RELATIONSHIPS
26 Things Every Person Should Do for Themselves Once a Year
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? Thought Catalog recently wrote a post about the 26 things every person should do for themselves at least once a year. Some of the ideas were wonderful:
* Listen to CDs you forgot about, songs from 2007 or your junior high dance. There are few things as small, inexpensive and absolutely THRILLING as your favorite 90s song playing in the background as you complete your menial tasks of the day, and there’s nothing as oddly entertaining and perplexing as listening to the songs you did in high school, or even last year. It induces that weird nostalgia that makes all the crappy stuff gently watercolored and faded into something you really think you miss for 30 seconds.
* Rearrange your space. Even if it’s just moving the TV or changing the orientation of your bed, a shift in the layout of the room you spend the most time in actually does change the way you perceive it.
* Take yourself out to dinner. Eating alone is often very calming (if you can get past the cultural notion that you should always eat with somebody, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t!). But eat dinner by yourself, at a restaurant, at least once. You’ll see what I mean.
* Visit a new city. Even if it’s small and only 30 minutes away, do what you can manage. See what hole-in-the-wall bars and small town diners and quirky coffee shops exist in places you wouldn’t have thought to look.
* Plan a date for somebody. A real date. A I made reservations here’s the dress code I will pick you up at 7 everything else is a surprise date. A plan for two weeks and get your hair cut and bring flowers and wine date. Everybody deserves to have that, and everybody should know how much time and effort and care it takes to execute.
What would you add? I’d say: Learn to tell a good joke, shower by candlelight (even a two-minute shower feels so relaxing!), replenish your underwear, tell a friend or even a stranger that they’re a good parent, and go on a rambling walk without a destination.
P.S. The trick to life, and why we sleep together.
(Photo by Nastya Jour)
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– Get your make up done by a professional, at a department store or shop. It’s fun to see what someone else will do with my face. And sometimes I learn a new trick.
– Go to a new class – I recently dropped in on a belly dancing class and loved it! I now try to go every week. I’m not good at it but it’s fun and a great core workout.
– Pick out a nice bottle of wine and open it! and pour it in to the good wine glasses…not the usual Ikea juice glass.
– Do it yourself facial at home. Get a mask, some scrubbing beans and a heavy moisturizer, lock the bathroom door and have some alone time that results in great skin. Double points for pairing this with a hair mask!
– Sit outside in the fall or winter in the sun with a blanket and read a book or just doze.
– Make an extravagant dish and eat as much as you want. Beef Bourguignon or a roast lamb or make your own gnocchi. Cooking can be so restorative and eating is even better!
I also think its fun to be a tourist in your own town, take a tour of an old place, go to the museum, spend a few hours really exploring your city. Its so easy to walk by the tourist areas and there is a reason why they are so popular so check them out for yourself.
Go away for a night, go somewhere close (think 20 minutes down the road) and spend the night there it can do wonders for your headspace. Plus you get to escape without going very far and it doesn’t need much planning at all.
Find a charity you love and get involved with them. Not just a donate money to them involved either! Actually volunteer and spend some time and get involved with the workings of it. I am a Youth Ambassador for a mental health charity (ReachOut.com) and its been the best thing ever and I love knowing that I am making difference.
Thanks for making me feel better. I would like to volunteer for our local NAMI. You gave me motivation. Thank you.
book author talks are nice, subscribe to the local bookstore mailing list already! :)
http://www.alittledailyhappiness.com/the-easiest-fancy-bread/
http://www.eclecticalu.blogspot.com