At the beginning of the year, I started my 24 in ’24 project which I described in Episode 41 of Adventures With My Forties. Here is the list of the projects I hoped to tackled in 2024, and in this week’s episode, I discuss what I actually accomplished. Spoiler alert: I didn’t cross many items off my list because the magic of my Read Around the World quest and Brazil intervened (but I’m not complaining!)
The Transcript (this is my first time ever posting a transcript – yay, I finally figured it out! Though it also feels super awkward to read back the script of what I said. But I embracing the cringe, releasing perfectionism, and sharing the transcript) (perhaps I need to come up with a little art to introduce the transcript?)
Hello, listeners, it’s time for another episode of Adventures with My Forties.
I’m your host, Courtney Henning-Novak, and this is episode 53, 24 in 24, The Good, The Bad, The Brazilian Magic.
It is less than a week to Christmas, or is it a week to Christmas?
It’s December 19th.
Oh yeah, I think it’s a week to Christmas, and I’m losing all sense of time, because it feels like December 2nd, and yet it also feels like February 28th.
But I decided I needed to just ignore my to-do list for a little bit, and take some time to reflect on the year.
This is the weird thing about December, especially now that I have children, because December has the Christmas holidays, or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, it’s just this massive holiday season, but then it’s also the end of the year, which is a nice time for reflection.
And I feel very torn in two directions, because as I’m taking off so much off my to-do list, and since we’re going to Nebraska on Saturday, I’ve had to get everything done sooner.
And I would have liked to have start sooner, but that’s just not mom life for me.
There’s always something going on.
So it’s not like I can start preparing for Christmas in July.
So I’m not gonna do that rant right now.
There’s so many rants I can do, let’s just save it for another day.
But I’m so busy getting stuff done.
But whenever I go on social media, it’s people doing like their, well, and that wraps up 24.
And they do like the 24 season, and that music starts playing, and it shows like all the photos of the year.
And I’m like, how are we doing year end reviews when there’s so much busyness and still so much of 24 left for me to do?
But I decided, okay, I have had plenty of holiday energy.
I can take an hour of my week to get some reflecting end of the year energy.
So here we are, embracing the weirdness of December.
Although I really do wish that December was like one week longer or Christmas was one week earlier so that we had the holidays and then we had just like two solid weeks of like quiet and reflection and de-cluttering.
I know we do spring cleaning, but there’s part of me that just wishes I could start like 2025 with a fresh slate.
So all right, what I like to do now is talk about my 24 and 24 project.
I did an episode about this back at the beginning of the year, or maybe it was the end of 23.
Anyway, it’s episode 41, and I introduced my 24 and 24.
This is a momentum tool that I have been using for several years now.
And I got the idea for this from Gretchen Rubin’s work.
She has this amazing podcast called Happier that I love, and she and her sister, every year, they come up with 21 and 21, 22 and 22, so forth, and they come up with a list.
It’s like a to-do list, but also a want to do list, and they never get everything done.
It’s just there to see what they actually do get done and what they, like, they don’t get done.
And it’s like a fun process, and like, I think of it as a momentum tool.
A momentum, very important to me.
I know that if I just sit around wallowing and rotting for too long, it’s just easier to keep wallowing and rotting, and building momentum is something I’m always aware of.
All right, so I’m going to go through my list of 24 and 24.
Spoiler alert, most of it did not happen, but I still love doing this.
So let’s see what I did.
Number one was no soda or caffeine for the entire year.
And this lasted, I kept track of it, and it lasted until June 3rd.
Then I had a caffeine-free diet soda at the movies, and I wrote in my notes that it wasn’t as good as I remembered.
But I got back on soda very quickly, and I’m drinking a Coke Zero right now, and it’s delicious.
And by the time we went to Rushmore in August, I was fully back on soda and caffeine.
And you know what?
It’s my heroine, but at least it’s not heroin.
