Posting has slowed for me recently but something I believe to be so valuable to me personally, is the reflection and gratitude practice that I make time for quarterly.
Several authors that I follow pause several times a year and build a 'What's Saving My Life Right Now' list. These lists allow for a simple acknowledgement of what brings joy, relief and fun in life for them in this season.
I picked up the practice and find it so helpful to purposely pause and identify these things for myself!
There are not rules here, simply logging things that are helping me win my days and love life. Maybe these things help you or maybe they remind you about the things that may be saving your life right now too.
My energy has been spent pouring into my work as 2024 wrapped up and 2025 kicked off and here's what has been saving my life:
The things inside my home have a home - while there is an acknowledgement of some gratitude for the basics here, I have found that when things are put in their place in my space, my head is clearer and I am set up for success in many other areas.
It has taken several years of decluttering and finding those homes but it helps my mental state immensely to put things in their place and minimize visual clutter.
Can I also say that I live with a family? This does not happen all the time. In fact, it happens rarely.... but when I feel scattered, starting with putting some things in their place helps and lately, it's been saving my life.
Lunchtime gym visits and lifting with Lance - If you have read many of these lists or my other posts, you know that my husband goes to the gym EVERY DAY. He's super consistent and I'm proud of him. I have recently stepped away from my HIIT classes for awhile because I felt them draining me more than normal and I was looking to change things up. I began going to the gym at a totally different time of day with him because I knew he was already going and it also got me a little more time with him. Not many date nights in November in December.....
I do my running or walking and sauna time but have layered in weight lifting with him and I love it. It's another connection point with my partner and a challenge to learn something new to build my strength.
Children's books - hear me out. I love reading. My kids love to be read to. One of my sons reads voraciously right now and I am loving exploring different books with him. We are reading many kinds of books all the time.
I have a few that I look forward to reading with them. Maybe it's a good message or witty writing or beautiful illustrations but I look forward to listening to our reading rituals and the beauty of the books we choose.
A couple of my favorites right now:
The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen
Zen Shorts (A Stillwater and Friends Book by Jon J Muth
Ada Twist, Scientist: A Picture Book (The Questioneers) by Andres Beaty - but seriously, this whole series is so charming!
Remembering my season - Earlier, I talked about this being a work heavy season and it has been since the election in November. Because of my focus on work, other things simply haven't received my attention as I would like. I am not a great friend right now. Outside of regular movement and paying attention to what I'm eating (these are major wins, I acknowledge), I am not doing a lot of self care. My friends aren't being tended to like I could in another season. Tasks are being evaluated differently and are mostly happening 'just in time'.
This is just for now, though.
My season will shift again and there will be room for some things that just don't get my energy at the moment - and that's ok.
Asking for help - This is big. I would love to be able to do all the things but it's not possible and it's not even feasible to try. It has taken me a few years to truly understand how to do this though. It includes asking for additional help around the house having a sitter come hang with the boys and outsourcing tutoring. This doesn't take away anything from my people and my relationships with them. In fact, it allows me to be more present while I am with them. No one else can do that for me. The help that I have requested allows me to genuinely be more of what I want to be at home and that's saving my life.
Sharing my Spotify account with my boys - We have the multi device family subscription for Spotify so my husband has his playlists and I have mine. Well, the boys share mine and listen to music on their devices or my phone when we are together. At the gym, many times I will just hit my 'on repeat' playlist and go. Now that my boys have built their own playlists and play their own music, occasionally one of their favorite songs pops up on my on repeat cycle and it makes me smile.
They just became a part of my day when I didn't expect it and I love it.
Electric blanket - Lance and the boys got me an electric blanket for Christmas and in January, it got quite a bit of use. The boys were amazed that something so wonderful existed and it became a place for us to get warmed together while we all hang out during shower time in the evening.
I hope this list speaks to you. The things saving my life are just my things. Consider compiling your own 'what's saving my life right now' list just for you or share it with a friend for another way to connect. This small gratitude practice does wonders for me and I love logging it here so I can look back at points in time to see what was saving my life.
Maybe what's saving your life right now, friend, might help someone else!
Check out previous lists from this last year:
Comments