A Year of Self-Care summary

One great way to get to know yourself in new and complex ways is to take yourself out to a museum, café, park, or restaurant. Maybe you have a new playlist or album you’ve been dying to listen to, or are craving silence. What about that new book you’ve been wanting to carve out space to read, or the cooking or dance class you promised yourself you’d sign up for? As adults, it’s easy to go down the path of least resistance and become increasingly closed off from things that don’t come naturally to us. If you didn’t grow up doing ballet, you might feel it’s impossible to start now – but why? 

Think about those vulnerabilities and try to peel back the layers of thoughts and feelings behind each of them. Maybe you’re afraid of embarrassing yourself by doing something completely new. Maybe you’re used to hiding behind your computer or your work, but what is the worst thing that could happen if you got onto the stage, or sat quietly in a public place, or went into the unknown? Sign up for a hip hop class with a friend, or plan that solo trip to Paris. Anything, big or small, that you’ve thought about but recoiled from out of fear or judgment. What’s the worst that could happen if you embarrassed yourself over and over again? 

What kind of home do you live in? Are your drawers filled with articles of clothing you don’t love but bought on sale? Or do you have a few select pieces that you turn to with pleasure again and again? How about your kitchen – do you have stacks of untouched dishes behind glass, or a couple sets of cherished plates and glasses that you eat and drink from regularly and with great joy? 

Prioritizing simplicity isn’t about depriving yourself. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. When your life is littered with clutter, your desires, priorities, and needs become difficult to see behind the noise of all that stuff. It’s not just about material things: it’s also about relationships, feelings, habits, and thoughts that no longer serve a purpose, that we encourage you to trim and discard. This is a call to deep, honest, and sometimes difficult reflection on your needs and beliefs about yourself and your life. 

If you’ve ever been one of those people who asks, “What’s the point of making my bed? I’m just going to be back in it in a few hours,” you’re not alone. But if you apply this logic to everything else in life, think about how we’d lack the will to do anything! 

Take a moment to consider your relationship to discipline and boundaries. Start small – try making your bed like a guest you want to impress is coming, every day, for one week. Then keep going. You’ll see a difference in how this small act ripples out into the rest of your day, life, and week. Investing in the act of making your bed an inviting place to return to will make you feel like you can start the rest of your day with intention and attention. It’s likely that you’ll actually see your time expand by practicing small acts of discipline and setting boundaries. By making your bed, you’re marking time: Now it’s time to get up, have a strong black tea, and approach the tasks of the day. 

Gratitude is a life-saving practice year round, but especially during the end of the year as the holidays come around. Winter can be a challenging time, whether you’re spending it with loved ones or yourself. But even when you’re feeling low, practicing gratitude is a reminder to express appreciation for what you do have to feel fortunate for. 

Everyone is dealt a different deck of cards throughout life. Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down. You might get your dream job, then be cursed with a micro-managing boss. Maybe you land the apartment of your dreams, only to learn that it has an asbestos problem. You win some, you lose some.