So I tried, I think I am going to have…
I know, I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with soda and caffeine since I was a high school student, and since the first time I tried to quit my first year of college.
And it’s just something I have to be aware of, and I’m just glad it’s not something like cigarettes or alcohol.
This is totally manageable and socially acceptable.
So there we are.
Number two, take an introductory class at a rock climbing gym.
Nope, didn’t happen.
Oh, well.
Number three, read 100 books.
I have bypassed 100.
I think I’m at…
Oh my gosh, I haven’t checked on Goodreads.
Goodreads said yesterday I was on track to read 120 this year, which is just insane.
But it is because of…
Where am I at?
Yeah, I’ve read 116 books as of December 19th.
I think a thing that has really helped is with the Read Around the World Challenge.
A lot of the books I’ve read, the book that was available for the country was short.
I read a lot more novellas this year than I have in years past.
So, love my reading.
And with my Read Around the World journey, I just finished Estonia.
So I read 50 books so far from of the 116 books I’ve read this year.
So the other books I’ve read, I’ll have to do a breakdown and do it on like TikTok.
The other books I read that would have been mostly audio books, though there were several books for my Brazilian side quests that would have been like the actual physical book.
And there were a few fun physical books thrown in.
I mean, the Read Around the World was the main fun though.
Okay, number four, attend 100 hot yoga classes.
As of recording, I’ve made it to 84.
It was 70 in 2023, so I made it to more classes this year.
It’s just mom life.
Like I would have been at 85 already, but I had two sick kids home on Monday from school, so my Monday class didn’t happen.
There’s just, you know, I think I’m just gonna keep having the 100 yoga classes be my goal, and one of these years, I will hit it, because every year of motherhood does get a little easier.
All right, number five, right?
The rough draft of my third novel, and I did.
It’s a book for my kids.
I assumed I’d be writing a book in my Motherhood Circus series, book three, but instead I decided to write a book for my kids.
It’s about pirates and vikings and magic, and I got that rough draft done.
Revising it has been a slower process than I would have anticipated because of the Read Around the World project has taken off, but that’s okay.
That’s the magic of life and my muse, and I have to let these adventures unspool as they will.
Number six was paint a room in our house or the front door or the back wall in our garden area, and I did the back wall.
It was this bare concrete wall covered in some stains, and I had to get a lot of landscaping that was dying, pulled out, and I painted the back wall dark gray, and it looks great, and I love it, and I think I’m never doing that again.
Until my kids are grown, I have come to terms with the fact that being a mom takes up so much of my time, that there’s just only so many hours to be creative.
And if being a do-it-yourself goddess was my main outlet for creativity, great, I’d be painting rooms.
But I’m a writer, I’m a podcaster, I’m a content creator, and right now, my do-it-yourself project is raising two humans.
So the next time something in the house requires painting, I’m going to pay someone to do it.
And I do enjoy painting, so when the kids are older, maybe they’ll help me do some painting projects.
Every year, motherhood just changes and levels up, but I am not setting any painting goals for 2025, except maybe painting furniture, because that’s such a smaller project with such less prep.
All right, number seven, try 24 new recipes.
My goal was to try 23 and 23 new recipes.
That didn’t happen, so I gave it another go, and I stopped keeping track at 10 new recipes, and that was before the mid-year mark.
And I don’t think I’ve tried many new recipes since then, but, you know, it is what it is.
Number eight was record an audiobook.
I looked into this and determined that it was too daunting a task for me to undertake solo.
So this is something I’m going to wait on until I’m working with a traditional publisher later in my career.
Or maybe I’ll record, but not thinking that it’ll be uploaded to sources like Audible, but will just be released like on a podcast or as on YouTube, something where a little like slightly lower quality is allowed.
Because when I found myself researching how to build a home recording studio, then it’s like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
I do not have time for that.
All right, so number nine was get 52 mega nature doses.
So for me, taking a neighborhood walk would not count.
Things that counted towards mega nature doses would be hikes, or beach stays, or walks at botanical gardens.
