4 Easy-to-Keep Promises to Make to Your Home (and Yourself) This Year
This is the time of year when we make many, many resolutions to better ourselves. From keeping workout goals to staying away from donuts to being kinder on ourselves in general. Well this year, try one or all of these four promises — if you can resolve to be honest with your home and yourself a little more, it just might make everything else you’re working on a little easier.
This year, promise that…
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You’ll try out new home cleaning/organizing/bettering ideas to find the right ones that work for your home (and you)
Whether it’s wanting to finally master a cleaning schedule that works for you, or whatever goals around the home you’re aiming for (wake up early! stay clutter-free! entertain more!) promise you’ll keep trying out new ideas until you find one that works for you. Don’t just assume you’re a hopeless case, or that maybe something you really want (like a house that doesn’t stress you out) is out of your reach. It might just be taking you a bit longer to find your stride than others, but you’re not in competition with anyone but yourself, and you can go on your own path (however wavy and back-track-y it is) as slowly as you need to. Don’t give up!
You won’t stick with ideas that aren’t right for you
Sticking with a plan/idea/cleaning schedule that obviously isn’t for you isn’t just going to not work, it’s going to make you feel crappy about yourself, sap your motivation, and in general be useless. So “do you” this year — know who you are, how you work best — and don’t beat yourself up over not being a morning person who can wake up at 5am and clean your entire house. When you feel something not working, toss it and go back to the first promise in this post.
You’ll make the best choice, one decision at a time
Each new year brings about thoughts of what you can do to change your life at home for the better — things like waking up earlier, not Instagramming until exhaustion every night, doing the dishes as soon as you finish eating, or promising yourself to declutter on the regular. But instead of saying you’re going to do it all perfectly right out the gate for the entire year (hello, pressure), why not just promise yourself to take it one decision at a time, and try to make the best choice you can each time you’re faced with a decision?
Faced with the choice of watching Netflix for another hour or getting another hour of sleep? Close that laptop no matter how appealing it is. Could use an extra five minutes to straighten up your living room or peruse Instagram? Try to choose those actions that will have positive impacts on your future, even if that clashes with stuff you’d rather be doing in the present!
You’ll be grateful for the good things, and be extra grateful for the crummy things
It’s easy to be grateful for wood floors, big open windows that let lots of light in, and all the wonderful things that make living at home a lovely and delightful experience. But what’s harder — and perhaps even more vital to practice — is being grateful for the kinda crummy things. Why? Because it gets you into the important practice of seeing that tough, crummy things teach us the best lessons.
Being grateful for ample space for all your stuff is fine, but being grateful for a tiny home that’s not enough room for all your stuff but makes you get creative and regularly declutter could be even better! Loving your neighborhood is peachy, but loving that you had to move into your not-favorite neighborhood but have now explored a new part of your city is even funner, no? Just remember to thank those lesson-teaching elements to your home this year, too.
Are you making any promises to your home this year? Let us know in the comments below!
Re-edited from a post originally published 1.5.2015 – TW