No more resolutions: alarm clocks and rustic getaways

I wanted to do things a little differently this year: no big unachievable resolutions, no repenting on what I didn’t do in 2020, no judgment towards where I am and how things are in my life at the beginning of the new year. It is so easy to use the new year as an excuse to start a thousand projects that will never see the light of day, so this year I mostly focused what went well in 2020: the good habits I maintained, the new hobbies, interests and skills that I developed that I want to include in my life. Se here are five things that helped me kickstart 2021:

1. A rustic weekend getaway

On the second weekend of 2021, we took our first weekend vacation of the year to recharge our batteries. We didn’t wait for a special occasion or to be on the verge of a burnout.

A perfect weekend for the soul… We spent two nights in a rented shelter at La Vallée du Bras du Nord. No electricity or water, alone in the middle of the woods, with just a wood stove and candles. We had to pack rather lightly because the shelter isn’t accessible by car: just you, your showshoes and your backpack.

On Thursday night, we spent the evening getting our stuff ready, selecting quite wisely every meal, every piece of clothing and accessory that fit in our bags to get us through the weekend. A deck of cards, ramens, protein bars and alcohol flasks… I was so excited I had a hard time falling asleep, kind of like a kid the night before the first school day of the year. That excitement is just priceless.

Friday, we both needed to work and had a couple of things to do before we could take off, so we did. The minute we were both freed from our engagements, we took off driving with a huge smile on our faces. It was only an hour and a half drive; just enough time to listen to great music and talk a bit. It felt so good to get away together, and it really set the mood for the weekend. We were able to get to the shelter before night fell; started a fire, got into dry and warm clothes, and organized our stuff in the mezzanine where we would be sleeping.

It was just the perfect mix: romantic candle lit meals, an evening of playing cards and laughing, an active day outdoors discovering trails and scenery we hadn’t seen before and keeping each other warm at night. The feeling of waking up in the morning, alone in the middle of nowhere, with just enough water to make yourself a coffee, sore from the ramble the day before: again, priceless.

I think it will become a tradition, so that every year can start with reloaded batteries and fresh air.

2. Buying a new alarm clock

This is really not an ad in any way, it is just something that really helped me get back into my routine of getting up early. I bought this Titita alarm clock with sunrise simulation, and it changed my mornings. The reasons why it made such a difference are:

- I can leave my cellphone off, in the other room, and rely on this beauty to wake me up without setting 10 alarms. It has a snooze button but honestly, I use it less than on my cellphone and I feel that soon I won’t need it anymore.

- I can use the sunrise/sunset function to get better sleep. When I read in bed at night, I set a light level and time, and the light slowly dims until it is off. Usually, my mind turns off at right about the same time. It helps me not to read ''just one more chapter'' and end up going to sleep way too late. It's not that I usually have a hard time falling asleep, but it is such a relaxing way to fall into peaceful sleep. In the morning, the light can turn on and gradually become brighter minutes before your alarm, so that your alarm doesn’t kick you right out of deep sleep.

- The nature sounds: I would way rather wake up with the sound of birds chirping than a loud beeping alarm clock. I don’t think more explanations are needed here.

Totally an awesome buy, and I was able to get back into my habit of waking up at five am in a week instead of three. Today, I even woke up before my alarm went off because of the sunrise light, which is something that happened very rarely before.

3. Cleaning out my wardrobe and getting rid of any clothes that didn't fit anymore

I know I am probably not the only one that changed body shape during the confinement, right? Well I have a lot of clothes that don’t fit anymore. After many frustrating mornings, I realized that the most irritating part wasn’t that they don’t fit anymore, I made peace with that, but more the fact that I had to stare at them everyday. I am not a big ''fashionnista'', but I love expressing myself through my style, and I also love thrift shopping. I decided to take anything that didn’t fit (which was aboult half of my closet), put it in a storage bin, and store it at my parents' house until we move into our house in a couple of months. So now I have less clothes (I mostly wear leggings and hoodies these days, anyway), but I only have clothes that actually fit and make me feel good. I plan to work out and be more active, but if they still don’t fit when we move, I will give them out and go thrift shopping. Simple as that.

4. Using the 20-Second Rule

As stated by happiness researcher Shawn Achor: ‘’ In physics, activation energy is the initial spark needed to catalyse a reaction. The same energy, both physical and mental, is needed of people to overcome inertia and kickstart a positive habit. You need to decrease the activation energy you need to do positive habits and increase it to do negative habits. But by understanding activation energy, we can replace negative behaviors with better ones—and all in under 20 seconds.’’

Found on Samuel Thomas Davies website.

What this inspired my to do is: when I don’t feel like doing something, I take 20 seconds to change my state of mind, and I just do what I have to do. When a chore seems long or hard, and when Netflix feels very attractive instead of doing something productive, I kickstart myself. It felt crazy at first, but after a couple of times I got good at it. When I told myself: ‘’I really don’t feel like cleaning’’, I turned it into smaller chores (take out trash, clean bathroom, pick up my clothes, for example). Then I thought: ''Ok, to take out the trash, what do I need to do?''. Get up, walk to the trash can, put on my boots and jacket, take it outside, put a new bag in the trash can (so proud of myself that I almost never forget that step now). So I do the first step, getting up, which takes far less than 20 seconds. Then another step, walking to the trash can, which maybe take 30 seconds. But then, that makes the whole thing seem a lot easier. Once you are started, you can’t really stop and say: ‘’Ok this is enough, I will just stop here’’. Well you can, but honestly after the first 20 seconds, you will want to keep going so you can check something off your to-do list. I do this for everything now: divide what I have to do into small steps, and take 20 seconds to start something, and keep going.

5. Meditation, every day

I started meditating regularly last year, and it helped quite a lot with my stress, so I decided to make it part of my daily routine, and my go-to solution when I need a moment with myself. Some days, it is just 5 minutes of deep breathing, but most days I get into it and end up listening to a podcast or a youtube video, and then extend this moment by listening to instrumental music or nature sounds for a while,, studying or even working. This really centers me, and gets me to calm my chattery mind. I would have quite a lot to say about this practice, but I don’t want to get into too much detail, as I am not a ''pro'' yet. What I know is that, for me: it changes my thoughts, my mind, my mood, my emotions, my life. And there is quite a lot of free and very interesting content out there to guide you through it, and make your mind travel. I have also found I really love hypnosis sessions, and I suggest you to try it at least three times. The first time, you might be kind of confused and feel like you don't belong in that safe space. But by trying different approaches, you will probably find something you like and are comfortable with. You probably won’t be getting the full experience yet, and might have difficulty letting go... but for me, the third time was the charm! I found a podcast I love, and I was more centered than I ever was before.