We have three major ones in the Pasadena area.
Anything that got me out of city mood and into the healing presence of mother nature, I made it to 35.
And I think I maybe missed recording a couple.
And the 35 that I did record included three full days in South Dakota, which were practically like day long doses of nature because we were just out there in the woods and the badlands and just out there in incredible like expansive beauty.
So didn’t make it to 52, but I got a lot of nature doses, which is so healing and great.
So love that one.
Number ten was make a five year plan.
I didn’t do this.
And now after everything that has happened this year, I’m like, why would I make a five year plan?
Because my 2024 started, and I had no idea my Read Around the World project was going to gain so many followers that I was going to have a Brazilian side quest, that I’d be learning Portuguese, that I’d get to go to Brazil to speak at a literary festival.
So to me, the idea of making a five year plan, it’s like, I guess I would just do that to amuse my muse.
Who would just be laughing at me, like, look at the silly human thinking she can plan five years of life.
So didn’t do that.
I’m just sort of laughing at myself.
The naivety I had at the beginning of the year thinking like, I can plan out five years.
Nope.
Number 11 was complete 24 craft projects, which was another do over from 2023.
I had fun trying, and I stopped.
I hit 10 projects as of April, and then the magic of the reading around the world quest really took off with like Brazil, and I just stopped even thinking about this one.
I know I’ve completed other craft projects beyond the 10, and I craft almost daily.
I do a lot of cross stitch or crochet that takes a long time.
So for me, trying to hit a high number, it doesn’t really make sense for me.
I’ve realized I have incorporated crafting into my daily life.
It’s part of my self-care routine, and it’s like an extension of myself.
Like, I’m going to Julian’s holiday concert this afternoon, and hell yes, I will be bringing a cross stitch project, and sitting somewhere in the back cafeteria area where it’s lit, and doing stitching, while the classes that aren’t his are singing.
And when seats have cleared, and it’s almost time for third grade, then I will put my craft away and go up, because that is my self care.
All right, number 12 was help the kids prepare a family meal once a month.
They really were into this.
They each wanted to turn up making a family meal.
They each wanted to pick a recipe, and then prepare it for dinner or breakfast.
And we did this until March, and I realized it was going to give me a nervous breakdown.
It was, the point of the project was fun, and it turned into stress.
First off, my kids are already busy kids.
Sorry, I need a Coke Zero sip to clear my throat.
Much better.
So, they’re already busy humans, and I’m a busy human.
And they were, they took it so seriously.
They always wanted to do so much research, and they would not do it solo.
I’d be like, here is your, we have multiple children’s cookbooks.
I’d be like, look for the cookbook.
I want to do it with you.
I don’t want it from the children.
It just became so much.
And then they would always want it to be a recipe that I hadn’t done yet.
And so we’d get into it, and then I’d be like, holy shit, I have no idea how long this project takes.
And now I’m adding in the element of teaching a small human.
So I’m like, kids, you can help me in the kitchen.
When you come in to help, I can give you tasks, and this is how you learn.
And it is, I’m so glad I abandoned that project.
It was, the project 24 in 24 was to have fun and play and momentum, not stress.
So ditch that.
Number 13 was plan a family trip to the Grand Canyon.
I did a little research, and then we ended up deciding, let’s go to Rushmore, which has been on my bucket list forever.
And we planned a trip to Rushmore.
We had to cancel a trip to Rushmore, because Julian hurt his ankle so badly on a trampoline the day before our trip.
And we ended up rescheduling a trip to Rushmore and going in August, and it was absolutely amazing.
And I don’t see a Grand Canyon trip happening in 2025, because we’ve already scheduled a trip to Bend, Oregon, with my extended family that my mom really wanted to do.
So I’m like, the…
But what happened was, we traveled.
And we traveled as a family of four to someplace entirely new.
I mean, Naven had been there, but as a kid.
And we got to do something.
