Monday, 1/3/22: Talking about a 22 in 2022 list and new year activities
Happy Monday!
& Happy New Year!!
It might be the first Monday of 2022, but it’s still a new week, which means it’s time for your next Monday motivation newsletter. Read on below for some steps to a happier Monday, a short story and a roundup of positive thoughts to get your week started.
Three Steps to a Happier Monday
Each newsletter starts with three prompts to inspire gratitude and simple intention setting. Take a moment and jot down answers to these three questions. To give an example, I share my answers below.
Step 1: What are three things I appreciated from the weekend?
Step 2: What is one thing I can be excited about today?
Step 3: What is my intention for this week?
GRATITUDE: From my weekend, I am thankful for a couple of long walks outside, time with my brothers and time to read.
TODAY: Today, I have one more day off work and I’m most excited about getting organized for the week ahead.
INTENTION: My intention this week is to be mindful about where I’m placing my attention.
Okay, your turn! And if you want to share your three steps, I am all ears. 🙂
Meaningful Musings: A 22 in 2022 List
Hello 2022!
While Christmas shopping a weekend last month, I picked up this cute journal from one of my favorite shops in Lincoln Park. I loved the idea of it: each month has one overarching theme (a “primary intention”) and six actions to help you “focus on that intention and cultivate a happier life.”
For example, January’s suggested intention is to “set achievable goals,” and on one of the pages for the monthly actions, a passage reads, “a year is a long time, but if you don’t take advantage of it, those months can roll by without you accomplishing any of the things you are hoping to do. To keep yourself accountable, write down your goals for this year on the following pages. Start with big-picture goals and then add smaller, more achievable goals that will get you to that accomplishment later this year.”
I think turning over a new leaf on January 1 is an exciting feeling. The blank calendar stretches out ahead of you with ample amounts of promise and hope. But, like the journal alludes, nothing can stop the passage of time. This year will pass just like last year and the year before. Before we know it, we’ll be scratching our heads in a few months and asking, “where did the time go?”
Last week I wrote about different approaches to New Year’s resolutions because while I like the idea of resolutions, I sometimes think defining those big-picture goals can be intimidating. I want the experience to be exciting instead of pressuring, which is exactly why I love the idea of a 22 in 2022 List, or 22 things you’d like to get done in the new year.
I find it much easier (and more fun) to start with something like this. And, putting down these various things – big and small, enjoyable and challenging – on paper makes me much more likely to actually do them.
If you are looking for a forward-looking, introspective activity to do today, give this a try! You might just find that forming a list of things you want to do in the new year is exactly what you need to combat the post-holiday blues today. Anticipation is such a wonderful emotion.
It took me a few days to get to 22 things (sharing my list below in case it is helpful to see an example), but the easiest way I found to go about it was to just start a list in the notes app on my phone and add ideas as they came to me. Would love to know if you make a 22 in 2022 list as well!
My 22 in 2022 List:
- Subscribe to a Sunday paper.
- Use one “screen” at a time… trying to limit mindlessly scrolling on my phone while watching TV, etc.
- Clean out my apartment quarterly.
- Buy a new mattress.
- Write 12 monthly recaps to remember all the little things that happen over the course of a month.
- Participate in the monthly activities included in my new “Best Year Yet” journal.
- Read a classic novel… this is actually one of the activities for January from the “Best Year Yet” journal. I’m thinking about reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion.
- Read for 10 minutes a day.
- Read 50 books total.
- Plan a trip to Gainesville for a football weekend. Had so much fun with friends last year. This year I want to plan more time for walking around the campus and strolling down memory lane!
- Pay special attention to the “buffers” in my day.
- Run a long race… signed up for this one in March (love the theme) and am considering maybe running a half marathon in the fall. TBD on if I’ll be brave enough to commit!
- Once a month, send a card or letter to a friend who is on my mind.
- Indulge in a spa day with my mom.
- Road trip somewhere nearby with Chicago friends.
- Purchase a new perfume for the year.
- Start a new tradition of doing something fun on Sunday evenings.
- Invest in a nicer speaker/sound system for my apartment.
- Do something in honor of my grandma on what would be her 86th birthday in May.
- Visit Michigan State – hopefully for a football game! My cousin will be starting her freshman year there this fall and I am so excited for her. 🙂
- Go to three concerts.
- Volunteer a total of 22 hours over the course of the year.
On My Monday Radar
Sometimes we just aren’t ready to jump into our Monday to-do list right away. In case you want some content to procrastinate with, here is a roundup of a few positive things on my radar:
- This article is from last year, but if you have today off work and are feeling the urge to organize, I love the idea of refreshing your home office and your email inbox. The article includes great tips for how to do both. If you are more in mood to shop for your work space, check out the cute accessories in this roundup. My home office must-have continues to be this laptop stand (under $30!) from Amazon. Love it & can’t work without it.
- If you are looking for a reflective activity today, I really like these downloadable worksheets. My friend sent me them on Instagram last week and I’m so glad she did.
- I started listening to Katie Couric’s memoir Going There last week, and I’m really enjoying it. I was off work last week and almost every afternoon, I went for a walk and listened to this audiobook. I called it my “afternoon walk with Katie!” 🙂 It’s interesting and impressive to hear so many stories about her career, things she wished she done differently, and navigating being a working mom. I have a lot of admiration for her. I would definitely recommend the audiobook because it features audio clips from some of her most famous interviews – fun!
- Speaking of ‘fun’ – what about “having more fun” as a goal for 2022? Yes, really! I liked reading this article about why we all need to have more fun and the four steps to rediscovering it. The suggestion in the first step was my favorite.
- I also loved this article about the ‘sly sunniness’ of Betty White in light of her passing last Friday. I think the author did a great job encapsulating what made White so special and I hope that is the legacy that lives on.
That’s all for today! I hope you found something in today’s newsletter that sparked motivation, made you smile or inspired a positive Monday thought. Don’t underestimate the power of starting small… a fulfilling week starts with just one fulfilling day. You’ve got this!
Let’s make it a great Monday!
Megan