Summing up the results of the year, we often promise ourselves in the next one to get good habits: go in for sports, eat more vegetables, be kinder. Alas, most of them remain uncrossed items on the list.
There is one trick. Concentrate not on what exactly you want to do, but on how you will do it: buy a gym membership with a colleague, walk for seasonal vegetables at the metro grocery store on Tuesdays and Fridays, stop interrupting colleagues and listen patiently mom.
Reduce the amount of plastic
Don't buy coffee and takeout tea in paper cups - they are laminated with plastic wrap to keep them from leaking, so they aren't nearly as sustainable as they seem. Present yourself for the New Year with a beautiful tumbler or thermo mug and carry them with you - in most cafes you will be poured a drink into them without any questions. Replace grocery bags with a lightweight folding string bag, and put your fruits and vegetables in mesh bags. Do not take plastic straws from the cafe (they decompose for about 400 years), but start your own - made of bamboo or steel. Instead of disposable feminine hygiene products, you can use menstrual cups that last for years. In addition to the benefits for the planet, all this is also a little bit, but it significantly saves money.
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Choose a sport to your liking and season
Can't find the motivation to go jogging on a frosty December morning? Don't beat yourself up, but don't make it an excuse to lie on the couch until spring. Find an alternative: perhaps your temperament in the cold season does not need dynamic and exhausting exercises and cardio loads, but calm energy-saving practices - yoga, tai chi or qigong - or a leisurely swim in the pool and a warm sauna after.
Reduce expectations
One of the important conditions for inner harmony is the ability to accept people and events as they are, kindly and without judgment. The first step to this is the absence of inflated expectations for others. Check yourself: do you often use statements like "she should", "he should have" in conversations or reflections? These beacons indicate that work is worthwhile to lower expectations. Try to think of an alternative in case someone does not behave the way you want. Fewer expectations mean not only less frustration, but more acceptance: by not giving people or plans unwarranted hopes, you more easily accept their weaknesses and mistakes and are less upset when situations get out of control.
Call loved ones
Yes, yes, it is to call, and not write kilometers of messages to the messenger. Hearing the voice of a person dear to you, his lively momentary emotions, jokes and laughter is priceless. Plus, it's faster than typing dozens of paragraphs, and more enjoyable than getting boring monosyllabic answers three hours after the question. Plus, this is a good reason to share your personal information and find out what is not included in social media posts.
To study
With today's abundance of online schools and learning platforms, you can find courses on even the most exotic topics and integrate the learning process into almost any lifestyle. You can upgrade your skills, learn a new profession, or develop a hobby right at breakfast, on the way to work, while jogging or cooking dinner. Whether it's the basics of a spectacular presentation, chalk lettering, Italian, pharmaceutical marketing or indoor gardening - try everything, explore different courses and find something you love. New, interesting work will not only bring joy, but also help to establish a balance between work and personal life, especially if the first one takes up most of the time.
Monitor the health
If you have not undergone a medical examination for a long time, visit a therapist who will take a history and give a list of necessary tests, studies and specialists to visit. If you do not have health complaints, it is enough to undergo annual check-ups: twice a year at the dentist, once at the gynecologist / urologist, and after 30 years at the mammologist.
Don't get tested without a doctor's referral - it's pointless. You still cannot interpret them correctly without medical education, and any small deviations from the norm (quite possibly not significant at all) found will bring only anxiety and frustration. Remember that evidence-based medicine, which relies on extensive research recognized by the international medical community, does not treat tests, but the patient.
Read more
Reading improves visual memory, increases vocabulary, develops the ability to express yourself competently and easily (including in business letters), helps to switch from routine tasks and release everyday stress. Even if you don't have time to dive into a fascinating novel with your head and disappear in it for several hours, try reading for 10-15 minutes or 20 pages before bed with dim light. This will not only relax you, but also trigger the release of the hormone melanin, which helps you get enough sleep.
Maintain order in documents
This is not the most exciting activity that will save you millions of nerve cells in the future and hours of panic in search of a passport on the eve of leaving on vacation. Buy a few resealable cardboard binders with elastic bands or zippered mesh pockets from your office supply store. Find a couple of free hours and sort all papers and documents into pre-signed folders: "important" - a passport, medical insurance, SNILS, TIN; "Money" - tax returns and receipts, contracts and checks from large purchases, letters from the bank; “Children” - and for each child it is better to have a separate name folder; "Real estate" - documents for an apartment or house, on the right of ownership and inheritance; "Job"; "Health" and others as needed. Once a month, check that all documents "live" in their folders, and return "fugitives" to their place.