It was my first time traveling for fun, I think, since having kids.
I had traveled and had fun while traveling, but it had always been with or for family.
Like, to Nebraska to see Naven’s family, or to New York to see my family, or to Vegas for an extended family thing.
And…
Or, you know, I go to somewhere for a funeral, or somewhere for a…
You know, like, this was just…
It was so…
I so needed it.
I was really, like, heartbroken when we had to cancel it originally.
And June, I’m so glad we made it happen for August.
Which was…
I was like, okay, 2025, and Nathan’s like, we’re doing this.
And I’m like, yes!
This is why I fell in love with you.
All right.
So, didn’t really do 13, but I think I could say I did 13, because it’s like the spirit of it happened.
Number 14 was get 24 minutes of fresh air every day.
And I think I missed about 10 days of this, and I fully intend to miss another 7 or so when we go to Nebraska for Christmas.
Although, we’re supposed to get highs in the low 40s, which is not terrible, so maybe I will get some fresh air.
But fresh air is so freaking good for me.
I see some people set a goal of 1,000 hours a year, which is like, what is that, like about three hours a day.
And I’m trying to wrap my mind around that.
I do, I love when we get days outside, like when the kids are playing soccer and we just spend half a day outside getting fresh air, or when we take beach days.
And I spend so much time inside, and I have to do the podcasting inside, but it’s like, I could find a way to set up our table that’s outside by our pool, make it a little nicer setup, and turn it into like an outdoor workspace for me.
So that’s something I need to think about for 2025.
But did get a ton of fresh air.
All right, number 15 was tap dance 20 times.
I’ve got this idea of myself tap dancing, but I don’t have the idea of me learning to tap dance.
I just have the idea of me suddenly waking up one day as Freda Stair quality, being able to tap dance.
So I didn’t even try this year.
I gotta take this off the list.
And I think once I take it off the list, I’ll actually start learning, but who knows.
I had number 16 was walk an average of 10,000 steps a day.
And I have to accept the fact that I do a lot of hot yoga, and on those days, it is hard for me to get 10,000 steps because I spend a long time inside.
We don’t get steps during hot yoga, but we get a really comprehensive workout, cardio, strength, flexibility.
So for me, trying to hit the 10,000 steps a day, it’s just stupid to worry about.
I still wear a Fitbit, or it’s not a Fitbit, it’s like a pedometer.
So it’s nice to see.
I think there’s something I need to work on is standing more.
Like I’m standing right now while I’m recording this, and this is actually nice and lovely.
So moving around a little more.
Number 17 was record 25 podcast episodes.
This will be the 13th of the year.
But I’m getting back to being consistent.
I got so into recording TikToks, and then turned it into doing TikToks and Instagram.
That I just didn’t have, because that was all new to me, learning how to do that.
I didn’t have the energy for doing the podcasting too.
But I’m glad I kept this on the list, because it got me, I was like, okay, let me see if I can do podcasting, and I’m so glad I’m doing this again.
I love doing this.
So there’s more podcast episodes in my future.
Number 18 was, created TikTok 100 weekdays in a row.
I’m not certain I hit that streak, but I did fulfill the spirit of this one, and I found my stride.
I discovered, I found my voice talking about books, and reading, and my Brazilian side quest.
So I think that one was a huge success, and I did not know what was going to come of it.
And I started the year with about 300 followers on TikTok, and now it’s a little over 60,000.
And then TikTok has now gone from such like a robust platform to me to kind of stagnating, and I don’t get as many views.
But Instagram, I have even more followers on now, and the views there, and the conversations are so interesting, and it feels so vital, so it’s just been such a fun, interesting, soul-expanding experience.
Number 19 was Visit the Gamble House.
It’s this like architectural landmark, I guess, in Pasadena, and it didn’t happen, and I didn’t force it because I realized Julian’s class is doing a field trip to see it in the next half of the school year, so hello 2025.
Number 20 was Take a Monthly Family Portrait.
