Sustainable goals for the new year.

Wake up early. Drink coffee. Work hard. Be ambitious. Keep your priorities straight, your mind right and your head up. Do well, live well and dress well. Do what you love, love what you do. It’s time to start living. With the new years coming up tomorrow, ask yourself, how many times do we make these lists of goal and habits we aspire to be consistent with, just for it to fall off within a few weeks or months?

The problem is that we try to do so much, we look at others and aspire to be where they are and try to do things which may work for their lifestyle but not necessarily work for us. But every morning we get a chance to be different. A change to change, a chance to be better. Ignore all the past new year efforts, your past is your past, leave it there. Get on with the future part. Sometimes you just need to have things be and continue and keep yourself together no matter what life hits you with.

Fall in love with the process of becoming the best version of yourself.

Here’s the thing, if you don’t go after what you want, you’l never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer will always be no. If you don’t step forward, you’ll always be in the same pace. Never regret a day in your life, good days give happiness, bad days give experince, worst days give lessons and best days give memories.

We have to take life day by day and be greatful for the little things. Don’t get caught up in what you can’t control because truth be told there is gonna be a lot of it. Do your best to focus on the positive and there comes a day when you realize turning the page is the best feelig in the world-because you realize there’s so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on.

So start today. Close your eyes and imagine the best version of you possible. Become the person you would ideally fall in love with and take small steps to make that happen for you. Who is that person? (Sometimes you have to stop being scared and just go for it, either it will work out or it won’t thats life.) If you want to move a higher level of life, you have to be willing to let go of some of your old ways of thinking and being and adopt new ones, the resuts will eventually speak for themselves.

With this perspective in mind, (because trust me, a beautiful day starts with a beautiful mindseet. when you wake up, take a second to think about what a privlage it is to simply be alive and healthy. the moment you start acting like life is a blessing, it’ll eventually start feeling like one. time spend appreciating is time worth living) let’s move forwards. There’s this things that floats around social media which says:

“Find three hobbies you love, one to make you money, one to keep you in shape and one to be creative” and I really love that holistic approach and truly I think that’s how all of our goals should be, things which allow us to become happier, healthier, holistic and overall just a better version of ourselves. But remember, we plan and God plans and life won’t always go as planned but look at the unknown as a means of endless possibilities instead of a scary uncertainty. Just look at how the pandemic came and changed our whole worlds around, and just how you learned to change, grow and adapt, you’ll do it again, you got this. You can’t just go from A to Z , you have to get from point A to point B to point C. Take it all one small consistent step at a time.

So. Here’s a list of sustainable tasks and goals which I feel like many of you can take from and implement into your lives or take inspiration from:

  • Go through your closet and home once a month and donate things which you no longer care for, use, need etc
  • Take more walks, everyday for maybe 5-10 minutes, force yourself to step outside, get some sun and fresh air.
  • Go to bed earlier and wake up earlier
  • Be current about surrent events, be it listening to the news on your way to work on the radio etc.
  • Add more fruits and veggies to your diet
  • Explore more hobbies and take steps to learn a new skill
  • Empty out and look through your pictures (you can upload them onto Google Photos so you can clear them from your phone) and apps one a month
  • Finish a book a week/month, even if it’s reading a couple pages a day or other day
  • Ease off of electronics before bed and right as you wake up
  • Start therapy, everyone can benefit from it
  • Find a place to volunteer at
  • Try to be nomre mindful of how much water you’re drinking
  • Take a course/class that you’re not required to (be it for self betterment, enlightenment etc.)
  • Become a plant owner
  • Start something that you and your partner or sibling or best friend do together on a regular basis
  • Take the stairs more
  • Get into journalling/have a brain dump (where you just write anything and everything that comes to mind) regularly
  • Figure out a cleaning schedule for your space where you do a little a day
  • Join a book/reading club
  • Cook/bake one new thing a week/every other week
  • Build a budget and figure out numbers that work for you
  • Find ways to simpify your day
  • Have a planner
  • Make daily to-do lists
  • Workout at least 2-3x a week
  • Embrace loneliness (reinvent yourself, go out and chill by a late, go out to eat by yourself, get comfortable in doing things by yourself without feeling lonely)
  • Say goodbye to people to the people that don’t bring positive energy into your life.
  • Set internet controls and limits on socials
  • Be mindful and weed out bad language. It only creates tension in your ming and body.
  • Say “thank you” instead of “sorry” (thank you for waiting for me instead of sorry for being late)
  • Start saying “no” and setting boundaries + sticking with them
  • Smile at strangers
  • Delete unused apps and undeeded texts
  • Slow down more, pay attention and be present more
  • Eat at least one meal a day with someone/without screens
  • Admire the moon, sun, stars, sunsets etc often, understand how immense the universe is and adimire life more
  • Compliment people more randomly
  • Listen to podcasts/audiobooks (I have one called aisha speaks on spotify, google/apple podcasts)
  • Take your vitamins
  • Get in 10,000 steps daily
  • Take care of your skin and body
  • Donate one thing for one thing you buy so that you have things you truly love and value
  • Stretch daily
  • Connect with people you love, value and make you love who you are when you’re with them
  • Let go of worrying about what peoplee think of you
  • Fast a few times a week or month
  • Study yourself, your toxic traits, attachment styles etc and learn ways to rid of your negatives
  • Ditch a bad habit
  • Call your parents/family more
  • Pay it forward more
  • Go on a road trip

Honestly the list can go on and on so share some of your goals below. Here’s a fun little template you can fill out as a starting point:

Remember that growth isn’t always constant, relapse happen. You’re not back at square one, your growth prior to your relapse isn’t erase. Take your time, don’t be so hard on yourself, you’ll be okay. Remember, most of your stress comes from the way you respond, not the way life is. Adjust your attitude. Change how you see things. Look for the good in all situations. Take the lesson and find the new opportunities to grow. Let all the extra stress, worrying and overthinking go.

I’m gonna end off with saying this: whatever stage of life you’re in, don’t treat it like a transitroy period. Don’t waste your college years wishing to already have graduated and having a job. Don’t waste your single years wishing for someone to be in love with. If/when those things come, they will come in due time and they’ll be good. There is nothing like looking back and feeling empty beacuse you wasted literal years ignoring what you had because you were hoping for something better. While it’s important to better yourself and use your goals, don’t neglect the present because that’s where you are now and it’s your now that determines your future.

Take care loves. I pray your years are filled with so much love, wisdom, guidance, growth, strength, ease and mercy ameen.

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