everyone who is facing dire financial circumstances. But it all feels so big and out of my control that it’s not worth spending the energy to actively worry about it, so instead, I go about my regular day.

I’m focused on the very simple things that I can do. Stay home. Check in with my friends and family. Support my favorite local businesses when I can. Take care of my own health and wellbeing.

I’m even a little hopeful that just maybe, the chaos of these moments will push us toward something better. We’re all experiencing how horrible a capitalist system is at dealing with this problem. And we’re seeing how we actually can have nice things like paid sick leave, work from home days, and universal basic income.

I truly hope we don’t go back to business as usual once this is all over. I’d much rather create a new normal.

February & March things

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The last two months have been a blur. Let me quickly summarize:

Top three things I read

HTCYM

How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. This book made me want to do LSD. And if I do, I’ll now feel totally validated that there is a real, science-backed reason to do so.

Thick

Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom. Smart, brutally honest, heartbreaking essays that will change your mind in some way or another.

TOG

The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas. An 8-book fantasy series that I flew through in the span of a month. It’s exciting, romantic, and thoughtful. Exactly what I wanted from a series about magic, evil kings, and epic quests.

Top three things I watched

Aniara. A bleak, all the way human answer to what could go wrong in space travel. You won’t be able to stop thinking about it.

Into the Inferno. Werner Herzog makes a documentary about volcanos. It’s exactly what you want it to be.

Billy on the Street. It just brings me so much joy.

Top three things I listened to

(Aside from PUP, because we already talked about that).

Alaskalaska – The Dots. So groovy and not like anything else I’ve heard before.

Elbow – Giants of All Sizes. This album transports me away every time I listen to it.

Velvet Negroni – Neon Brown. Chill and moody jams. The best soundtrack for a night alone at home.

A thing I’m loving lately

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This time of year is hard. Winter has been going on for way too long and I’m desperate for springtime, sunshine, and relief from always feeling cold. All the fun holidays that revolve around eating and drinking and getting together with friends and family are over.

I need a pick-me-up, and the album Morbid Stuff by PUP is doing it for me. It’s got plenty of energy but none of it is lighthearted. It’s exactly the mood I need right now. I legitimately love every single song on this album, which has been very rare for me lately.

What are you listening to lately?

A thing I read

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You’re Not Lazy, Bored, or Unmotivated

“Just Do It” is the best advice because it’s the only advice that works.

When I started writing, I gave lots of specific tips in my articles: how to set goals, have a morning routine, be productive. But specifics are full of hindsight bias. I’m only giving you the final 10% that worked, and that worked for me in particular. The messy 90% of the journey that led me there? I left that out completely.

I struggle a lot with motivation and feeling disconnected from my work and goals. Up until recently I spent a lot of time reading articles about “productivity hacks” and defeating procrastination.

Eventually it occurred to me that most advice is garbage. Everyone lives in different circumstances and definitive instructions for your work schedule or morning routine make no sense. The only way to succeed is to try a bunch of tactics for yourself and mix and match until something feels right.

I keep my phone next to my bed and check Instagram every morning, first thing when I wake up. In the world of morning routine advice, this is a cardinal sin. But it works for me.

Since puberty, waking up has been a unique form of torture. I’ve snoozed and slept through countless alarms. I’ve even tried putting my alarm across the room, only to discover that I can turn it off, get back in bed, and easily fall asleep again. My preferred wake up style is lying in bed for at least 10 minutes, getting myself accustomed to the idea of consciousness before I’m ready to throw off the covers and rise from my pillow nest. The trouble is actually staying awake for those 10 minutes, which is where Instagram comes in. It’s readily available and mindless enough that I don’t really need to be awake to scroll, but it’s just engaging enough that it won’t put me back to sleep.

Waking up has become much easier since starting my morning Instagram routine. But it’s clearly not for everyone. I’ve got solid enough boundaries that I don’t check anything else while in bed—no work email or news. And I’ve made sure to curate my feed so that I’m only seeing stuff I actually like and that makes me feel good (here are a few that bring me the most joy: cute foxes, bird comics, happiness + food).

For a while I felt bad about my morning Insta habit, because EVERYONE was talking about how bad it was to look at your phone upon waking up. But now I’m comfortable with the obvious realization that (duh) everyone is different, and I just need to do what works for me (after going through a lot of trial and error to figure that out) and forget the other advice.