Tag: new year

7 MINIMALIST RESOLUTIONS

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A happy new year and welcome to the first entry of 2020! Let’s face it everyone is having resolutions, so are we. As a baby in minimalism, I know that I still have a lot to learn on this journey. I have taken an interest in this lifestyle from late 2018 and although I have decluttered a solid 50% of my physical belongings during 2019, I know for a fact that I still keep things and issues more than I need. As the new decade just commenced, I want to have a plan and take it farther as a minimalism adapter. If you have taken an interest in reading this and the idea of minimalism resonates with you, thank you! Here are my 7 resolutions in the realm of minimalism. I hope you can take something with you and that this makes sense to you the way it does to me.

1. Only Own One Of Rule

Avoiding duplicates. I am still working on this. Seeing my pens, notebooks, journals, shoes, the list can go longer. I still hoard them for the reason that I can’t just throw them away. I need to do something about it. We don’t need that many pens and shoes unless we use each of them every day which is way far from possible.

2. Invest in Quality over Quantity

To name a few: tackling tasks, clothing, relationships. From day 1 at school, I was taught to multi-task and put my eggs in multiple baskets but I absolutely don’t have to if I don’t need to. What I want to do is prioritize, keep the things that will last longer, and have anything that I’ll get sufficient use out of. The rest is just clutter.

3. No Buy Challenge 

Setting a goal not to spend money for a day, a week or even months. Say, for example, bringing packed lunch at work or fight the aching desire to eat out because I’m too tired to prepare a meal at home. Commit to no shopping for a month or 3, or just being intentional about the things I want to bring in my space.

4. Say No

This one I struggled for as long as I can remember and honestly, I still do. I will feel bad if I say no like 80% of the time so I ended up saying yes anyway, which can be destructive sometimes to my health, my values and my goals. I will make it a goal for 2020 to be comfortable saying no to things that don’t make me feel good, don’t benefit me and don’t serve a purpose.

5. Create a Routine 

Routine is a good kickoff start in forming a habit. On my day off is when I re-visit my to-do list for the entire week/month and tackle my calendar for appointments and deadlines. I will try to schedule my work-related meetings and whatnot at work. Basically, all things related to my fulltime job will be done during workdays and personal matters will be done at home during days off. I want to focus on work and not be distracted with personal issues and the same thing goes if I have a rest day. I also have started to schedule to water my plants (very important) so I don’t mess up the days’ intervals and eventually kill my plants.  I do flip with these routines sometimes especially when I am too tired but I will make it happen, master them, and eventually able to do it by default.

6. Limit Plastic Use

Okay, you don’t need to go blown-out zero waste but at least make an effort to minimize it. I am so pleased I have cut down my plastic use to 50% if not more for the entire 2019. This as well doesn’t mean you have to discard all your plastic belongings and change to glass containers or other sustainable alternatives. That again defeats the idea of having plastic as waste. Continue using them until their last life and try not to acquire additional plastics. If I’m needing for a certain thing to buy and its wrap in plastic I would look for an alternative, whether it’s in a glass container or I buy it in bulk and popped out my reusable bags. I can only count with my fingers the amount of time I have been in a coffee shop and had single-use cups for the whole 2019 and I always have a stainless steel fork in my bag that comes in handy for whenever my colleagues and I eat out after work. If you can’t avoid ordering food out at least refuse to have the plastic cutlery and condiments then use your utensils at home. If you buy a single item in a shop, ditch the plastic bag and pop it in your handbag or just hold it as it is. I always do that, it doesn’t hurt. Although sometimes it’s hard to try to go grocery shopping without plastic at all, this 2020 we’ll try harder.

7. Simplify Food 

The first point is to go back to basics. Fresh produce and less processed food. I know that ready to go food comes with convenience because I actually do but it’s not healthy in the long run. Not healthy for your body, your wallet, and the environment. Opt for simple food that is nutrient-dense and ditch junk food. Vegetables are doable and you don’t have to make it too complicated with all the seasonings and grillings. I don’t go crazy with them because I think its unnecessary, but if you do then, by all means, you do you no judgment just make it simple with your own definition of simplicity. About minimalism with food, it doesn’t mean you have to eat less at all. It means we should only eat what our body needs with a bit of sustainability. For 2020 let’s make it a mission to keep it simple and only consume healthier food.

Life is too short to do things we don’t need and don’t serve a purpose. Focus your energy on people, things, and experiences that matter and make you happy. Now is the time to drop everything that is not working for you because you glow differently when you’re doing better.

Let’s make 2020 simple!

Love,

Jinky xx

 

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7 BAD HABITS TO BREAK IN 2019

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I’m sharing 7 habits to break in 2019. These are bad habits that I myself sometimes consciously do and I thought I’d share these with you as food for thought and potentially as an inspiration for one another to set on a good start this new year. Let’s get into it.

1. Showing Up Late

Showing up late would have to be on top of the list. You have no idea how bad I am in showing up on time in every get together with friends, meeting a friend, work meetings, and appointments. Thank goodness, I have not missed any interviews yet. I will make it a mission to break this habit in 2019. This is probably so annoying on so many levels to other people because If I were the one waiting, I’ll get annoyed, too. Your friends will have to adjust to you because you’re late and that is not a good impression to have nor a good start for a new year.

