Happy end of the year & I hope holiday time went well for you.
January isn’t about New Year’s resolutions for me. It’s about getting through the coldest, darkest (often loneliest) part of the year with my mental health intact. And I have to work at it every single year. I’ve made it through 44 times, so no reason to think I won’t make it through this one—but I also know it helps if I trick myself a little bit.
If you would like to play along, here’s this year’s trick.
Choose eight things that make you a happier healthier human. At least two of them have to be purely fun.
Commit to doing at least one of these things for 8 minutes each day for the months of January and February.
Document your success daily.
That’s it.
You get extra points when you share your successes with someone. Double points for every additional task you complete on your list of 8 that day. One you’re done; eight is great.
If you choose to play along, I’d love to hear about it! You can comment on the blog, email to let me know, or share on Instagram or BlueSky @theCECoaches.
Why this works.
It’s a brain momentum trick. I know if I do one thing for 8 minutes, I’ll either get really into it and keep going for longer or generate enough energy to move on to something else on the list.
The time is definitely attainable. I can do one thing that’s good for me for 8 minutes a day. Plus, I could realistically complete everything on the list in one-hour-and-four-minutes.
Why 8?
Lots of reasons. It’s a nice symmetrical number. Turned on its side it symbolizes energetic balance and the manifestation of time into space. It’s the number of mind-over-matter. It makes me giggle. (What did the zero say to eight? I like your belt!) But most importantly, in my writing practice I’ve found that if I can write for 8 minutes a day I feel like it counts. Anything less feels like I’m faking being a writer, anything more is a very good day indeed.
I also heard a study referenced that if you’re having a bad day and call a friend it takes eight minutes of genuine connection/talking with your friend to improve your mood. So eights pretty much magic and it doesn’t hurt to have a magic number helping me through the darkest, coldest part of the year.
Here’s my list of 8:
1. Writing
2. Reading
3. Meditating
4. Exercise/Pilates
5. Dancing (fun)
6. Stickering/coloring (fun)
7. Saying nice things to people via the internet
8. Talking to a friend
Where I’ll document: In my BestSelf Journal on the Habit Tracker page.
Where I’ll share publicly: On @thecCECoaches Instagram account with the #8isgr8
If you choose to play along best of luck and I believe in you!
p.s. Sorry about missing last week’s intuitive post, I was sick and NyQuil + intuition gets real confusing. I’m off meds so we’ll be back to our normal schedule this week.