And I just need to get one for December.
We did it, we got it every month.
I’m so glad I had this on my list, and we have, we just have so many more family pictures.
I was making our calendar, I make a calendar every year, and I was making it for 2025, and it was so fun to be able to grab a few family pictures to add in there, because usually it’s like 100% the kids, and it’s nice to show the kids like, hello, your father and I were there, and we were involved.
And by doing it monthly, they weren’t always serious.
It’s not like we always stood together, and then with a pretty backdrop, like one of the months it was like, I think it was February, it was like, holy shit, it’s February 28th, and we never took a picture, and we went on the front porch, and we took a selfie, and it’s the four of us.
And for me, in November, it would have been a theme park ride picture at Disneyland of all of us on one of those ride cams, and I’m like, that counts, that’s a portrait.
Okay, number 21, learn how to make balloon animals.
I forgot about that.
It did not happen.
I don’t know, I’ve always had this weird idea of making balloon animals, and my character in my Motherhood Circus book series, Elodie, she grew up in the circus, and she loves making creatures out of balloons, and it’s like her artistic expression.
So it feels like something I should at least know how to make like the balloon dog, but it hasn’t happened.
All right, number 22 was Visit the Broad.
It’s this new contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, or newish, but I mean, I think it opened a decade ago.
But my sister and I have talked about doing it in 2025, because it’s right by her office, and she could take a longer lunch break, and we could go together.
So that’s gonna happen.
It’s gonna happen, I can feel it.
Number 23 was track time spent sitting versus time spent sad standing for a month.
And I don’t think it’s happened.
I think I totally forgot to do it, and I really like the spirit of it.
But it is also kind of annoying to keep having to set a timer and keep track.
So I think it’s one of those things that’s just too, like, good in theory.
But like maybe instead of tracking the time all day, what I need to do is be like, I’m setting a goal to spend at least four hours not sitting for a week.
And then maybe be like, okay, now let me see if I can up it.
And it might be easier to keep track of the time, just making sure I hit those marks.
Am I making any sense, or am I just rambling now?
Okay, last but not least, I had joy tracking.
And this idea was I keep track of things that boost my wellness and happiness, but are not part of this project.
Like board games playing, movies watched, new places visited.
And this was another one that became too annoying and too much.
So I do like tracking things, and I do have a bullet journal, and I’m tracking all week, and I have like little self-care lists, just to like make sure I’m getting my self-care done.
Like, did I remember to get fresh air?
Did I remember to do a little crafting?
So that’s something I do for myself, but this big joy tracking was way too ambitious.
So looking back over this list, I technically only completed four out of 24, which I think is my lowest that I’ve ever done.
And then I’d say another four or five, that like the spirit of it, like we didn’t plan a trip to Grand Canyon, but we went to Rushmore.
So the spirit of that was fulfilled.
But I had so much, I still appreciate this tool, and I went into 2024 with all this momentum, and my momentum carried me in directions I could never have expected.
And so that’s like, you know, we have the successes, then we have like these quote unquote, like the bad, the failures.
But to me, they aren’t so bad because I had all that momentum, and it just gave space for the magic of my read around the world quest, and the magic of Brazil.
Like just making all of those TikToks in a row, built up momentum, and it helped me discover my voice.
And if I hadn’t forced myself to do 100 times in a row, I would never have been talking about the books, and I wouldn’t have discovered, this is something that really fills my soul, and that people act, it actually resonates with people.
But even if it doesn’t resonate with people, it’s just something that I want to keep doing.
Yeah, so it’s, like I laugh at that five-year plan, because it really, I had to give space in my life for magic and adventure and the unexpected, and the unexpected came in.
I mean, maybe I will sit down before the end of the year and come up with a five-year plan, just to show, like I’m showing up, I’m showing up for my life.
And that’s like, and that just keeps my energy surging forward, and even, and be like, let me try to plan the next five years of my life, and then know that there’s no way that it’s gonna happen this way, because there’s just magic out there.
