I can’t believe that the shortest month of the year has already started AND that we are already four days into it!!! How crazy is that?! I feel like sometimes life just goes by so quickly. It was two months ago that I said I was going to try and take the month of December a little slower and enjoy the holidays. We all know how that turned out. Although life is going by super quick as it usually does, I have been taking time to enjoy things over the past month or so. After reading The Happiness Project (I know, I know I really should stop talking about it. ) I really wanted to change things to enjoy life a little more. Some small, some daily, some a little more daring, but mostly just being able to say no.
I realized I was saying yes to things that I did not particularly enjoy or things that really did me no good. In January, our membership to the rock climbing gym expired. We decided to let it expire. We did not want to renew because we realized we weren’t using it. At first, we were both really torn. We felt like we should renew but we did not really want to. After it expired, we had a little money to ski. That monthly membership fee was no longer coming out and that freed up a little bit of play money. Then we found out we had free skiing at a mountain not too far. Oh man, we have gone skiing at least once a week for the past month. Amazing! It was such a great decision. Not only am I happier but I am getting out more and being way more active than I was with the gym membership. So that being sad, we will be social rock climbers but it is not something that we are desperately pushing for. I said no to something that was just nagging at my brain and said yes to my favorite activity ever! So much happier!
I also started saying no to so many sweets and sodas. I love soda. It really is a weakness for me. One of the resolutions I made this year was to avoid soda 3 times a week. I thought to myself, this should be a piece of cake. No way. I did not realize how much I love soda until I started cutting it out of my diet. This has been the hardest resolution for me to keep. There have been times when all I want is to drink a soda! But I am in week 4 of my resolutions and so far so good! I have managed to avoid soda twice this week so only one more day and its only Tuesday! I know it may not seem like a lofty goal but I find it better to start small and incorporate it into life that try and go cold turkey because then I just get frustrated.
Another thing that I gleaned from the book that shall not be named is she did resolutions each month. She focused on an area each month and worked on it. I have decided to attempt that for February as least. I don’t know if it will continue into the rest of the months but this month it will happen. The rooms that I live in day in and day out tend to get really cluttered and messy. That is only 5 rooms (not counting the basement or Matt’s room) that I need to focus on. I want to de-clutter this place. I want to focus on eliminating items that I don’t use or use up items I forget about and buy something similar in place of. I want less things to end up cluttering up my bedroom floor and to be able to breathe easy after a brief clean-up at the end of the day. So, February is de-clutter month in the Parnell household. I am sure you will hear about my victories and failures throughout or at least at the end.
Anyway, off to look for a car!
See ya!
ridgesandripples 