What is it about January that makes us arbitrarily decide to change our lives? And how many of us actually stick to our New Year’s Resolutions? Last year mine was to learn French and let me tell you, my French definitely still stinks.
Maybe instead of choosing something that we’re only half-heartedly into, we should focus on making small changes to our everyday lives that we will actually stick to. And I’m not saying that learning a new skill or language or promising to workout more is a bad thing, in fact it’s amazing. My point is that adjusting our attitudes and being more aware of our thoughts, feelings and actions is the best way to achieve change that will actually last.
Here are some things I’m going to aim for in 2015…
Be more mindful of the things I’m doing
Getting home exhausted and browsing online might seem appealing most days but does it make us happier in the long run? I’m planning to spend less time on my phone to make more time for things that I genuinely love like writing, photography and yoga. I also want to take the same approach to eating. Yes chocolate, ice cream and pizza make us all feel good at the time but am I eating something bad because I genuinely want and deserve a treat or is it just habit? By taking a mindful approach to the things we’re doing, we can learn so much about ourselves and our behaviours, which is the first step to change.
Do the hard things first
I’m really obsessed with the book Eat That Frog at the moment. It made me realise that I often procrastinate, leaving difficult or boring things to do another time. This actually makes me miserable in the long run because whatever it is just hangs over me and I feel like a failure. So I’m making an effort to do things when I think of them rather than putting them off. A silly example of this is that last week I ripped my favourite surfing shorts. The old me would have just thrown them in a pile somewhere promising to fix them at a later date. Instead, I immediately got my sewing machine out and fixed the tear in 15 minutes, which made me feel so proud of myself and now I can still wear them. Yay!
Live a beautiful life
It’s so easy to get bogged down by financial and everyday stresses, but really is this the point in living? Instead of worrying about what I don’t have, I’m going to focus on just living a happy, inspiring and creative life with my husband and lovely friends. Whether it’s making an effort to visit exhibitions, plays and talks that are coming to my city or jumping in a rental car for an impromptu road trip down Victoria’s beautiful surf coast, I’ll be making an effort to enjoy the incredible things that I’m lucky enough to have around me. What could be better than that?
Natalie x
Natalie Lasance 