How to Live Your Best Year Yet

Year 2020 I decided not to take a word as my mantra like I had last year. I just felt that there is no need to have a word. Instead of a word I wanted to go through these 12 points I see that you can live your best year yet. 2020 is going to be the best year yet to me and to you.

Here are my 12 tips to get this year for the best start and make it truly one to remember for all the right reasons.

Lets Be Kind to Each Other

It doesn’t cost anything. It’s us being kind to each other. Whether it’s your partner, your husband, your friend, your mother, your aunt, your neighbour, let’s just be kind.

Let’s not bring those negative thoughts and verbalize them and talk bad things about neighbours or friends or the husband’s best friend’s wife, whoever just don’t, to speak kind to one another.

Reading Books Instead Social Media

I’ve gone through about this in my previous bonus episode about the PISA results, so you can go there and check what I talk about social media and children there. But it comes out as adults as well. like reading books, I know it’s old fashioned.

[bctt tweet=”Reading a book is actually relaxing because you’re not,staring at the screen because the screen is a distraction” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

And, and reading a book, you can actually have something physical in your hand. And that’s a sensory experience as well. Living best year yet gives you more sensory experiences than just digital junk.

Modestly Instead of Indulging

What else can we do to have a best year yet? Modesty in life is not having to buy the newest thing, the newest car the newest fashion items, the newest lipstick or the newest toy.

Modesty could be clothing, modest cooking what is living there’s lots of ways you can apply this your life modest way of talking. So we don’t have to indulge on every weekend just be rather than grave the next best thing that we might not even really actually want but not really need.

Writing Old Fashioned Letters

Like Hello, when was the last time you did anything like writing a letter? I actually wrote few postcards this Christmas. It really felt that I needed to write those and put my thoughts in writing rather than sending impersonal message on Facebook or Whats Up.

I just wanted to say that I hear you. I know you’re going through a rough time, and I’m here for you and I’m listening you. Writing letters is that

[bctt tweet=”you can feel them and they feel much personal than that the text message that you send to your friend.” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

You can smell them, you can feel them, you can touch them. Would you not be excited if someone send you a letter? I would. That would be my best year yet.

Home Made Cooking Over Take-Away

Homemade cooking always brings me joy because I love cooking. Let me tell you a story here. Our oven broke down three days before Christmas as I was doing gingerbread biscuits and sparks starred flying over in my oven.

I was like no! And you know you’re not going to get a replacement before Christmas and get an electrician to come on install it. So we had to be incredibly creative with the Christmas dinner but that’s all right. We survived and it was very homemade cooking.

Home cooking can be a social event. It can be having people coming out, and you cook together and make this big family meal and you have your friends and your neighbors coming in.

Let’s make homemade meals because they’re healthy and make it a social event as well. It wins take away any time of the day and makes this your best year yet. You can listen to my  Clean Living Episode 62 more about home cooking and then there’s another one The Imperfect Clean Living with Kids  Episode 76 that you can listen.

Keeping Promises

I know, I know this sounds really like what you mean keeping promises, but you know we have the habit of saying to people. Yeah, yep, I will do that in a moment. Or you say your kids. Yep, yep, you can do that.

And then we realized that no you can’t. Or we promise a friend to contact them about the lunch date. But then life just goes by and slip through our fingers and we never get to do it.

[bctt tweet=”Keep your Promises, promises to yourself when you say I’m going to have a good year this year.” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

This year, I’m going to do all those things that I have been wanting to do for so long. I will start these small little steps. Keep those promises to yourself and keep the promises that you give to your children and to your family or friends.

Eye Contact

How many of you who was listening this have difficulty looking people in the eye when you speak to them? When you can look people in the eye? When you talking to them? Are you lying? Are you nervous? Or you just find it difficult of doing it or it’s just a habit that you don’t look people in the eye?

Eye contact when you’re looking at people it makes you a little bit vulnerable doesn’t it? You feel a little bit like you open yourself up to people and they can judge you because you’re looking at them and they are looking at you.

Ignore the phone, don’t look at the phone. Look at people when they talk to you. When you are actually in the presence with people look at them. Keep eye contact with them.

Long Walks

Okay, I love long walks like it’s something about invigorating your soul and this morning first of January 2020 I walked to the beach. I wake up about six o’clock and I walked to the beach, and I felt so good.

Like I was just sitting on a steps by the beach listening to the noises and looking at the people walking the beach and feeling like, life is so good. Best thing you can do for yourself is to take a long walk.

[bctt tweet=”Long walks are known to actually help you physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically.” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

I do talk about long walks in Episode 60, Scandinavian Minimalism as a lifestyle, because in Scandinavia, we love walking.

We love hiking and going out there and staying outdoors. And yeah, this comes back to that long walks. They are invigorating and relaxing. And I don’t know what you can do without them to be honest.

Sharing Knowledge and Supporting One Another

So sharing knowledge particularly when you are in a space of starting something new and you are craving knowledge from other people. For example starting a business or starting a hobby.

You have to rely on other people, whether it’s digitally or whether it’s physically. We are more stronger and united if we share that knowledge with other people.

Listening

When I started my podcasting career I was not a very good listener. When I go back and listen to my old interviews. I really struggled keeping myself quiet, but it’s a skill and it’s not just when you do podcast it but when you’re speaking with people, listen to them.

It is a rare gift to have, the ability to listen to other people. You can practice on front of the mirror, that is what I have done. You can hear me on those interviews being active listeners with um and am etc.

But you can apply listening to your life in general. Listen to your body, what your body is telling you, where you are with your body. What do you need to improve ? What you need to eat less or more? Do you need to exercise less or more ? Best year yet comes when you listen.

Listening the noises around you. Listen to noises on your long walk in outside there in the forest or the beach. Listen to the noises. Listening is important. Not just making noises but listening.

Fixing What Was Broken

[bctt tweet=”Do we need to buy the new thing every time something is broken?” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

This is good question when our oven broke the first thing we were looking at. Can we change the what was broken in the oven and the heating element on top of the oven? We came to the conclusion that yes and no.

We can change it but we need electrician. Because we are going do renovations in the house and we were going to get a new oven anyway. Okay, let’s just get the new oven now.

But we’re still going to make use of that oven because we’re going to take it to the recycling. So that all the metal from the oven is going to be recycled, so it’s not going to go to waste.

Is it something that can be recycled? Most of the things can be recycled. I talked about this and the sustainability part the more in my Episode 80 5 Scandi Habits You Should Adopt.

Face To Face Socialising

Hello dinner parties, barbecues, picnics going off for a coffee, lunch, dinner, having a pyjama party for kids whatever it is that you do.

[bctt tweet=”Do we need more face to face socializing?” username=”thenordicmumpodcas”].

I know we do those text messages. We do Skype, instagramming and facetime. But nothing beats actually getting get together with friends or just one on one with your best buddy and nattering about life. Just going places and meeting people. Again, you can apply this a very different ways depending where you are with your life.

Extra Tip to Make This The Best Year Yet

My extra tip on getting started on these, take one or two of these and start with them. For example, if you want to write that letter to your granny who is on the care home, other side of the country. Start thinking about the letter.

If you can write the letter right away it’s perfect. But if you can not do it right away, start thinking that thing that you want to change that one behaviour that you want to do. Like the letter. Think about it every day. Make your mind work for you and make it happen.

Connect With Me

You can connect with me on the following social platforms.

Facebook: @NordicMumSusanna
Instagram: @thenordicmum
Pinterest:@thenordicmum
Twitter: @NordicMumPodcas

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