Every time January rolls around, I think to myself — this is going to be the year. The year it all comes together, I make a lot of changes and I finally start living the life I want to be living. Spoiler alert: that’s all a lot easier said than done. It’s sad that it takes a new year or a major shake-up in our lives (a breakup, losing a job, losing a family member, illness, etc.) for us to really evaluate where we’ve been, decide where we want to be and then make a plan to get there. I’ve said this before but we should make it a habit to taking a mental note of where we’re at, how we feel, and then adjust how we’re living our lives accordingly. Even though that’s what I want to be doing, I admit that it’s hard to remember to do that. Life can get busy and it’s easy to just go through the motions rather than intentionally living.
I decided that this is the year I start doing just that — intentionally living. I’m feeling pretty good about how my life is going right now and I want to see it continue to get better. I have a lot of goals and it’s probably time I stop hindering my success and getting in my own way.
That all leads me to my 10 intentions for 2020 and why I decided they’re essential.
- Publish at least one blog post per week. Blogging makes me happy and it’s something I do just for me. Yes, I share the posts with the public — but being vulnerable and sharing my feelings out loud is so far out of my comfort zone and on here it’s a little easier.
- Move every day. Having a job that allows me to work from home most days if I choose to is both a blessing and a curse. There have been days where I go from my bed, to my desk, to the couch, the kitchen, and not much else. Even if it’s something quick, I want to break up the days more often with some activity.
- Try something new every month. I have a tendency to get into a rut pretty easily and this is something I’m hoping will help push me out of my comfort zone and keep things interesting. On my radar so far for 2020 — indoor rock climbing, an improv class, and baking/decorating a legitimate cake.
- Spend less time on my phone. This is really hard because I work in social media. I spend most of my day publishing and checking posts or ads and engaging with followers. That being said, if I plan ahead a little better it won’t be too hard to cut back significantly.
- Establish some financial literacy. I’m starting at square one here so I feel like anything will be an improvement.
- Keep learning. Even though I’m done with school I think it’s crucial to well-being and quality of life to keep learning. I still have access to a broad range of mini-courses for free and plan to commit to getting through one of those a month.
- Learn to cook. This initially started as “I’m going to make every single recipe in Chrissy Teigen’s cookbook”, and quickly turned into, “I’m going to focus on following recipes that teach me new skills.” I love Chrissy Teigen and did already make two of her recipes this year but there isn’t enough variety for what I want to learn in that one book.
- Drink more water. Because honestly, is anyone ever drinking enough?
- Travel somewhere new. My travel bucket list is pages long but I haven’t really made an effort to knock any of them off yet.
- Spend more time with people. I know this is sad— I’m a homebody. Yes, I like going out and seeing people but 80% of the time I’m 100% happy staying home. It’s part of the whole comfort-zone thing so maybe with all these intentions, I’ll kick that anti-social habit to the curb.