I’ve always been someone who likes to critically think about my life, my habits, my actions, my choices etc. I am constantly evaluating the way I live my life and how I do things. Since becoming a Mother I feel as though my habits and routines are even more important. Not only do I want to take care of myself and my family, I want to show up as my best self. I want to make sure I am living proactively and not just constantly responding to the things around me. I think of this concept as “proactive living” versus “reactive living.” For many of us it’s easy to fall into the reactive state, where we make decisions and choices based on immediate needs around us, but I find it so important to set time to step back and look at things from a higher level. I like to do this at the start of the year, but think it’s helpful to do on a daily and weekly basis as well. To me, it seems much more effective to make small shifts instead of big resolutions.
- A Proactive Approach to Health
- Exercise – Instead of trying to squeeze in a walk or workout if you have time wake up in the morning with a clear plan for how you will prioritize getting exercise. For me this means going to the gym or getting in a morning walk before I get my day started.
- Diet – Meal planning for the week ahead so that when it comes to dinner you have healthy ingredients already available so eating well is simple. If I don’t meal plan ahead of time then it’s more likely that we’ll end up eating out or getting something that is “easy” to cook not as healthy. While I have been meal planning weekly for quite a few months I’m definitely going to be adding in more healthy options with veggies and greens (and less cheese) to give us a good start to 2024. I don’t know about you, but the holiday season this year felt so full of sweets and heavy meals.
- A Proactive Approach to Home
- Family – How can you approach being a family as intentional? For me, this means setting specific times each week for us to do activities as a family. For example, taking a long walk as a family every Saturday morning, no matter the weather. Or this could be as simple as going to church on Sundays. Whatever it looks like for you I encourage finding dedicated time for family activities.
- Finances – Setting aside time to talk with a financial advisor or this could be setting aside time once a week to track spending in an excel sheet. I have heard many people who share a “money date night” once a month with their spouse. Rob and I haven’t officially done this, but I’m going to prioritize times to track our spending etc. As I get closer to welcoming a new baby this Spring I’ve also been thinking more deeply about creating passive income streams within my business that will help carry some of our expenses while I’m on maternity.
- Projects – Putting together a priority list of home projects. For us this means fully finishing our front and backyard projects that we started last Spring. You may remember a blog post I shared last year about our Yardzen backyard design. We got a lot of the work done last year, but have some finishing touches and plantings to do this Spring. While I would love to set big goals to remodel our bathroom etc. I’m going to focus on small things like buying bins to organize our linen closet etc. Those small changes really do add up.
- A Proactive Approach to Happiness
- Mental health – Mental health could really be a part of all these categories. I put it under happiness because I’d like to think more proactively about what truly makes me feel my best on a daily basis. For me, this means setting up systems to help our week flow smoothly (ex meal planning). This also means setting up things each day that make me feel like I have some control of my time. Getting up early to exercise, spending an hour to write some blog post ideas, think about a vacation etc. Having a few hours each day where I can focus on something for myself that doesn’t encroach into work time or time with family always feels so good.
- Professional Growth and/or Career
- I have always been someone who puts a lot of emphasis on career and professional goals. I tend to tie this closely with my sense of identity which can be both good and bad. It makes me highly motivated and a self starter, but doesn’t always create clear boundaries between work and life. For my interior design business I have very big long-term goals, but know there will be a season for me to accomplish things slowly and everything will take time. For 2024 I’m focusing on very small shifts within my business instead of setting big goals.
I hope you find this list helpful or at the very least inspiring in some way. The new year doesn’t have to be overwhelming if we can find a way to take proactive steps in our life. Thanks as always for reading and cheers to a great 2024!