What Are We Doing Differently in the New Year?

24 changes to consider for 2024

Now that we have all had time to digest the holidays and the aftermath of said cheer, we shall take a collective deep breath and examine where to go from here. As cliche as trite can be, this is the default time of the year to reflect on how our lives are flowing and what tweaks can be made to re-center ourselves, feel less batty, and experience more tranquility.

The following is a list of 24 free-form thoughts on changes to consider for 2024. If we, personally, achieve 50% of them, it will be a smashing miracle. Some of these we agree on wholeheartedly. Naturally, we have slight differences in opinion on some. Where we differ, it’s noted.

1. If you think your friend is protecting you from something unpleasant, let them. We don’t need to know or dissect every little detail of our influences or interactions with other people. It is a good friend who doesn’t share everything with us when they know it is unhelpful.

2. You really don’t need to take as many trips as you think you do. This sensation will also diminish as you spend less time on social media. Sure, it provides the ego a big, coz hug when we are invited to gatherings, and if it makes good sense to go (with our schedules and finances), then go. But don’t go because you have fear of missing out. Missing out is actually an evolving magic of its own in a learned way. When we miss out, opportunity for the future is invited.

3. Less is more. Smaller conversations. More intimate connections. Less falsehood (social media).

4. Unsubscribe from your subscriptions you are not making use of.

5. Bethany: Stop checking the price of Bitcoin (as much). / Kara: Stop going to Starbucks (as much).

6. Bethany: I picked a “WOTY” (word of the year) for the first time. It is: Slower. Rushing through life with a sense of urgency only hastens the ending. I hate endings. So, why are we rushing the process? / Kara: No WOTY for me. I’m just trying to practice one of my mottos: words matter. Be careful how you use them.

7. Bethany: Read more fiction. There is only so much real information we can gather before becoming boring. / Kara: I’ll give it a try. Skeptical.

8. Watch more Saturday Night Live.

9. Untether from our phones when at home. **Actively seeking advice on how to do this**

10. Stop uttering “What an a$$hole” to yourself about people in traffic. **Actively seeking advice on how to do this**

11. Find more people that read books. Like, in real life.

12. Support your spouse/significant other in a new endeavor.

13. Bethany: Reinvest interest in attempting home design. Finally put up wallpaper that sits in the closet. / Kara: Resist the temptation to renovate an entire (newly moved into) house in a week. Deep breaths.  Patience. Less doom scrolling to find the perfect set up. More enjoying the current lay out. / Bethany (response): Look at me — eight+ years into our “fixer upper” home and we are finally finishing the ceilings. There is always time for home projects.

14. Stop taking things personally that have nothing to do with you. Or, if you do (because you are human), laugh about it later as you remind yourself, “Wow, we think we are pretty special, don’t we?”

15. Bethany: Read or meditate on something spiritual on a consistent basis. I planned this last year and made it about a month. There is no time like the present to reinvigorate a streak start. Remember, life is never without trials and tribulations — with a spiritual basis, we can weather this knowledge and move through it with a hand to hold. We may still pee our pants but this way, there’s a fresh pair of undies waiting to begin anew. / Kara: Will you teach me how to meditate?

16. Serve the writing/reading community better. Our content often feels rushed (see “WOTY”) due to the chaotic nature of our current season of life raising many littles. Bethany used to get up at 4:30 AM to read and write. The body is revolting that idea but maybe it’ll change in the future… Kara would never dream of getting up at 4:30 AM for any reason, but she will be better about carving out real writing time.

17. Be inclusive with your words, selective with your relationships.

18. Sit still in our children’s comments before responding.

19. Bethany: You don’t need any more Stanley water mugs. / Kara: But there’s a new color…. / Bethany (response): Send me the link.

20. Dry January is always a good idea. Dry any month is always a good idea. But even if you don’t take a whole month off, try to be more mindful about it all.

21. Reject the notion that striving to improve your personal life is selfish or not thinking “large” enough — when we progress, so does who and what we influence and that does ripple into contributing to the greater good. Remember, it starts at home.

22. Bethany: Eat more homemade ramen bowls. We just tried the Sun Noodle variety, courtesy of a friend, and WOW. / Kara: Be more helpful in the kitchen (i.e. “domesticated”).

23. Bethany: Avoid buying another pair of glitter pants. The aftermath remains on your furniture, the dog’s nose, your eyelashes, your mother-in-law’s sweater, everywhere. / Kara: But they were so cute!

24. Bethany: Mimic your adorable little girl when manifesting positive vibes for a not-so-thrilling task: “IT GUNNA BE SO FUN!!” / Kara: Isn’t that something? If we could try to have half as much enthusiasm as our toddlers, all tasks would be fun!

What are some areas of your life you plan to do differently? Have you tried it before? What is the best piece of advice you have been given about starting anew / beginning a new year?

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