Put off a little thing
Start a jar or bowl in the hallway and once a week load the change that has accumulated in your wallet into it. When the container is full, the money can be taken to the bank (the coins will have to be sorted according to their value and counted), exchanged for paper bills and deposited in a savings account. Or pour out everything accumulated into a special machine, which will calculate them by itself and transfer the entire amount (minus its commission) to your card, phone number or to a charitable foundation. In this way, you can accumulate a fairly hefty amount - for example, about 7,000 rubles in ten-ruble coins are placed in a liter jar.
Try new food once a week
New experiences brighten life, but require you to step out of your comfort zone (which, as you know, you first need to enter in order to want adventure outside of it). Diversifying the sensations of your taste buds is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to do this. Buy a beautiful recipe book and cook something with it once a week. Experiment with spices, ingredients and dressings for salads or breakfast - start with berries, nuts, and aromatic oils. Go to a previously unknown cafe every weekend. Order unusual dishes for lunch.
Write lists
As trite as it may seem, lists help out, discipline, and help save time and money. Write down a shopping list so you don't get too much in the store, especially if you suspect you're going to the supermarket on an empty stomach. A month before the major holidays, make lists of gifts. The day before going to the doctor, collect questions to a specialist in your mobile notes so that you do not forget to clarify important points - for example, is it possible to drive while taking new pills, or how the treatment is combined with sports. Create lists of recipes, movies, and books whose recommendations you like.
Put together a capsule wardrobe board on Pinterest - also sort of a list. This technique will help you identify which clothes appeal to you the most and what basic items your closet lacks to fit everything, avoiding impulsive purchases like dresses that hang motionless for years.
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Use auto payments
As soon as in your life there is a need to regularly pay for some services, set up auto payment - the bank will automatically write off money on a given date in favor of a given recipient and significantly save your time. You can set up auto payment for almost anything: from housing and communal services and mortgages to paying for a mobile and kindergarten. Auto payment to a charitable foundation is a good way to do good without any tangible damage to your wallet. Even 50 rubles a month (or a ruble a day) will help pay for the work of a nurse in a hospice or lunch for a homeless person.
Sort trash
In an ideal world (or, for example, in Scandinavia), almost all garbage is recyclable - each type of waste is sent to its own container: glass, plastic, paper, rags, food waste, unsorted. In Russia, the situation is not so rosy, but sorting even part of the garbage is quite realistic.
Find containers closest to you for collecting plastic, glass and batteries and start sorting waste from them - get your own bag or box on the balcony for each type. Remember that plastic for recycling must be handed over clean (rinse containers from food leftovers and bottles from shampoos and milk), and ceramics, crystal, light bulbs, window panes and porcelain should not be put in containers with glass. Donate unwanted clothing and shoes to those in need - this can be done at temples, social service centers, and thrift stores. Non-wearable rags are also accepted for recycling at H&M and Monki stores.
Plan your weekend in advance
There are 52 weekends in the year - not many if you think about it. Filling in the schedule for a year at once is quite difficult, so try planning your weekend at least a month in advance. Take these four weekends with trips to exhibitions and movies, travel, sports and walks, find yourself a company in advance, reserve tables in a cafe and book tickets (some are cheaper if you buy in advance).
Don't be discouraged if some of these plans don't come true - you will still have a reason to feel satisfied with your organizational skills. Even if at least one weekend does not turn into wasted days of the format “I woke up for lunch while deciding where to go, the day is already over” - this is a success, praise yourself.
Save
No matter how much we earn, everyone has a certain amount of money, which always flies away "nowhere" - for something that could be completely dispensed with. Open an additional account in your bank's mobile application: an urgent one is better (so the percentage is higher) and a rechargeable one. Set aside that very amount there (as an option, 10% of income) as soon as the salary or fee comes to the card. With such a small effort, you can almost imperceptibly accumulate a tangible financial "pillow" in six months, which can be used, for example, on vacation or treatment with an orthodontist.
There are other ways to save money. Googling discount codes before buying in online stores, using online cashback services and connecting it to bank cards, collecting stickers in grocery stores, cutting coupons from catalogs and newspapers is also not at all a shame, but it is quite reasonable and in an adult way. Even if the amount saved seems insignificant to you, there will always be those whose lives it can make a little better (see the paragraph "Use auto payments").>