Hello 2024

 

You are worthy of abundance

My theme for 2024 is all about healing my relationship with generosity and abundance.

When I was doing my money reset, many memories surfaced about my dad fighting to pay the bill at restaurants and putting up a fuss when someone else wanted to pay. I grew up thinking it was proper etiquette to treat people and refuse to be treated. So I started emulating this behaviour in my 20s as soon as I had enough income.

During my money reset, I realized how difficult it is for me to receive generosity graciously. I’d often decline nice gestures or receive them awkwardly. If someone treated me to something, I made a mental note that I’d have to treat them next time or find a way to pay them back. A part of me wonders if this behaviour is because I don’t feel worthy of their generosity.

This year, I’d like to change the way I think about generosity and abundance. I want to give generously when I truly want to — without feeling obligated to and without expecting anything in return. I also want to receive graciously without feeling beholden.

One additional nuance: Since leaving my full-time job, I’ve experienced many forms of abundance that don’t involve financial wealth. But I often default to money or gifts to express my care, and I want to take a more expansive approach.

— GOALS —

I’ve set five goals for the things I want to accomplish in 2024. These goals don’t need to be directly be related to my annual theme, but they still contribute to my personal growth or overall well-being.

It’s been five years since I left my full-time job. I love my current lifestyle of working part-time and living more simply. But I still hold a lot of mental models from my two decades in the corporate world — things like scarcity, fear, urgency, competition, and perfection. I want to let these go. My main goal this year is to complete an authenblissity reset so I can fully step into a new way of being.

Aside from this main goal, it was hard for me to think of what I wanted to accomplish this year. Quite frankly, I don’t want to do any BIG projects in 2024. Instead, I want to lean into ordinary life and see what it’s like to not strive for anything. What happens if I leave the door wide open for expansiveness, creativity, and abundance? What wants to arrive?

So, for goals 2–5, I’ve picked one thing that I really want to do in a few areas of ordinary life that are holding some interest for me right now.

#1: Finish my AUTHENBLISSITY RESET

I started my authenblissity reset in November 2023 and I’ve worked through two chapters so far — food and money. I plan to complete the remaining ten chapters in 2024. This is my third time through this reset, but my first time documenting my progress in a bullet journal.

Ever since I completed The Artist’s Way in a bullet journal (click here for my video series), I’ve been wanting to do another self-reflection program in a bullet journal. So this is incredibly fun for me! I’ve had some huge aha moments already, one of which led me to my 2024 theme.

#2: nix my caffeine dependency

I currently drink 16 ounces of tea every morning. While I enjoy this routine, I also continue this practice because I’m afraid to get a caffeine withdrawal headache. I’m rather sensitive to caffeine so it’s easy for me to overdo it, which leads to jitters and heart palpitations. And if I drink caffeine too late in the day (past noon-ish), it affects my quality of sleep.

In 2024, I’m going to experiment with drinking herbal infusions instead of tea. By the end of the year, I’d like to moderate my caffeine consumption so I am only drinking tea or coffee 2–3 times a week at the most (and not on consecutive days).

#3: COMPLETE MY 5000-PIECE PUZZLE

My current bucket list only contains two items: (1) complete my 5000-piece puzzle and (2) complete my 9000-piece puzzle. This is admittedly a very tame bucket list but I truly want to do these puzzles in this lifetime. I’ve had them for over 20 years and I haven’t even opened them.

The encouraging news is that I did complete my 3000-piece puzzle a few years ago. So my bucket list originally contained a trio of puzzles, and now it’s only a duo.

#4: make monthly STICKER COLLAGEs

I have been LOVING my monthly sticker collages and I plan to continue with them. The reason I’ve kept this as a goal is because I haven’t found my groove with these yet.

In 2024, I’d like to work on developing my own unique style for these collages, incorporating mostly stickers but also bits of ephemera and calligraphy. While I’m fine with buying a few stickers here and there, my main intention is use the things I have.

#5: Track my alcohol consumption

I’ve been sober curious for a few years now. When I left my full-time job, I went from drinking every evening to “take the edge off” to drinking mostly on weekends. I became more of a social drinker again and I still overdid it on some occasions.

When the pandemic arrived, I found myself drinking less because we weren’t going out. I also started noticing that I didn’t feel great when I did consume alcohol, especially if I had more than two or three drinks.

In 2024, I plan to track my alcohol consumption in terms of how many days I drink in a year. This is part of my journey into the world of sobriety, although I’m not sure I’ll have the desire to fully dive in. At this time, I simply want to learn more about it, get some perspective about how much I actually drink, and practice setting some additional boundaries around alcohol.

— PRACTICES —

I’ll be experimenting with three practices in 2024. At the end of the year, I’ll decide whether I want to continue with the practice, tweak it, or let it go.

#1: COMPLETE MY DAILY REFLECTION

My daily reflection practice isn’t new but I like to change up the question every year to align with my annual theme. In 2024, I’m going to ask myself this two-part question at the end of each day: “How did you express your generosity today and how did you receive abundance graciously today?”

#2: LISTEN TO MUSIC EVERY DAY

Music improved my mood so much in 2023! In 2024, I plan to listen to music every day, without exception. I’d also like to dance to at least one song but I’m not making this a formal part of the practice. Just the music is enough. If I feel like dancing (or singing), I will.

#3: BE FULLY INTENTIONAL IN MY EVERYDAY DECISIONS

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t want to start any big projects this year. Instead, I want to embrace the more ordinary aspects of life but also be fully intentional while doing so. I’m not entirely sure how this practice is going to show up in my life this year but here are a few of my initial ideas:

  • Food: I have a longstanding issue with stocking up on food when it’s on sale. I’d like to be more intentional with the food I bring into my home, especially if it’s a perishable item. I hate wasting food and I don’t want to have food sitting around for so long that it goes bad or stale. To use up the things that have been in my pantry for ages, I started a “use next” basket, where I’ll be keeping a few non-perishable items that I want to use up in the coming week.

  • Books: For the past several years, my 101 in 1001 list has included an item to read x number of books. Moving forward, instead of counting how many books I read, I want to be more intentional with what I choose to read. I have a handful of books on my 2024 list right now, but I don’t have to finish any that I don’t enjoy. I plan to go through these books before adding more to the list:

    Started:

    Completed:

    Did not finish:

  • Meetings: I don’t like meetings, but I tend to go with the flow so I agree to them even when I don’t want to. This year, I want to be more intentional about whom I meet with and how we spend our time.

This month’s reflective questions

Where does the pendulum come to rest for you when it comes to abundance? Do you receive abundance graciously or reluctantly? Do you welcome abundance into your life or do you turn away from it?

Next, ask yourself the above questions again, replacing abundance with these words:

  • Gifts

  • Money

  • Compliments

  • Affection

  • Love

What changes do you notice in your thoughts and emotions?

Wishing you abundance,

 
 
 
 

P.S. I’m experimenting with turning these blog posts into cozy solocasts. If you’d like some more context around this month’s blog post and hear my thoughts on the reflective questions, click here for the companion podcast episode.

 
Lesley Wong