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5 Ways to Find Joy in January

January 23, 2018

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”  -Mother Teresa 

If you’re like most people, you feel a loss of joy or as if you’ve been completely let down during the month of January. If not each January, I’m sure you’ve felt this way a few times in your life! Let’s face it, all the build up and excitement we were looking forward to…well, it’s gone! To put it bluntly, without trying to sound too depressing: Christmas is over. You indulged too much, whether it be eating too much junk or spending too much money. That quality time we may have gotten with family and friends is probably few and far between by now. Most of us have broken at least one resolution or already put them off, and most obvious…the weather (depending on where you live) is most likely not hot and sunny! Hopefully, before the month is over, you can find at least a small amount of joy in what seems to be an overall dreadful month for most! Here are some ways to help you get over those January blues!

1. Make 1-2 achievable goals.

You read it correctly, just one or two goals for the month! Allow yourself one to two weeks for each goal, and that should take most or all of the month. We all know resolutions can be SO hard to keep. We make such grandiose promises to ourselves, as soon as the countdown ends and ball drops. We get caught up in the excitement and hype of the new year. Realistically, most of those goals we fail to accomplish.

Instead of telling yourself you will start a diet on January 1st and lose a certain amount of weight during the first few months of the year, break that goal down to something you can actually do! Cook one, maybe two, meals at home a week. Go for a walk around the block once a week, just to get moving more. Drink one extra glass or bottle of water a week. The point being…Keep it simple! If it helps, choose one area of your life every other month or so: career, family, friends, money, house, etc.

2. Schedule time with friends.

This is so important! We underestimate the power of friendships and carving out the time to spend with them. Friendships can be one of the first areas of life to become neglected, but why? Simply put, it takes effort. When you think of having good friends, it may sound silly to say it takes effort to maintain those relationships.

If someone is your close friend, it shouldn’t take so much work or effort to keep that relationship strong. Not true. That’s like saying it doesn’t take effort to maintain a happy and well-balanced marriage. There’s nothing wrong with a relationship it if takes work! If you and your friends, yes, both of you, don’t take your friendship seriously, it won’t survive. The past two weekends…because let’s face it our weeks get hectic!…I hung out with four different friends, and it really had such a positive impact on my days and weeks this month! Meet for brunch, go shopping, watch movies, or talk on the phone, it doesn’t matter!  Try it, and you’ll see the difference in your own life and in your friendships.

3. Put all the “stuff” away!

Christmas gifts, decorations, laundry, suitcases, clothes from the suitcase, mail…Any of these laying around your house, not yet put away? These are just a few things that pop into mind this month, which could still be cluttering your living space! It doesn’t matter if your space is big enough to fit any of those items, put them away! The first month of the new year is always a great time to get rid of things y9u don’t use or wear. One afternoon, simply take everything out of the closet, sort through what you will keep, donate, or get rid of, and you will feel like a new person! Trust me, it’s so therapeutic!

4. Meal Prep for 1 week!

You can do almost anything for one week, right? Take a little time one afternoon or evening to prep your lunch for the whole week. Last week, I made one huge meal, which we also had for dinner that night, and packed it up in containers for lunch every day of the week. All I had to do each evening was gather the few items I would need to put in my lunchbox the next morning, and have them in an easy to grab spot in the fridge! It takes all the guesswork and dread out of part of the early morning routine.

For me, getting up at five in the morning is not something I enjoy, so the more I can have ready to go, the better I feel about having to get up that early! This makes such a difference, and it also eliminates the temptation to order in or get food on the go. It saves time, money, and your health, so you really can’t beat that! The reason I say to do this just for one week in January, goes back to those achievable goals I mentioned. If you can do it successfully one time, you’re more motivated to do it a second week and possibly every week of the month, as the year goes on!

5. Prep ahead at night!

Three important things to prep the night before work would of course be your clothes, lunch, and work bag. This obviously varies, depending on the type of job you have! I just discussed an easy way to prep your lunch for the week, but picking out your outfit the night before is such a relief early the next morning! When I don’t have my clothes out and ready to go, I feel so much more overwhelmed and negative in the morning. I don’t know anyone who wants to feel like that before even leaving for work!

Typically for me, prepping my clothes the night before, includes steaming them. Unless you like going to work in wrinkled clothes, which obviously takes away from looking professional, I would say ironing or steaming is a must! Typically, prepping your work bag should only take a minute. It depends on how much you use or take out in the evening. The work bag should be the easiest. Any prep which will end up being a timesaver in the morning is completely worth doing!

Start your year off more positive than you ended the last one! Working these five tips into your January, and even February if you really want to keep it going, should give you a head start to a more successful year! Don’t get hung up on resolutions, just for the sake of making a resolution. You should feel more motivated after January, if you can try some or all of these helpful hints! Good luck!