And, you know, and maybe it’s not magic, like, you know, Harry Potter or Gandalf, but it’s just the serendipity of life.
The, I just can’t get over how, at the beginning of 2024, I had 300 followers, and Brazil was not even on the radar of my life.
And now I’m learning Portuguese, and I’m watching this show, Avenida Brazil, and I’m obsessed with it, and it brings me so much joy, and I can’t wait to read more books by Brazilian authors, and just authors around the world.
I just, I had no idea what Brazil, or my read around the world quest, how much it was going to energize me, and just give me this exhilaration, and I can go around, so much of my life is mundane.
I mean, what else do I have to do today?
I’m making some returns at Old Navy.
I’m picking up a prescription at a pharmacy, and yet I have, like, I have my phone with me.
And when I’m waiting to pick up the prescription online, I’ll probably go on Instagram, and go through comments, and I’ll be engaging with people who live on the other hemisphere.
It’s my winter, and it’s their summer, and it’s just so cool to think about, and plus, some of the Brazilians are just so awesome and friendly, and they have so much to teach the world.
So I have been so blessed and lucky this year.
Did I come anywhere close to finishing my 24 and 24?
Absolutely not, but was this year absolutely overall wonderful for me as a human?
Yes, it was.
So will I be doing 25 and 25?
I strongly think so.
I was trying to convince myself, don’t do it, you’ve got to read around the world quest, you’ve got to finish revising your novel.
Plus, I’m thinking about, as part of my read around the world quest, of launching a podcast.
I really, really want to launch the read around the world podcast.
And I’m learning Portuguese.
So it’s like, you’ve got all these big projects, and you’ve got this momentum going, but I just love this tool, and it has served me so well for so many years that it’s like, I’ve got to keep it going.
What it really helps is when I’ve lost my momentum, when shit happens.
Like, two years ago, I had this tool.
I’d made my, oh my gosh, what year did my grandma and uncle die?
Was it 22 or 23?
The years blur together.
I think it was 2022.
But I had the list, and so I grieved and I mourned, and part of grief for me is, I lose my momentum because it’s all about the grief.
It’s like a physical effort.
And then when I was ready to reemerge in the world, I did check this list, and it really reminded me like, oh, I want to do that.
Let me just do this little thing.
And I’ve had years past where I had things that are quote unquote dumb on this list, like buy a nice trash can for the kitchen.
I think that took two years on the list, but we now have a nice trash can, and I love that trash can so much.
And I’m so glad it was on the list.
So when I come up with my 2025 and 25, I know in the Happier Podcast, Gretchen and her sister, they always reveal it before the end of the year, but I’m going to reveal it at the beginning of the year, because, or maybe if I do it at the end of the year, it’ll be like December 30th.
Because I don’t want to unduly influence anyone else’s lists or resolutions, or their resolution to not have lists, because we all have to do what’s best for us, and we all tick differently.
And just because I love this tool, doesn’t mean you’re going to love this tool.
Like on the Happier Podcast, I think they also always pick a word of the year.
And I’ve seen that done elsewhere.
And that has never jived with me.
It’s too much pressure.
I’m like, I can’t pick a word for the year.
No, no, no.
So I don’t do the word of the year.
I think things that might be on my 25 and 25 list will be read 100 books again.
Even though I’m on track for 120, I’m not gonna push that higher, because I think any higher, and it’s just too hard.
Sometimes you need to meet your goals earlier in the year.
It just needs to be realistic.
I’m gonna aim again for 100 hot yoga classes.
It might take me five years before my life is in a way where I am able to go as often as I want, but still it’s a goal.
I have a backlog of digital family photos that I wanna make as albums on Shutterfly.
So my goal is make one photo album.
In the past, I’m like, okay, catch up on the photos, and that’s just too daunting.
I think if I make one, that might persuade me to make another, but just one would be enough.
So that’s the one.
