Hello my dear listener! Welcome back to yet another episode of Morning Cup of Sunshine podcast and a very warm welcome if you are listening to me for the very first time. I am so glad you are here, and I sincerely hope you stick around for many more episodes. I have so many fun and interesting episodes planned for upcoming months. I cannot wait to share all those with you. I am especially excited for today’s episode. You know I generally write in the morning; I hardly pick up my laptop at night. But today, I just had my dinner, kids were getting ready for bed and while washing dishes the idea for this episode struck me. I could hardly wait to finish my dishes. As soon as I was done, I literally ran upstairs, pulled my laptop out and just penned down the outline for this episode. I am so glad to share this fun episode with you, so here you go without much flair, 22 simple things to do in the year 2022.
You must have heard last week’s episode. If not, I would highly recommend that you listen to that episode as soon as you are done. I mentioned in that episode that the word for the year 2022 for me is going to be “simplify”. I am going to try my best to simplify my life and in turn help you to achieve the same. This is going to be the theme of the year 2022. Today, I am going to talk about 22 simple things that I would love to do in the year 2022. So, here you go.
1. Start my day with one simple affirmation - I am having the best day ever. -
I mentioned this in one of my previous episodes. I heard this in one of Rachel Hollis’s podcast episodes and it made a huge impact on me. I have been trying to be more mindful about my start of the day. I want to start my day with a nice smile and a simple affirmation that says, “I am having the best day ever.” Manifestation plays an important role when it comes to having a mindful day. You need to set the correct intentions and saying this affirmation just gives me that extra little boost to start my day at the beautiful note.
2. Read at least 5 pages of a book -
This is simple, isn’t it? But after a long tiring day, sometimes I can’t wait to just curl into my bed and treat myself with mindless scrolling on my phone. Sometimes, I convince myself that I deserve this after a long and tiring day. That little, tiny voice in my head tries to tell me that you will feel much better if you pick up that book on your nightstand but oh my adamant mind is extra stubborn and is just not ready to hear. I unknowingly fall for the trap and just keep scrolling on my phone till my eyes are too heavy to keep open. But I sleep with the determination not to repeat this tomorrow. But do I learn? No, history repeats itself. But this year, I am not going to ask myself to read an entire book, or even an entire chapter, just 5 pages. This year I am focusing more on acceptance than discipline. 5 pages seems acceptable to my mind, but yes, I will surely keep you posted on this one.
3. Call at least one friend every week. -
I already do this. I call not one but sometimes even more friends every week. I don’t have a huge group of friends, but I love the ones I have very dearly. They are my very close and dear friends and I love to have a hearty conversation with them. It brings me tremendous joy so yes; I am going to continue this one simple thing that brings me the most joy.
4. Try one small thing that pushes you out of your comfort zone.
This one is tricky. It is a little hard for me to get out of my comfort zone, I am not really the adventurous type. But I am sincerely going to try my best to do at least a couple of things that push me out of my comfort zone this year. I really want to grow this podcast and I know I need to show up more, promote it more and be more open to opportunities. I need to get out of my comfort zone and attend some mastermind groups, podcast conferences and increase my visibility. So, this year I am really going to try to finally come out of my comfort zone and showcase myself on a bigger platform.
5. Give back/an act of kindness
Sometimes a simple gesture goes a long way. I want to focus on giving back. I want to help in any small way possible. Simple gestures like donating my time to volunteer, letting someone go in front of you in the checkout line, running an errand for a friend who is having a very busy week, simply giving a fresh home cooked meal to a new mom, these are small acts of kindness that I want to spend my time and energy one.
6. Have breakfast every day.
I am very bad at this. I tend to skip my breakfast a lot. By the time I finish my morning chores I have very little time in hand for breakfast. Between school drop off and morning meetings, breakfast always takes a backseat and then by the time lunch time rolls around, I am super hungry. This year, I am going to try to prioritize my breakfast in my morning routine.
7. Try some fun baking recipes with kids
This is one of the many things that I absolutely love to do with kids. I know for sure that they definitely enjoy it. We love to bake together, try new recipes. Mihir is getting fairly independent in baking now. So, he loves to bake cupcakes and cookies. Baking with kids is the biggest stress buster for me. This year I want to try baking often with them, try new recipes, and find healthier alternatives to traditional baking ingredients. This gives me a lot of quality time with them, and I love to soak in that experience more often.
8. Try some new coffee recipes
For years, I have been telling myself that I don’t love coffee that much and I can stop drinking it. Once upon a time, when I was on a diet bandwagon and was fixated on intermittent fasting, I tried banishing coffee from my morning routine. But finally, I have come to the terms that I love that morning cup of coffee and the ambiance attached to it too much to remove it from my morning. I have finally accepted that I just love my morning coffee too much. I love sitting in my favorite spot, looking outside the window, just soaking in that peace, calmness and stillness, sipping my cup of coffee. So, now that I have accepted it, I want to try different coffee recipes that I see all over the internet. I really want to brew my coffee, try different flavors, and try making some holiday flavors at home. I just want to explore the world of coffee more this year.
9. Learn to propagate plants
I have talked about my plant collection so many times. This is the hobby that I acquired in 2020. I slowly started growing my collection of indoor plants. Most of my plants that I got in that year are still alive. I consider this a huge achievement considering my zero experience in this area. I cared for them, I got happy when my sweet little fiddle leaf fig tree spawned a new little leaf, I got sad when my moody croton plant started dropping leaves. But I started exploring plant propagation in the year 2021 and to this date, I propagated a number of pothos, zz plants and even snake plants. It feels so great to see those tiny roots shooting out in the water. It gives so much joy to see those tiny babies. I really want to learn more about propagation of different indoor plants. This is one of my bucket lists items for the year 2022.
