New Year’s resolutions. I’ve made them before. Not in recent years, but I have. Sad thing is, which is probably common with most people making resolutions, is that I put in an effort for a couple weeks to do whatever it is that I resolve to do, then it fizzles. Not this year though. This year is probably the first time I’ve put any deep thought behind what I want to change in my life and it basically boiled down to two words: simplify and kindness.
Simplify. Life is crazy, isn’t it? Sometimes I feel so busy and pulled in different directions. Between my full-time day job, running my own business at night, and family life, there’s little time to just sit and relax. So, I started thinking, what could I do to make life easier? What things could I change that would make a big impact on my day? Then I started thinking about my day-to-day routine and realized that a lot of things around the house just don’t “flow” with how we live in the house. Like our “drop zones”. Every house has them.. those areas where, when you come in the door, you drop your mail here, or throw your coat there, and eventually it piles up. Drives. Me. Crazy. So I started thinking, why do we have these drop zones? Because, in my house, we don’t have a designated place to put the stuff. Well, we do have a coat closet, but I’ve accepted the fact that my family will never hang their coats up in a closet. Even though the closet is right by the door, it takes too much effort to open the door, grab a hanger, and hang up your coat. Guilty. Hooks would be much better and we have perfect place for them in our mudroom/laundry room (where we usually enter the house). So, through the year I’m going to clear out life’s clutter. Simplifying things will lead to a happier, stress-free life.
Kindness. “Kind words are short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” One of my favorite quotes. Can you imagine what a world we’d live in if everyone practiced kindness? I mean really practiced it? Wow. Just a simple smile from a stranger can put me in a better mood. I feel I’m a kind person. I hold doors open for people, I let someone get in front of me in the check-out line if they only have a couple items compared to my cart-full, but I don’t go out of my way that often to really do something nice for someone, especially strangers. So, this next year is the year of 52 Random Acts of Kindness. Each week I’ll go out of my way to do something nice for someone. I also hope to get my boys involved along the way and teach them the value of practicing kindness.
So, now that it’s in black and white and you’ve read this, I have to follow through on these resolutions or I’ll look pretty silly, huh? I plan to record my progress on my blog, mostly to make myself accountable, but if you learn any good tips for simplifying or are inspired to perform a random act of kindness, well then, that would be good too.
You’ve seen the Goodwill commercial where a woman is standing in front of her closet, trying to hang up some clothes. She’s putting all her strength into moving the clothes over just enough to squeeze in the few in her hand. Welcome to my closet. I can’t remember the last time I’ve went through it. I still had clothes that I wore when I was working out all the time. Yeah, I’ve come to the realization that I’ll probably never be a size 2 again. Hate to say it, but it’s true. So, to start simplifying my life, to get rid of the frustration I have every morning when I decide what I’m going to wear, and to stop having to struggle putting up my clean clothes, I spent the afternoon Saturday going through my closet. Clothes I haven’t worn in some time, clothes that were out of style, clothes that didn’t fit… all were folded up and put in a box for Goodwill. All 137 pieces. It feels so good to have my closet back again! And, while I was on a purging high, I went to my son’s closet and went through his clothes too. My husband even went through his clothes! One more closet to go, my youngest son’s, and then we’ll have a truck full of boxes for Goodwill. Hmm, what to do with all these empty hangers? I say, let’s go shopping!
