This January, Gretchen Rubin, acclaimed author, podcaster, and one of my personal happiness gurus, published an interesting post "Tired of Making New Year's Resolutions? Try Making a '20 for 2020' List Instead."
Honestly, I've NEVER successfully conquered ANY of my lofty, life-altering New Year's resolutions. Just like all of the lovelies who would pack my Zumba classes in January and be mere memories come March, I would start off the new year with the very best intentions of being a better, shinier Lelly, then revert back to the same old me by the time the robins returned in springtime.
But a simple checklist of concrete, actionable items that I could cross off when completed? I do that every day, thank you very much big red Moleskine notebook.
So I sat down and made myself a list of 20 things that I wanted to accomplish this year. I call my list "Small Things That Would Make Me Happy." It is not particularly sexy, smart or high-brow. It doesn't include books to read, museums to visit, or daily freaking meditations. Not that there's anything wrong with these pursuits, they simply did not resonate with me at the time.
My list of 20 for 20 is comprised of fixing or changing things around the house that annoy me. They are 20 projects of varying sizes and levels of complexity (most I could do myself, some required getting off my butt and calling a professional) that, because of lack of time or priority were left undone. The items on my list aren't critical to day-to-day life as they don't impact our more immediate needs for comfort (like food, heat, electricity, etc.). I have to also admit that many of the items on my list are annoyances to me and me alone. Does my husband care that the dining room drapes are too short?
When I read Rubin's post and crafted my 20 for 20 list, little did I know that this year would find me not only with a lot of extra time on my hands, but time spent almost entirely at home surrounded by the items on my list (#incentive)! There was comfort knowing that I had a new project waiting to fill the long days of isolation. My checklist made me feel productive and happy. I acquired new skills and learned a LOT.
I'm writing this post almost 10 months into 2020 because I am *THIS* close to crossing the last project off my list and it feels great. I may get a head start on my list of 21 things to accomplish in 2021.
Love, Lelly
