Written by The glitz and glam of the holidays has come to an end. I’ve kicked off my party shoes and slipped my aching feet into the less glamorous, but oh-so-comfy, Uggs we lovingly call life-per-usual.
Maybe it’s the stress of the two full time jobs that I’m currently working – or the fact that I’ve spent the last three days glued to my couch, knocked out with the gnarliest head cold I’ve had in years, and nothing but a marathon Game of Thrones session with the hubsters and my thoughts to keep me going – but I’ve been crazy for change lately.
Not grand gesture, big announcement, I’m going to live-off-the-grid kind of change, but change that moves you nonetheless. While I’ve been settling back into the swing of our typical day-to-day grind, I’m realizing that the only thing that’s really grinding is me… and it’s not working. I’m not as healthy as I could (or should) be, I’m not as organized as I’d like to be and all of it is driving me (and let’s be honest, probably also my husband) just a little insane. So something needs to change.
But the memory of made and abandoned resolutions is a hard pill to swallow. Remember 2014, when I attempted to take and post an Instagram photo every day? Well I abandoned that in late-August when an unrelenting anxiety about posting finally got the better of me. And while I was bummed I made it that far and didn’t finish out the year, what I lost in unfulfilled resolutions I gained in time, which allowed me to meet my now-husband just a few weeks later. I’ve also vowed numerous times to return to blogging at the start of a new year. I won’t make any major promises on that front this time around (lest my two-full time jobs get the better of me in the next few months), but I’ll do my best to get back to the one true passion that ultimately drives me.
So what is all this about? What exactly am I going to do? Well, I am not going to do is make a resolution that I’ll start some fancy new diet or go to the gym every day. If you know me, you know that’s crazy. First, I love cooking and baking and food (oh my!) and second, I don’t really love how smelly and gross the gym can be this time of year. I can’t guarantee that I am going to be as clean as I should be, or that I won’t always be stressed out. I’m a stress case. We all know it.
But what I will promise myself is to be more mindful. More mindful about the food that I eat. And the choices that I make. In fact, I promise to make one small choice for change a day – whether it’s making an effort to clean the house on a random Thursday night or choosing to listen to my body and stay out that extra hour after work so that I can make it to the yoga class I used to love so much. Maybe it’s waking up 30 minutes earlier than normal to assess the day and get prepared for what’s ahead or resting my mind with 30 minutes of meditation one night after a truly stressful day at work. It could be going through my closet and donating the old clothes that I haven’t worn in years, or finally picking through the boxes under the bed in the spare room, filled with treasures I couldn’t bare to part with when I moved out of my last apartment, but honestly haven’t looked at since.
Above all? I promise to make mindful moments matter in 2019.
So help keep me accountable, okay? And feel free to leave behind any tips you may have for staying mindful in 2019.
xoxo
Ashley
Ashley Okimoto 