More or Less

Are you a New year’s resolution type or are do you think fresh starts on January 1st is cliche?

I’ll admit that I’m quite susceptible to wanting a fresh start come January. I’m satisfied with how 2023 ended but I know there’s some tweaks I could make to truly feel fulfilled this year. As the clock ticks closer to midnight on December 31st I inevitably find myself asking the question, “What do I want next year?”. Brandon and I worked on a puzzle at the table together on New Year’s Eve. While peacefully sitting there working pieces into the bigger picture I thought, “I think in 2024 I’m going to shift my focus from lofty goals to something more achievable for my personality type.”

I’m adopting a more of this/less of that mentality. More travel/Less spending, More creativity, Less scrolling, More getting outside/Less excuses. I have these more/less goals written down in a journal. Some will take effort to achieve, some are a pretty simple change in mindset.

I have a feeling that as I continue this self reflection throughout the year I’ll notice more things in my life that I want more of or less of and I plan to continue adding to the list as the year goes on. The key to all of this will be to actually put into practice what I’m wanting more of and quickly placing boundaries or making changes around the things that I want less of in my life.

While discussing this with my friend during a walk I described it as simply a way to help me make daily decisions. In recent years I’ve heard the term decision fatigue thrown around. If you haven’t heard the term it’s (according to this article) a phenomenon where the more decisions a person makes over the course of a day, the more physically, mentally and emotionally depleted they become.

This can ring true for anyone. From someone in the full time work force like Brandon to a stay home mom like me. I’ll speak on my own experience because that’s what I know and they may seem silly once I write them down but if you’re a wife or mother you may be able to relate, so here it goes.

Any given day I’m making loads of decisions from what I’m going to wear to what I’ll eat for breakfast, what needs attention around our home, what after school activities might Felicity want to do, our weekly meal plan, groceries to purchase, how to show my family, friends and community my love. Then I dive into what creative project do I want to start or need to finish, what should I be better about today? How am I taking care of myself today? etc.

If I have a general More of this Less of that criteria I can run all my decisions through that as a sort of filter.

“Do I really want to purchase this item or should I continue to save and put funds towards travel since that’s what I really want more of this year? “

“Do I really want to take on this extra commitment, or am I better off filling my time with my current hobbies since I want to finish off more of the projects I’ve started?”

“Do I really want to sleep in, or do I want to get outside and walk since I decided I wanted more outside time this year?”

“Do I really want to eat this or do I want less days feeling crummy?”

Make sense? We’ll see if it works long term! So far it’s really seemed to help in my day to day decision making. Each decision is made with my priorities in mind, thus placing small decisions into a bigger picture like puzzle pieces fitting together to create my ideal life.