2. Excessive Worrying

Worrying is feeling troubled or uncomfortable and being overly concerned about a situation or problem. I don’t like things being not perfect the way I wanted them. Thus, over-worrying is the norm for me. Sometimes I’ll realize it sometimes I won’t and it just keeps happening. I know life or every single day rather is full of uncertainties and if we spend our time worrying we will miss out on things that we should be focussing instead. Our brain is so powerful that what we think and what we obsess on will grow and develop. If you worry about the things that could go wrong, it might go wrong. Over-worrying will just attract more worry and you’ll be trapped in this entire same cycle. So, this year we have to stop worrying about things more than we should and redirect our way of thinking and focus on what we can do to address the things that keep us worried. Lastly, the effects are not healthy at all; less sleep, irritability, emotional exaustion, unrealistic fear, the feeling of everything is just not working and everyone is annoying. Haha.

3. Saying bad things to myself

I look at myself in the mirror and I can instantly point out the things I don’t like about my self physically (like how short I am and my eye bags) instead of honouring what I have and recognising the values I have personally that I should be proud of. Not to mention the comments I gave myself everytime I screwed up or failed. Ironically, I can support and motivate myself in doing what I want to do and I can blame myself as much without second-guessing if I have not performed well. If you’re someone like me, this has to stop. Everywhere you can see self-care and self-love are being raised for awareness because it’s obvious that sometimes we need to be reminded that we are amazing just the way we are. I believe that practising self-love is very important because of how we are within ourselves contributes immensely to how we present or express ourselves out into the universe. That being said, the idea of talking bad things to yourself as well as self-blame in every realm of life possible contradicts that notion. I am aware that sometimes this can appear lame but it’s actually true. You can’t be nice to anyone if you aren’t with yourself and how can you compliment others and can’t compliment yourself? It takes practice, I myself included should do so and today can be the first day of many.

4. Not Exercising

Trust me I get a burst of energy and motivation when it’s a good day and some days I just don’t. I have no idea why. This year I will try harder to stop me from making excuses not to work out. There are multiple benefits you can get even in just doing simple exercise and stretches. To name a few; back pain relief, helps with muscle spasm, weight loss, improves your mood, and make your heart stronger (no pun intended). No need for a gym membership or fancy work out gears and whatnot. Just do your daily stretch and exercise as much as you can and wherever you can.

5. Impulsive Buying

Don’t be fooled by sales and offers at the mall. I’ll be lying if I’ll say I wasn’t. But if your aim is to help them skyrocket their sales, then feel free. Haha. When I started sorting out the things I need from the things I owned, it hit me. I can’t believe the money, energy, and time I have wasted every time I saw that red tags with 70% or 50% off on it. I have started breaking this habit later of 2018 and planning to completely break it this year. Think about the time you need to clean if you own a lot of things, the time you spend to think what to wear if you have a lot of clothes. And this can’t be just me, have you noticed that even though you have literally tons of clothes, you somehow managed to think you have nothing to wear thus you need to buy new ones. If you wanna buy something, delay buying it. You might be surprised that the next day you no longer want the thing you wanted the other day. Lastly, the thing about sales or offers is that you’re not actually saving money but spending more money buying things more than you actually need.

6. Gossiping and Complaining

I’m so guilty of this. Haha. I get that we are not perfect so as the people around us and those days that are just the “unlucky days”. I complain less now than before, which is I think is progress. If you’re a person who complains a lot over silly things that shouldn’t be attended really, know that it’s bad for your health as well as to the people around you who are unlucky enough to hear you always complain. The more you complain the more you are attracting negative vibes and negative people into your life. If you just think about it, you have way too many reasons to be thankful for. Okay, this doesn’t mean we can’t have negative thoughts but we can try to just keep them to ourselves and not putting it out there for people to know and feel uncomfortable, too. Gossiping is a bad habit I want to break, too. Please don’t be so quick to judge me. I don’t gossip big time, it’s just that sometimes we can’t contain ourselves talking about other people’s lives. It would be nicer if we can just talk about the good in them and how they’ve succeeded in inspiring us by example.

7. Excessive use of phone

Lastly but by no means least, excessive use of phone. I myself might also be doing this way more than I should sometimes, but I’ll take credit in knowing when I should and when I should really not. When you’re with your friends or loved ones, put down your phone or excuse yourself if you have to answer an important call. The fact that they gave you their time makes them more than deserving of the time you spent scrolling your phone, too. Be present, engage in the conversation, and update each other. Believe me, It will make them happy, feel appreciated and respected, and you get to be “that friend” who isn’t always on his/her phone. The other reason aside from saving money, why I don’t use data on my phone every time I’m out is that it will give me no reason to use my phone. If I’m out with friends, okay I’ll snap a pic or two and then I want to have fun. If I’m alone, I want to think and unwind otherwise I will not go out if I only have to be on my phone.

That is all the habits I want to break this year. I wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year. Let’s have a fresh start and welcome the 364 days with hundreds of new chances not only for changing our habits but for literally everything. Let’s make 2019 better together! Thank you so much for stopping by. Cheers!

Love,

Jinky xx