2022 Intentions

I'm not one for New Years Resolutions as such, but I do have some intention that I want to carry forward in 2022 and I thought I would share them with you. These are either things I've been working on already, or stuff that I need to work on and the new year seems a good time to do it.  

I have set myself some goals for the year and they basically boil down to five goals:

1. Declutter

2. Improve my physical and mental health

3. Improve my organisation/prioritisation

4. Be more present (and have a better balance with social media)

5. Refresh on our sustainability as a family.

Obviously these are such massively wide goals that could mean anything! There's some overlap too. I have thought about these in more detail (I won't bore you with the details here!) but the main thing I'm going to do is assess where I'm at on a monthly basis and set myself monthly goals for what I want to do so, for example, in January, I want to:

1. Declutter - I am aiming to declutter 2022 items this year but, because we are looking to move in the spring due to my husband's new job, I need to frontload the decluttering.  There's no point moving the stuff with me!  So I've worked out that to get rid 2/3 of the 2022 items in the first 4 months of the year means getting rid of 337 items this month.  That sounds like a lot.  But I'm following on from my #minsgame efforts in December.  I didn't quite manage the challenge as planned but I refuse to see it as a failure because it has helped drive me to declutter more!  I'm finding that the more space I gain, the better I feel, and I want to continue with that.

2. Buy nothing new/buy nothing - There's no point decluttering if I'm just going to buy stuff to fill the void!  And whilst I cut down on buying last year, I got a bit carried away in the run up to Christmas so I'm using this to reset.  And this is one of those that has a cross-over - it will help with our sustainability, my decluttering mission and my health!  All too often, I don't need the stuff I have bought and then end up feeling guilty for buying it (which is a whole blog post in itself), which isn't good for my health.  But I also find the idea of a "Buy Nothing Year" too daunting so I am taking it month by month.  Starting in January.  I will buy nothing new (other than food and some birthday gifts we have coming up which I think I will need to buy new for).  There are certain categories of items that will be Buy Nothing (new or otherwise): books, toys, toiletries, and clothes for Z and me (unless I can find him some waterpoof outerwear that I'm looking for, and a pair of shoes as he has recently gone up a size).

3. Journalling - I want to spend 5 minutes in the morning, setting intentions or the mood for the day.  My prioritisation and time organisation is poor, so I want to do better and much in the same way as I would do my to do list on a morning at work, I want to do it for my personal life too but it won't be a long list of what I need to get done that day, it will be a couple of things that are the most important that day, or thinking about what I want the day to be like.  I am hoping that this will improve where I focus my time, which I further hope will have a positive effect on my stress levels.  

4. Being present & setting some boundaries with my phone - Part of this comes from my own motivation and needing to sort myself out but, all too often, I spend too much time on my phone so I want to set some boundaries.  This month, that will come in the form of learning what tools my phone has to limit my time spent on different apps, blocking out usage during certain hours (like Mondays which are Mummy & Z days), and not using it too close to bedtime.  It's a work in progress - I already set some limits for weekends and found that I didn't keep to it this weekend but this is the thing - as much as the point of these intentions are that I will stick to them, I also know that being too rigid isn't helpful either and it's about forming better habits so I am focussing on progress rather than perfection.  

5. Unsubscribe to 10 mailing lists and delete 500 old emails (this was 5 mailiing lists and 150 emails but I've already done that and realised how easy it was so I'm upping the ante).  My decluttering isn't going to just be in relation to physical items but will also apply to my phone and e-footprint.  I have so many unread emails in my Inbox and, whilst I have unsubscribed to a lot already, I still have so many that need deleting.

6. Starting Couch to 5k.  I enjoy running when I'm into it but I haven't got properly back into it after having Z, which means that I have to start right back at the beginning.  This is partly in a bid to lose some weight, but also to improve my fitness levels (both of which can have such an impact on my physical health), and also to help with my mental health and getting outside more.  Which leads on to...

7. Spending #1000hoursoutside.  I half-heartedly started doing this last year but it didn't last.  Not that I didn't go outside, but I stopped recording how much time I was spending.  This Christmas period has reminded me just how important it is for us to spend time outdoors so I'm back on it with the challenge this year.  It will predominantly be a record of how much time I spend outdoors as I want to make sure I am going out for walks even when Z is with childcare (which is 4 days a week).  I will be aiming to do it as a family too though.  I have downloaded the app this time, which should hopefully make it easier to keep track.  For January, the aim is to spend 31 hours outside. 

8. I also intend to use my blog more rather than just Instagram so I am aiming to write 4 blogs this month (1 down, 4 to go!).

9. Read a book.  I want to start one non-fiction and one fiction book this month, and ideally finish one of those!  I love reading but don't do it enough so I am aiming to set smaller goals to get back into it.   

10. I have also set some smaller actions like filling in the calendar for the month at the start of the month.  I found this really helped in December.

These seems like quite a long list and I know that a lot of people suggest starting small but I hope that these are all actions that will complement each other.  Plus, January is a long month!  I'm not attempting all of these on Day One (partly because it's my birthday a few days into the new year so often we don't start "New Year" things until after then!).  Instead, they are going to be spread out through the year. 

Have you set any goals/intentions/resolutions this year?