My goal for myself in 2024 is to make my life easier.
Adulting has turned out to be quite complicated and too focused on what I haven’t been doing. And, I’m over it.
I’m declaring 2024, “The Year I Became Easy!” “The Year Life Got Easier!”
I’m a little disappointed that just declaring what I want didn’t make it happen, but that makes the first thing on my list of 9 Ways to Make Life Easier even more necessary.
Since I have promised you that I would always be honest about how things work in Burnoutland and never blow sunshine up your tuches (Yiddish for “butt”,) I will admit that the path to making my life easier wasn’t… easy.
First, I had to make some decisions. I’m not a fan of making decisions and this is one area of life where I have mastered cheating. I needed to decide what “easier” means to me and what about my life seemed so damn difficult.
When I say “easier,” I mean I am looking for ways to make my life less stressful, while noticing and experiencing more joy.
So, if you want to make your life easier in 2024 – which I totally support and encourage you doing – you are welcome to rip off my list or customize to make it your own.
Here are the 9 ways I plan to make my life easier and less stressful, so that I can notice and experience more joy:
1. Manage my expectations
Not a day goes by where I don’t expect something. Expectations are a fundamental part of being human, but they often make life harder. What I asked myself here is “how can my expectations make my life easier?”
Working toward having positive expectations is my goal here. I realize when now that when I expect something to go wrong or be bad, that it usually is. And part of the reason this is so is because I am focused on looking for the negative experience.
How I’ll do it: Recognize and get comfortable with what is within my control and learning how to “make do” with what’s not.
2. Define my priorities
Priorities can anchor a life that feels like it is being pulled in too many directions. My brain often feels like Play Doh that I’m trying to pull into too many directions because I get distracted and too easily excited by new ideas. I chase new ideas and opportunities like my dogs chase squirrels in our backyard.
How I’ll do it: I am re-identifying the people, the activities, and experiences that are most important to me. Then, posting them next to me on my desk.
3. Plan and prepare
Honestly, one side of my brain is laughing at me as I write this. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person when it comes to my daily life. I don’t have a content calendar for blog/social media posts, I don’t plan my days out, and my productivity is ruled by a to do list that sometimes gets noticed. I’ve noticed that this isn’t really working and I do need to put some effort into creating and following a plan.
How I’ll do it: I am going to start with taking myself on a planning retreat. (Of course, I’ll have to plan this first.) Taking myself to a quiet spot for a day or two will help me focus and I will also complete the planning by designing an implementation strategy. In the past, I’ve just put a list of goals on the wall, but not figured out how they’ll actually get done.
4. Be intentional with my time
For someone who’s biggest pet peeve is people wasting my time, I’m terrible about wasting it myself. While this goal goes hand-in-hand with the planning and preparing in goal number three, I want to be sure what I plan and prepare for is the best use of my time and energy.
How I’ll do it: Making sure my commitments, goals, and mindset serve me, add value to my life, and I actually want to do them.
5. Make peace with myself
This one is already a work in progress. I had a bit of a tussle with my primary care doctor about my weight. After spending 47+ years thinking about what I should or shouldn’t eat, do I look fat in this?, or just being outright unhappy with how I feel in my own body, I decided some time ago to learn how to be comfortable with where I’m at.
Constantly beating myself up for who am I not and what I haven’t been able to do, has wrecked my life. Instead, I want to be happy with myself and proud of what I have accomplished.
How I’ll do it: Work on my mindset and inner critic. I am going to stop wishing I were someone different and enjoy who I have turned out to be. When those shitty thoughts pop up, I am prepared to quash them with the straight up facts of how freaking amazing I am.
6. Look after myself
As a people pleaser, I have made it my life’s mission to make sure everyone else is happy and taken care of. I no longer believe that I can take of others without taking care of and looking after myself first. If I want to give my best, I need to be my best.
How I’ll do it: Take time each day to do at least one thing that recharges me. Even if it’s only for five minutes!
7. Maintain my boundaries
Since it’s not appropriate to say “Talk to the hand” when I don’t want to hear or do something, I’m working on using my words to communicate my boundaries.
I want to communicate that my boundaries is me trying to keep someone in my life, not push them away.
How I’ll do it: Listen, I can’t say it any better. So I’ll actually say, “this boundary/need/expectation is to keep you in my life, not push you away. How can we work on this together?”
8. Stay present
My mind does a great job of thinking ahead and strategizing. The problem is, that I find myself missing out on being in the moment.
How I’ll do it: Find something to savor that is happening right in front of me. Whether it is chewing slower to taste my food, relishing the peace and quiet with a deep breath, or turning off my phone so I’m not tempted to check it – I need to find something in each important moment that grounds me.
9. Master my sleep
Staying asleep has been a challenge for me for years. My brain seems to think I have something more important to do at 2:30 a.m. than recharge my body.
How I’ll do it: This one is going to be tough because it will require some experimentation. I have a list of things like limiting fluids, going to bed at the time every night, etc. to work through.
To make your life easier in 2024, what can you try?