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Filed Under: motivationTagged: achieve, blogger, freelance, friendship, goals, happiness, inspiration, January, joy, joyless, motivation, organize, prep, resolutions, winter, writer

Get it Together: 3 Tools to Help Organize Your Goals and Life

January 15, 2017

#January, #goals, #resolutions, #newyear, #newyou, #motivation…just some of the hashtags you see all through January and the beginning of a new year on social media. We almost all fall victim to the trend and the idea of a new year and a new way of living. New year, new you, right? What better time to get your life in order, get healthy, get that new job, or find your life’s purpose than the beginning of a new year? It makes sense, so who can blame us? Calendars and planners are all on sale, so we’ve all been posting our cute, new planner. This will be what gets my life together! Will it? Will the planner itself be what keeps us organized and reaching those new goals? I too fell into the trap of the new and pretty planners, so I’m right there with all of you. I was in Barnes and Noble for something else, and well, when I saw the Lilly Pulitzer planners were 50%…game over. I couldn’t resist. I never see these on sale, and how pretty are they? I got caught up in the new year, new organization trend just like everyone else. Let’s be honest, we can fill out all the planners, calendars, lists, and organizers we want, but it’s not going to make us better than last year. Follow-through. Follow-through is what will get us ahead and make us accomplish those goals and dreams. These first few months of the year don’t have to be about making sure you start losing the weight and crossing off the goals on your list. It’s really as great a time as any to start. Since it does fit with the new year, I figured it was a fitting time for this post, but I’ll also remind you to start or continue all the goals, lists, and dreams you can think of the entire year. It shouldn’t just be a resolution!

I did not get this book because it’s January. Self-improvement books are a slight guilty pleasure I don’t often admit I love. I guess there’s nothing wrong with it, but sometimes I feel weird saying I like this type of reading. Then again, when it does rarely come up in conversation, I’m glad to find out many people share this same interest! I actually came across this book, “Make it Happen: Surrender Your Fear. Take the Leap. Live on Purpose.” while browsing through my Instagram feed. I can’t even remember who it was now who was reading it, but most of the people I follow on Instagram are fashion and lifestyle bloggers. The cover of the book caught my eye, as per usual, and the caption under her picture intrigued me enough to look the book up online to find out more. That same evening, just a a few nights ago, I downloaded it on ibooks and began reading! Anonymous blogger I follow, thank you for leading me to this book! The author, Lara Casey, has done a wonderful job inspiring women to get the life they want. Whether you’re struggling with worry or scared to take a leap into something new, or you need some helpful words of wisdom to follow God’s plan, this is a great tool to help you live a more purposeful life. I find it very helpful, and there’s extra tools to help on her website like a free printable goal setting sheet, as well as the Make it Happen Powersheets Planner. It is $55 and currently sold out, but you can be notified when it’s back in stock!

   

Although again this may seem like something designed to use from January through December, this journal actually has no printed dates. You fill in the date whenever you write in it. Admittedly, I’ve only written in it once or twice so far, but I plan to try to make it a daily habit at night before going to bed. Again, follow-through is the key. To be honest, I sometimes have trouble with the follow-through. Some of you might think it seems like to much work to stop and think about your favorite moment of the day. It doesn’t even have to be the moment you’re most grateful for in the day or what you accomplished. It’s simply your favorite moment of the day. Whether it’s reorganizing the shoes in your closet or something deeper like a home-cooked meal with your family, it is all about YOUR favorite moment, big or small, alone or with family and friends. I couldn’t stop with one simple moment, so in my journal I actually ended up writing a few different ones. I guess that’s a good thing. Hopefully it’s not hard to think of something good from your day, but of course, we all have some harder days. Pick this journal up at Staples for just $2.99! It also makes a great little add-on gift for friends and family needing a little inspiration.

Some of you probably love Lilly Pulitzer, and some of you may not be too into it. I know people who feel both, but there are some things I just find too cute to pass up…this planner being one of them! As mentioned earlier, when I stopped at Barnes and Noble for something completely unrelated, the 50% off sign above these planners just pulled me in. Planners are one of my favorite things, another guilty pleasure. In case you’re wondering, I do use my phone calendar like the rest of the world, but there’s something about writing down what I need to do, goals, and events and crossing them off after that just makes it so much more satisfying. I don’t find the phone calendar to be quite the same experience! When I found it wasn’t just certain planners on sale, I couldn’t pass up the largest size. I like a big planner, with plenty of space to fit everything, and add extras like goals for the week and more. I’ve used the planner, and yes, just looking at it gets me more excited to write everything and plan out the months ahead! I would recommend this one or one similar to all of you out there dying to get organized and motivated to check off those goals, no matter how big or small.

Don’t just let these helpful tools be a New Year’s Resolution type of organization! Whether you started, or intended to start, getting your life together in January, or you still haven’t gotten around to it, any time is the time to start. While it’s most fitting for this time of year, gather your tools, and make it happen whenever works best for you. Maybe that means you take it one step at a time. Starting small is usually better than jumping in full force anyway. The quicker you change several things in your life, the harder it is to keep it going. The harder it is to follow through. Baby steps, my friends. That’s the way to go! Leave a comment with your favorite ways to get organized and the most successful thing that works for you!

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Filed Under: blogTagged: blog, blogger, book, favoritemoment, getittogether, goals, inspiration, January, journal, life, Lilly Pulitzer, makeithappen, motivation, newyear, newyou, organized, planner, reading, success

I'm a teacher and writer, who loves everything fashion, beauty, travel, inspiration, motivation, shopping, and education...to name some. I have a wide variety of interests and topics I'm excited to write about. Check out my main site for articles, poems, and how to hire me for freelancing!

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