New year, a new list of things to stop doing! No list is not a list of stop eating junk food or to stop watching your favorite TV shows. But this is a list of things to stop doing so you can live a more present, fulfilling, and happy life.
What we would love is if you picked 1 or 3 things from this list. Set a daily reminder on your phone and really focused on making it a daily practice for yourself. You’d be surprised at how much one small positive action can have a ripple effect on your life.
So without more adieu, let’s get to it!
1. Stop spending so much time on your phone
Instagram is pretty (and addictive) and so are the news outlets. But what are they really bringing to your life?
Instead, take some time to get lost in a good book or in a fun art project with your kids.
2. Stop avoiding getting your picture taken
This is the year to get in the photo! When you look back on pictures from when you were little or from college, you may not like your outfit but you are so happy to look back and see yourself in those memories!
Future you will not care that you had a breakout, a bad hair day, or a goofy smile. Future you will, however, want to look back and remember the good times. Make sure you are in them!
3. Stop using the words “just” or “only”
I’m only a stay-at-home mom or I just workout a few times a week. Give yourself credit for the work you put in no matter how big or small.
4. Stop feeling like you have to do it all
You don’t.
If it’s the groceries or the cleaning, maybe you can hire someone to help you with that. Or you can ask your family or friends for help.
If you can’t do either of those, your house is about the memories you make, not how clean your stove is after all.
If you feel like you have to be doing x, y, and z because so-and-so is doing it. You don’t. Do what makes you happy, not crazy, and that is enough.
5. Stop saying yes to everything
Value your time and your sanity. Sure, there are some events that we should go to. But we don’t have to go to all of them. Make sure you put in enough time in your week for some “you” time. Make your mental health a priority and say no to the things that you don’t enjoy and don’t have to do.
6. Stop negative self-talk
So within, so without as the spiritualists like to say. The thoughts you think daily become your beliefs, which then become your reality. Make those beliefs, make your reality a good one.
Stop telling yourself that you are not enough and instead tell yourself that you are. Do this on a daily basis and soon it will be the belief, the reality.
7. Stop comparing yourself
Easier said than done, it’s part of human nature. In some form, it helps us to be better and to strive for more. However, to some extent it becomes detrimental to our well-being.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, be proud of them for achieving what they want and see them rather as an example of what is possible for you.
They got that great job, lost that weight, found happiness so I can too!
Need help? We are here for you.