Launch my Read Around the World podcast.
That’ll be one of the big things on the list, like the Read 100 Books, the 100 Hot Yoga, the Read Around the World podcast.
But then I’m gonna have some easy things.
Instead of, in the past, would be hike 22 times in 2022, I just wanna do try one new to me hike.
And then I’m gonna have a couple of places I’ve been meaning to visit, like the Broad Museum, and visit those.
I’m gonna identify, instead of saying like 25 new to me recipes, I think there’s just a couple of recipes I’ve been really wanting to do, and they’re just gonna each be their own thing.
Like, I’ve always wanted to make Cook Oven, and I never do it, so I’m just gonna put it on the list, and hopefully get to it.
And I’ve always wanted to make a baked Alaska, that fancy dessert.
So I think I’m gonna do that.
I think for travel-wise, I wanna put Go See the Pandas on the list, the San Diego Zoo, which is like three hours from us.
They got pandas back this summer, and I really wanna take the kids to see the pandas.
So that’ll be the travel ambition.
And we can day trip that if we really want to.
I had this idea of dance one minute every day.
I’m debating whether that’s too much or if I should try it.
I also put down jump rope two times a week because of an article I read recently where they were saying jumping’s really good for you to do a couple times a week.
I’m like, should I do it?
I don’t know.
I bought a jump rope.
We’ll see if I decide to put it on the list.
I have watched ten movies with the kids, Framed the Kids Art.
I think that’s going to be the gnarly to-do list thing that I really, it’s been kind of like one of those mental load things hanging over my head.
They’ve created so much amazing art in these art classes they take, and it’s just languishing in a bin.
Or like before Christmas, it was just cluttered on the mantelpiece, but not in frames.
I’d like to make it look nice.
And I’m gonna put a few more things on the list that are slow and relaxing.
Like it might be something as simple as go get a frickin massage and just do that once.
I think I’m gonna have as a fun one, Finish Avenue to Brazil, because that shit is amazing.
I don’t think I need to put it on the list to finish, but it’s fun to put these things on there just to have the satisfaction of finishing them.
And oh, I think I want to put Play Pickleball on the list because we’re going to this place in Oregon and they have Pickleball there, and I need to…
I’m Pickleball curious.
I play tennis once a week.
I really don’t have the time to add Pickleball to my life, but I’d love to just play it once and see what it’s about.
So that’s what’s going on.
This has been nice to do.
A little half hour for me of reflection.
I feel restored.
Like, I feel ready to go conquer my to-do list and get the annoying things done that I have to finish in the next couple of days and then go enjoy Julian’s holiday concert this afternoon.
So this is it for 2024.
I will probably, I will be back in the new year with my 25 and 25 project, or with an episode where I say, screw it, I decided to take a year off from 25 and 25, but I doubt I’ll do that.
So wherever you are, I hope you have wonderful holidays and that you remind yourself that any stress that comes up from the holidays is fake, stress, I have to keep reminding myself of that.
And another thing I remind myself is that my challenges are also my blessings.
Like one of my challenges was getting all the kids gifts wrapped yesterday.
What a blessing though, that we have the money to buy gifts, and that I have the time to wrap them for the kids.
Like it feels stressful, and I’m like, but it’s actually a blessing.
So fake stress, I watch out for it, and when you can, like a real challenge is living in a war zone, or not having enough money to buy food.
A lot of the time, our body responds to challenges, because that’s how we’re wired.
And I’m so launching myself into another episode here, but I’m going to wrap it up as just remind yourself, my biology is reacting to this as a real challenge.
But let me think about this and whether I can counter this as, no, no, no, this is fake holiday stress.
Let me just sit back and enjoy the magic of the season and the glow of the lights and, you know, the awe and joy of children.
And then enjoy a little time to relax and reflect after the end of the season, even though we deserve two weeks and we only get one.
Still, just enjoy the rest of your year.
And I’ll see you in 2025.