10. Be more spontaneous
Don’t worry, I am not going to go and buy a new car, or just take a spontaneous trip or color my hair purple. I am not that adventurous. But I want to be a little more relaxed about do’s and don'ts. Being from a middle-class family, I have a very tightly coupled ideas of right and wrong. I feel really uncomfortable when unexpected, unplanned events start to take place. I want to be a little more spontaneous and start enjoying small moments without investing my energy in planning every single detail around it.
11. Write Marathi blogs/articles
This is one of my very dear dreams. I come from a small town in Maharashtra and Marathi is my first love. I absolutely love writing in Marathi, that is my comfort zone. I do have a blog where I post my Marathi articles, but it is dormant for a while. I really want to rejuvenate that blog and write more and more in Marathi and who knows, maybe it will turn into a podcast someday, hope so!!
12. Hone my speaking skills
I have been thinking of participating in speaking workshops for a long time but coming back to too much on a plate point, I never had time to actually do it. This year I am cutting down all the extra and unnecessary obligatory tasks from my plate. So, I really hope that I can spare some time to attend these workshops.
13. Give yourself more grace
Sometimes, I can be too hard on myself. I hold myself to unachievable high standards. There is no point of return once I throw myself in any task, there is no permission to fail, there is no permission to leave it halfway through, there is no permission to throw the towel. But this year, I am going to treat myself with ample grace, with all the permission in the world to try, struggle, fail and even abandon.
14. Have a little more one on one time with each kiddo.
This is a fun one. Now my kids are at that age, where both of them have their own independent personality. They have their own preference of how they want to spend time with me. Maitreyi loves to play pretend, she is my shopping buddy. Mihir loves to talk about Harry Potter for hours. He loves to go on a morning run with me. This year I am going to focus on more one-on-one time with them, just fill my cup of joy more each day.
15. Drink more water.
This is something I already do. I have a big old water bottle that holds around 50 oz of water. I fill it up at least twice every day, but weekends are my nemesis. I tend to drink far less water on weekends. This year, I want to drink more water even on weekends.
16. Continue the habit of journaling
This is another not so new habit that I started in 2020 and I am still in love with the concept of journaling. I love my morning time, it is the most peaceful time of the day, my thoughts flow fluidly. I feel centered and grounded. I love to write about things I am grateful for everyday in my journal. It makes me appreciate my life even more. So, yes, I do want to continue the habit of journaling/
17. Work on one task at a time
Here comes the difficult one. Somehow, I am not built to do one task at a time. I feel restless, I feel as if I am wasting time. But over the years, I have realized that I am much less stressed if I focus on one task at a time even when it means I might need more time to complete all my tasks. I am trying my best to focus on one task at a time and just take a breather in between tasks but yes, that is a long process to change my internal wiring that tempts me to multitask at any given opportunity, so yes, I just want to try.
18. Say Thank you more often, appreciate more
Life is absolutely beautiful, and it presents you with so many amazing opportunities, new challenges, hopes. I want to be extra thankful for those beautiful moments. I feel grateful to be surrounded by some amazing souls. My friends, family, colleagues, and of course my dear listeners, they are a big part of my life and I want to be more appreciative of them this year. I want to be thankful for what I have and what makes my simple day brighter.
19. Focus more on experiences.
Last two year, we did not travel much. We tried exploring local hikes in the summer months but that’s about it. This year, I want to explore more, travel more and focus on experiences.
20. Weekly family game night
This is my favorite time of the week. We love to play board games as a family. Every Friday night, we play board games, we fight, we laugh, we make silly jokes, and we just have a gala time. I want to enjoy these simple moments as long as possible.
21. Self-acceptance, even if it means voicing my opinions.
I am at the other end of the spectrum here. I run away from arguments; I don’t like conflicts. I am not good at voicing my opinion, especially if it is an unpopular one. So, I tend to gel in the group’s opinion but this year I want to accept myself the way I am with all my opinions and thoughts. I want to express them whenever necessary,
22. Laugh a little more, stop taking things seriously. Enjoy life more.
Finally, this is the most important thing that I want to do in 2022. I just want to enjoy the silly jokes that my kids make, I want to laugh with them forgetting all about the stressful workday. I want to sing with them at the top of my voice without judging myself. I want to play tag with them without feeling awkward. I want to enjoy my morning coffee without feeling guilty about breaking my intermittent fast. I want to laugh more, I want to enjoy more, I want to take each day with a bright smile and a cheerful mind.
So, this was my list, now it's your turn my friend. Head over to my blog. The link is in the show notes for you. You can go to the blog post and tell me all about your list in the comment section of the blog. What are your 22 things that you want to try this year? For me, 2022 is all about simplicity. It is more about less things on my plate. It is more about understanding priorities. It is about getting away from the rush. It is about less overwhelming yourself. This is the year to focus more on simplicity and mindfulness rather than overwhelming yourself with countless goals and resolutions. This year, I want you to focus more on what you have, what you want, what makes you truly happy. This year I want you to cut down all the chaos, all the clutter and focus more on the real you, without any fluff and glitter. Let this be the year of new adventures, new beginnings, new blessings, new mindsets and newly found simplicity.
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