2023 WotY: Health
Rather than making resolutions, I pick a word of the year.
The power of a word versus a specific resolution is that I can use it as a lens to view everything with.
For example, my word for 2022 was "Calm." It manifested in so many ways:
I stopped waking up to alarms. To get up early, I had to go to bed earlier. It's improved my sleep quality, and my mornings are calmer and more enjoyable because I'm not jarred awake.
Set better boundaries with clients. I don't answer requests before 10am or after 6pm. Most things aren't emergencies, so I'm fine if I get back to my clients later. It's made my work much calmer.
“How would the calm version of me handle this?” No matter what it is - rude person, late train, annoying weather - this simple mantra helped me keep my cool.
Sheena and I are going with the same word for 2023: Health
We’ve both been suffering from chronic pain the past year and realized how much it’s affected our quality of life.
Like with calm, I love this word because it can apply to so many things beyond our physical health.
Here’s a rough list of things I want to work on through my health lens.
Physical health:
Finally improve my stiff neck
Routine check-ups — including my hormones and cancer screenings
Daily exercise to get in better shape, improve my joints/back, and reduce my snoring
Weekly massages/recovery work
Mental health
Continue the work with my therapist
Eliminating the “need” for social media as much as I can
Relationships
Doing more check-ins with Sheena
Scheduling more screen free date nights
Friends & Family
Setting healthy boundaries with people that can be toxic
Building stronger, new friend groups
Finances
Create a savings fund purely for health (trainers, check-ups, massages)
Double down on eliminating all of our household debt
Automating my finances ala Ramit and building our wealth
Work
Getting help and outsourcing work to buy back my time
Improving schedule so I’m not always “on”
Taking 2-3 months off out of the year, work free
Hobbies
Carving out consistent time for my drawing
These lists are just floating through my head. What’s great about choosing a word over a resolution is, like with my “What would the calm version of me do?”, I can ask myself “What can I do to make this healthier for me?”
