January. A clean slate. A new year that yours for the taking. A time for resolutions, goal setting, mood boarding, taking every little thing seriously and desperately not wanting to undo the good work you have done so far.
I think I spent my January pretty well and feel good about the little habits I'm putting in place for the year ahead. I've been coming into myself for a little while now and finally feel like I'm breaking through to just being me. I know that might sound obvious because who else could I be, and the answer isn't that I've been trying to be someone else, it's just that I've been trying to figure out who I am so I can get on with just being me. Like one of those cool people who just knows who they are and has their reasons, opinions, beliefs all in line so they can go about life being their authentic selves doing cool things. I feel like learning about yourself will never really stop, but I do feel closer than ever to being happy as my authentic, true self.
I'm just going to list the little habits that I have been trying to implement because it's easier for you to read, and easier for my sleepy mind:
Regular yoga practice - I have fulfilled a long yearning to take up yoga. I've joined BodyMindLife in Sydney and have been practicing a minimum of three times per week. I can already notice the difference in my posture and the newfound strength in my arms. Plus two of my really close friends are members of the same studio so being able to tie in yoga practice with brunch afterwards is very rewarding!
Meditation in the morning - I used to meditate in the mornings quite regularly a couple of years ago and then stopped. At the end of last year I was having a very stressful time, was constantly anxious, and I ended up reactivating my Headspace app to help calm me down. Thankfully I'm on the other side of that time now, but I realised how much happier, lighter, and calmer I am when I meditate before the day begins. It really just sets you up to be able to sail solidly through the day. I'm trying to meditate each morning that I don't get up early and go to yoga (which, if I'm being completely honest with you, is not often).
Reading in the morning - After I meditate in the morning, I am trying to read a non-fiction book. At the moment, I'm slowly making my way through Principles by Ray Dalio. It's 500 pages of the author's life and work principles that he used to make him one of the world's most successful investors. Ray has used these principles to guide him and his business throughout his whole life. The fact that someone can write a 500 page book about their principles is just mind blowing to me, and also gives you a lot of food for thought as to what your principles are or should be.
Reading in the evening - Before going to sleep, I have been trying to read a novel. This is probably the part that has been hardest to keep because when I get into bed, I just want to have a bit of a scroll and then turn my alarms on and go to sleep. I know that looking at your phone before you go to sleep isn't the best because it's lights interfere with your brain, and you should sleep with your phone outside your bedroom and have a separate alarm clock blah, blah, blah, I'm getting there. Baby steps, with a good book. At the moment it's The Girls by Emma Cline, a novel set in 1960s California about a young girl who gets swept up into a cult.
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Also this year I'm going to try my hardest not to buy anything new. Obviously I have some exceptions: food, toiletries, reusable products that will help me to also reduce plastic in my life and a new bed, the frame of which will be made by my partner and we'll also need a new mattress and bedding because we've agreed to upsize to a queen after sleeping on a double for five years). However the foundation of this challenge I've designed for myself is to love and look after what I have, reduce my consumption and if I do buy something, it needs to be secondhand. It also ties into another one of the things I'm working on this year, which we will get to soon.
No more going down to Pitt Street Mall and spending half a day walking around frazzled and overwhelmed just to find something that is going to invigorate new life into my wardrobe. No more time spent endlessly, and often pointlessly, scrolling through online shopping websites to curate wish lists and add things to cart, only to not go through with the purchases. I'm reclaiming my time, making do with what I have, and using my creativity. Creativity thrives when there are limits. I'm also getting off the fast fashion hamster wheel that I have been trying, slowly, to make an exit from for some time now only to be sucked in by advertising and influencers influencing me. To add fuel to my fire, fashion is one of the largest contributors to global warming. The fast-fashion industry is wreaking havoc on the environment in all stages of its cycle, and the one that gets me the most is people buying fast fashion clothes and throwing them out after only a couple of wears. It's devastating that after all the suffering humanity has gone through that we are now just drowning in our own affluence - to be able to buy and throw away things so frivolously without concern for where it ends up (read: more than likely landfill). It's devastating that our charities are so overwhelmed by 'donations' that they are spending millions of dollars a year sending people's crappy fast fashion clothes to landfill, instead of using that money and resources to actually help people.
My aim after all of this is to invest more of my time and energy into the things that I love. I have always loved pre-loved things. I love the hunt and I love finding the incredible bargain more. It's to have pieces in my wardrobe and my life that I love. That spark joy, thanks Marie. I want to wear the things I love over and over again.
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Lastly, this year, I'm focusing on cleaning up my life to help the planet. Like a lot of people, I was already concerned about the effects consumerism, fossil fuels and plastic were having on our planet. Then the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a very alarming report in October 2018 saying that if we want to keep global warming under 1.5c, which is the very best case scenario, then the world needs to make rapid and unprecedented changes to halve emissions by 2030. It's crazy scary. I recommend reading Sarah Wilson's cheat sheets here and here if you want to know more.
There is a lot we can do on our own that can make a difference every day. The bigger, scarier things, like lobbying the government to transition to renewable energy, we will need to do together. In the meantime, there are plenty of things we can be doing ourselves to ease our impact on the environment on an individual level.
For me, I'm going to focus on minimising plastic (start with the hardest things first!) and shift towards a plant-based diet (I'm already vegetarian). I'm also not buying anything new, which is also of great benefit to the planet.
I don't believe throwing out perfectly good products and items, just to start over again with eco-alternatives is the right way to go about things. Instead, I'm going to use what I have first, and slowly replace items with environmentally friendly alternatives as I go. For example, I know I have at least one more brand new toothbrush to use out before I replace it with a bamboo alternative.
I'm aware that I am one person, but I believe the single actions of people can amount into massive action and change. If I can get just one of my friends to stop buying plastic water bottles and invest in a reusable bottle, then it's just saved a whole heap of unnecessary plastic from ending up in landfill and the ocean, which is of benefit to everyone. And then maybe my friend will inspire one of her friends to do the same and so on. It can't be a bad thing!
~ New In - The Secondhand Edition ~
Organic by John Patrick Black Silk Dress - $40 from eBay
I wanted a nice, light, black silk dress for those summer days where it's too hot to be wearing clothes. This one came up on my eBay feed and I put in a bid then forgot about it. I ended up winning the bid, and the dress is a winner in it's own right. It also currently retails for $240 so it goes to show that buying secondhand is good for the planet and your pocket.
Lululemon yoga mat - $60 from Gumtree
I wanted a nice, light, black silk dress for those summer days where it's too hot to be wearing clothes. This one came up on my eBay feed and I put in a bid then forgot about it. I ended up winning the bid, and the dress is a winner in it's own right. It also currently retails for $240 so it goes to show that buying secondhand is good for the planet and your pocket.
Lululemon yoga mat - $60 from Gumtree
Earlier this month I signed up to a 12 month yoga membership at my local studio and needed to invest in a good mat for all of the practice I will be doing. I found a black Lululemon yoga mat on Gumtree. It's reversible, in excellent condition and came with a strap holder. The mat currently retails on Lululemon for $89.
~ Read, watched & listened ~
~ Eats ~
Made my own vegan buddha bowl
After lunch hummus made at the office in the Nutri-Bullet
After lunch hummus made at the office in the Nutri-Bullet
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