Some Habits I Want to Work On
There’s no time like the present to start on new goals and ideas. This January, I did a shocking job of setting any sturdy resolutions because I was in the throes of buying an apartment. After I decided to pull out of that the next month, it feels like my 2024 has been in a freefall. It’s been emotional, confusing and challenging in many ways. But I think I’m ready to take on some new ‘things’ now.
I recently read that we’re living in an age of ‘betterment’ obsession. Everybody is hellbent on improving themselves. We’re in our wellness era, our ‘put yourself first’ era, our ‘protect your peace’ era. To be honest? I’m a little burned out by the thought of having to be constantly, actively working on myself, or sitting comfortably in an era. Here’s a little reminder that you are enough as you are. Anything else is a fun bonus, my loves! Having said that, here are some extra habits that I want to work on for a few months, because things have been rough.
No screen time before bed
Sometimes I feel like a teenager again because I can’t fall asleep without ‘watching’ – listening to – TV on my laptop. It’s the worst habit I have by far. It’s frustrating because I know I actually sleep better without the white noise of a whirring laptop and Friends playing, yet I still don’t… do it. To combat this, I’m going to keep my MacBook downstairs and replace my evening YouTube sessions with lo-fi beats. I don’t actually typically read before bed, as I feel like I’m not properly absorbing the story, but perhaps this will be a good way to ease into one day having no ‘content’ to stare at before bed!
Run a 10k
Last week, my sister and I completed the NHS Couch to 5k programme and we ran our first 5k at the weekend. I feel like I’ve become the meme, the caricature, the blueprint of ‘woman in thirties becomes a quote-unquote runner’, but I am surprisingly really enjoying getting into running.
Lots of you have been curious about ‘Couch to 5k’: it’s an app developed by the NHS in the UK, designed to get people running, no matter their fitness level or skill. It doesn’t promise a 5k of you but, by the end of the programme, you’ll be running 30 minutes without stopping. By the end of the official runs, I was hitting 4.6k! Our grand plan is to start regularly taking part in parkrun and then adding in one ‘easy’ run and a challenging run per week, but I’d also love to be able to run a 10k soon, which I haven’t managed since I was 26!
Cook one new recipe a fortnight
I completely forgot that this one of my 2024 goals and have probably tried about four new recipes so far this year. I’m definitely back in my cooking from scratch era though, so I think one fresh recipe a fortnight is achievable. Plus, if I’m keeping up with running, I’ll need to make sure I’m properly fuelling my body!
Keep to a simplified skincare routine
Perhaps it’s stress or something else, but my skin is all over the place recently. From purges to breakouts, dullness to dryness, I’m trying to keep on top of my usually great skin by making sure I do my twice-daily skincare routine and also keep it simple. The cornerstones of this habit? Implementing more clean beauty products – Skin Nomad have an edit of the best clean serums – but also hydrating plenty, and using fewer vitamin C-based products, which I’m fairly certain are the cause of my recent purge.
Personal writing daily
Although I write something every day, I’ve found that I’m not prioritising my daily memory-keeping journal at the moment. On Sunday, I spent two hours catching up with about a month’s worth of entries, and now they all sound lacklustre and devoid of life. By popping my Five-Year Journal beside my bed, I’m hoping I can make it a habit to fill this out at the end of every day.
Exercise five times a week
Friends, I’m in my running era! And it feels really good. I’ve never been great at cardio and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen myself as a runner, but my sister and I’s third round of Couch to 5k cemented a new love for running. While we focused on improving our stamina and ability, my gym workouts waned a little, but now I’m hoping to get back to my normal gym regime, building in a few runs too. I’d like to work out five times a week.
Implement a set number of social media ‘offline’ days
A month into being back on Instagram taught me that, actually, I don’t really enjoy the app much if at all. Annoyingly, I’m back to spending absolutely ages scrolling or getting lost in Stories. So, I think I’m going to implement specific days where I’m not using the app. Instead, I’ll only use it sparingly on Sundays, Wednesdays, and one other surprise day.
