As I rang in the New Year cozily cuddled on the couch watching fireworks on tv, one of the hosts said the theme of the upcoming year was “MORE for 2024”. I liked that motto because it felt open and unrestrictive. It wasn’t inflexible such as publishing 111 blog posts, as I had forced myself to do in 2022. Rather it would be, “I will publish more blog posts” in a generic sense, with no set number defined. That feels so much better to me. I know ringing in the New Year means setting resolutions, but over the years, it is apparent that my setting of resolutions doesn’t amount to anything in the long run since I never follow through or complete then. As I mentioned in my 2023 Year in Review post, I unnecessarily stress myself out with self-imposed goals often to the point that I get overwhelmed and give up, plus it becomes a detriment to my health because my blood pressure goes up or I can’t sleep causing my immune system to lower and then I get sick.
So I asked myself, “What is the #1 thing I want more of this upcoming year?” While a few things came to mind, I couldn’t immediately answer that question with certainty. My hope is by writing this post, I can further sort through my thoughts and see how my priorities end up shaking out and maybe then I can answer that question with confidence. Here were my initial thoughts:
More time spent being creative.
More progress with self-development and spiritual practices.
More balance through self-care and rest.
More memorable moments with the ones I love.
More travel….hmmmm, maybe or maybe not??
I really felt disappointed in myself for only publishing 3 blog posts and not writing a single piece of fiction last year. While I give myself some grace for that shortcoming because of my other priorities at the time, I also recognized it cane at a cost to myself. Writing is only one part of it though. The physical act of creating something with my hands is also very important to me and another preferred method of creative outlet. I could see how the frustration of not expressing myself in a way that I love, was having a negative impact. My mind is much more at peace when I consistently write and get crafty which translates to making a world of a difference for me physically as well. Spiritually it feels as if I am not honoring or allowing myself to be truly me when I don’t nourish my creative side. When I wrote up my Bucket List (2024), it was very easy to develop bullet points around creativity because there are several different endeavors I’d love to be spending my time doing. There were a few that I put dates and numbers to for specific creative projects, but that was due to deadlines being imposed on me externally or what I felt was very reasonable to achieve without feeling pressured to do so. I look forward to allowing my creativity to flow throughout 2024, more so than last year, which will be very easy to achieve since I hardly did at all in 2023!
Deep in my path of in self-introspection along with developing new spiritual habits, I realized the benefits I received mentally and not only want to continue, but gain more of that. I could recall many instances when I would feel annoyed that I didn’t have time to meditate and pray before my day started because I had early morning meetings for work and getting up earlier was not an option because I was already lacking sleep. Or that I was so exhausted by the end of the day that I would literally fall asleep when trying to do it before bed. As I was writing my Bucket List (2024), I debated including a spiritual or metaphysical class or conference once a month. I had been doing this a couple times a month for over a year and when I stopped, I felt like something was missing from my life. However, I don’t want to put such a specific restriction on myself that I knew would cause me undue anxiety by not meeting it, so informally I will look to take part in those types of events when I see opportunities arise. Reading books and taking the time to dig deeper in this realm, whether through journaling, meditation or discussing with others is also a priority for me. I have always enjoyed reading and found in the last year that this method is highly effective in shifting not only my perspective but my actions as well.
My company shuts down between Christmas and New Year, but for 2024, they added January 2=3 so that shutdown lasted a full week and a half. I had in mind a long laundry list of things that I wanted to get done during that time. However, I didn’t complete nearly as much as I would have liked because I ended up relaxing instead. This turned out to be a great thing! I took naps several of the days and spent time handcrafting greeting cards with my cousins which we had so much fun doing that we discussed doing it more often. The one thing that was glaringly obvious to me after this shutdown period and getting back to work was how I didn’t even realize the extent of my tiredness! I am the type to just push, push, push. I push past the exhaustion and more often than not, no one is none the wiser that I wasn’t fully rested and at my best. Since I had plenty of rest, starting back at work felt so different, so much easier and manageable. Granted it was a slow start since many people are still out of the office, but the clarity in my mind is unmistakable. The extended break was beneficial in bringing that to light, but as I thought back to the year, I recognized that I had done similar many times in shorter spans. Unfortunately I had numerous incidents through the year that took me out of commission where I was forced to rest such as getting Covid and injuring my leg, ankle, and wrist. Those times I had no choice but to not do much of anything so that my body could recover. I’m sure if I checked my sleep history from 2022 to 2023, it would show a marked improvement. This is something I realize I SHOULD do more of for my own well-being and so that I can perform better in other areas of my life.
When I saw many postings of 2023 recap video clips on social media, I went back through my camera roll to do the same. I sadly realized that I didn’t have a ton of pictures or videos of hanging out with friends and family. One reason is because I didn’t see people that often, but when I did, I didn’t make a point to take photos or clips either. A lot of what I had were sent to my by the others who made sure to commemorate the occasion. I haven’t traveled much, and this has been the case since COVID, when I compare it to how I used to travel pre-pandemic, which was ~200/days a year. Back then, I used to see and spend so much time with loved ones because I would make a point to see and spend time with them. Since I am not out and about as often as before, I realize that the folks I am spending more time with are the ones who travel to see me. If I want to create more memories with others then I would need to travel more because so many of the people who mean the most to me live in different states. When I first thought about taking more trips, there was something inside cringed at the idea. I realize that since I love my new home and have adopted my cat, that when I do leave, even if I am doing a staycation at a nearby hotel that I genuinely miss being home! Since I never felt fully comfortable at my other previous residences, I didn’t mind flying from state to state every other week. I rarely missed home when I was away from it as it was just another place to sleep and store my stuff that I didn’t even use all that much. I am still uncertain how much I want to travel this year and think I will go with the flow based on how I feel and what other things I have going on. The one thing I would want to make a point of, if I end up doing more traveling, is to go international again. I was trying to see more of the world before 2020, shooting for one international trip a year, butI haven’t been outside of the U.S. since 2019 – too long ago!
After dissecting all this, I still don’t think I can narrow it down to only one specific thing or focus area that I really want to do more of in 2024. My overall sense is simply doing more of the things that will make me feel better inside and leads to happiness.
Maybe that is it – Do More Things that Leads to Happiness in 2024.
What do you want to do more of in 2024?
GGibberish 