photo of my 2024 word of year living on my wrist: delight 💜
unhurried: moving, acting, or taking place without haste or urgency
Howdy, friends and happy new year! Like everyone else in the world, I’ve been thinking about what my “word” would be for 2025. I toyed with the idea of no word. The flexibility of a phrase. The carte blancheness (is that even a word?) of repeating my 2024 word. And probably everything in between. Then, I began to think about what word would I chose if I wasn’t worry about it being “pretty” for others or “catchy” for fun, but a word that I really wanted to lean in to and I landed on unhurried.
Glamorous? Nope. Pretty in script? Probably not. Absolutely true and what I need in real life? 110% yes.
Funny enough, the past year and half or so has been shockingly calm. I finished grad school , settled in from my move back to the east coast, accepted a less stressful job without direct reports and wrapped a few of my outside engagements like serving on a young feminist council and reproductive justice community group. I came into this year specifically wanting to have less “extra” on my plate. And after finishing a course at NYU (#lifelonglearner here), I had the least amount of “Extra” on my plate in probably 4 years. But somehow, even with less to do, acknowledging still having these platforms and book club, I still felt hurried. I felt rushed from task to task. Rushed from event to event. Rushed from one responsibility to another and honestly, it made no sense to me. How could I have way less on my plate but feel so hurried with life?
To be honest, I don’t have any clinically sound or concrete answers as to why I was feeling this way but I can sum up a few guesses: less on my plate meant I felt like I didn’t have to project manage as well; the amount of emails I received was unlike any other job I’ve ever had; and I was definitely creeping back into the sleep procrastination that I fell into during the pandemic. Bonus points for the amount of mindless scrolling I was doing because I felt like I had so much time to get everything done.
That reflection led me to think about making my word of the year something that I could really hold myself accountable to. Because I felt so hurried, why not make my word unhurried, I thought. So, here are a few changes and habits I’m going in 2025.
- Better bedtime rhythms – I already started this back in the Fall then fell off and am now trying again during holiday break. The main goal here is to start my bedtime wind down at 10pm. My wind down includes a 5 minute clean-up of the main spaces, letting Max out one last time, putting any dishes in the sink, turning off the tv & lights then putting on my retainer. Depending on the season, this list may change but generally, this is my main wind down list. Altogether, I am done in about 10 minutes then can get in bed by 10:15pm.
- Not buying a daily planner –this one is probably weird but hear me out! This year I really saw how little I actually used my daily planner. There weren’t enough tasks on my list everyday to need this style planner and my tasks were more so projects that I wanted to see all the components over a week or so of time. I also felt like I needed to fill the daily pages with random tasks just to feel “accomplished”. This year I plan to continue with my spiral weekly dashboard that I have grown to appreciate at a new level. I love that this dashboard is flexible since you write in the categories and allows me to have space for my top priorities, secondary priorities, creative work, personal life, health and wellness and an overflow space. I usually don’t need much more space than this and if I do have a ton a small tasks, I’ll use a blank or daily planning notepad to scribble it down.
- Leaning into the two minute rule – If the tasks takes less than 2 minutes, just do it right now. This one is small but so impactful for me to not feel so rushed or worried at the end of the day. Luckily things like making doctors appointments or scheduling an oil change and booking boarding for Max can be done via text or an app that takes just about two minutes or less. I did not come up with this rule nor do I know who coined it but I have been surprised at how much mental load just doing the 2 minute tasks in the moment slows down my constantly moving brain.
- Little by little in my morning routine – Admittedly, I’ve never had a perfect morning routine and right now, that’s okay with me. However, there are a few tasks/decisions that I want to get back to, a few to continue and a few I want to add in.
- To get back to: listening to the First15 devotional before doing anything else on my phone. This starts my day on the right foot and encourages me to get out of bed and start my skincare.
- To get back to: Last year, inspired by Gabby Whiten, I started a morning routine on my Alexa that started with me saying, “Alexa, start my day”. I would then hear the date and time, weather forecast, one bit of good news then listen to morning jazz for 20 minutes. I could put my phone in my office and while the music was playing feed max, start the kettle, get out breakfast items for myself, let max out and in, make my breakfast and log onto my computer. The timed music served as a marker that my personal time was ending and my work day was starting.
- To continue: Lazy, easy and repeatable breakfast options. I’m on the protein bandwagon (no surprise here) and have found that I have a few go-tos for breakfast including a protein waffle with honey and an apple; siggis yogurt with granola and honey; or a breakfast patty or chomps stick with a slice of watermelon. For drinks, I’ll usually have a mix of water and green tea via the kettle then either a protein shake or green juice or water mixed with greens or fiber solutions. This easy rhythm has made breakfast easier for me to actually eat and gives the perfect amount of variety while starting my day on a good foot. Plus, it’s the perfect “decide once” decision.
- To add: When time allows, I would love have my breakfast outside to get some morning sun. Of course, when it’s really cold I will happily have breakfast inside but in line with my evening habits, I’m hoping the morning sun starts my circadian rhythm reset.
- Reducing my screen time – Okay, I know everyone has this at the top of their list each January then somehow falls off but part of me feeling unhurried this year includes less doomscrolling. I’ve spent way too many nights scrolling social media just because. No goal in mind, not actually searching for anything in particular, just scrolling. I already have some social media limits on my phone and need to get better at organizing those limits and following them.
This list doesn’t exactly cover all my 2025 goals but has the same through line of wanting to create more thoughtfully, worry less and be well rested. And though I didn’t go with a phrase, this quote is the one that I want to reverberate throughout my life, “I am going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life” by Elsie De Wolfe.
Do you have a word of the year? phrase? Or maybe something in between? I would love to know!
Thanks so much for reading. xoxo 💜
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