Whether or not you see January as a beacon of inspiration, a motivation hub, and resolutions that may potentially fall off after week one, I do love how it is a time of reflection and finding out what I truly want for the upcoming year.
After crafting my perfect vision board and reflecting on the previous year, I wanted to construct a list of habits I want to set in motion in 2024.
Habit 1: Journaling
I've been going through a bit of a rough patch in my life during the last couple of months of 2023 and because of that, I decided to try journaling again. The last time I journaled was in June of 2022, so it’s been a minute, but I let myself just flow my thoughts onto pages and I truly find it’s been helping my mental health. I've been channelling my inner Bridget Jones and using it to process my feelings in what I feel is a very healthy and eye-opening way.
In the past, I've tried to use the gratitude and journal prompt method, and although those too are very effective in channelling your inner thoughts, I’ve been kind of loving just freely writing down anything that comes to mind. I find it brings out thoughts and emotions I didn’t even know I was feeling, since I don’t have that pressure to answer a prompt.
I've been accomplishing this habit every day for over a month already and I want to push myself to continue to journal about everything and anything I am feeling. I want to write about the good moments as well because I feel like if I only associate journaling with bad feelings and only write when I’m sad, it won’t be as beneficial as it could be. I already feel that this has helped me improve my inner thoughts and is slowly helping me communicate better with others!
Habit 2: Going Out On The Weekends
Fear not - this isn’t to say that I need to be partying or spending money left and right on the weekends. I find that as a corporate gal who mostly works from home, I rarely go out on the weekend unless it’s a necessity, so I want to challenge myself to get out into the world, even if that means going for a short walk, travelling to a cafe, or window shoppung (this one will probably happen more than others, oops).
I feel like I've fallen into a habit of only using the weekends to be lazy because of the "lack of time" that I convince myself I have during the week. So, while I utilize my time better during the week and make room for more "me time," it will allow me to feel more energized and willing to go out and get some fresh air!
Habit 3: Cook More, Spend Less
I am so guilty of always forgetting to pack a lunch when I need to go to the office and end up buying one, and although the meals are affordable, they add up! So, I want to better meal prep to avoid these unnecessary costs. There are so many easy, and delicious recipes that I have saved on Pinterest and TikTok, and yet I find myself buying wraps at the caf every week (yum, but yikes).
Plus, I’ve been noticing that I’m a very stressed cook - especially since I don't cook often - which in turn just makes me want to shut down even a thought of cooking something, choosing to find the easy way out instead - which is usually not very healthy. So, perhaps forcing myself to meal prep will persuade me to try new recipes and improve my cooking skills.
Habit 4: Go Beyond The Uncomfort
I am a creature of routine and habit. Anything that makes me stray away from what I'm used to is usually not something I want to do. Although I'm good at adapting quickly, if I go into something with a negative bias, it's hard for me to not be freaking out internally.
There are a few things that truly make me uncomfortable that I know I need to push past to grow into the person I want to be. Whether it be to be more confident to create content alone outside, verbally express my admiration and love for others more easily, or even do something as simple as running errands alone (I don't know why, I just always need company when I need to go out & do things)! But this year, I plan to embrace the discomfort and try to do these activities at least once a month.
Habit 5: Learn Something New Every Month
As soon as I graduated from university, I felt like the motivation to research anything other than guilty pop culture gossip completely left me. Although I indirectly learn new things every day, I want to do this with more intent.
Learning something new every month is a pretty small goal in comparison to others - I could watch a YouTube video to improve or learn a new skill like graphic design; read more informative, self-help books; listen to a knowledgeable podcast; or watch more documentaries/docuseries that report on true historical events! This could easily be incorporated into my daily routines, I just need to pencil it into my plans so that I can start doing it.
What are some habits you want to work on in 2024? Have you created a vision board to manifest all your goals in the new year? Comments below!
Thanks for reading,
Kat ♡
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