Progress not perfection

Action taken in 2024 to get me closer to peace

Plans are just plans.

Actions count for so much more.

Here are some of the things I did this past year that make me feel better about the direction I'm headed.

Quality Time

• I spent as much time as possible with family and friends helping them, and letting them help me. I especially spent time with my mom working on projects together. She makes things fun and we really shared a lot of good laughs. She loves to rake leaves like nobody's business! I’m not sure if I got this love of raking from her or she gets it from me. ❤️ Love you mom 🍂🍁🍂

• I learned how to split wood with a wedge and sledge hammer. More importantly learned that this type of work is not for me, but instead appreciate and admire my boyfriend's wood splitting skills (without use of a wedge) … like wow wow wow !

• I started a new, challenging job when I could have easily rode out retirement in a job I had been at for 25 years. But knowing that I need to feel good about who I give my work to and that they are deserving of it, I decided to move on to a place where I feel mutual respect.

• I unsubscribed to over 100 substacks (as a start) to update my interests and better focus on my goals. Even unsubscribed from some of my favorites.

• I am seeing some family I haven’t seen in six years. After being a visitor all my life, I took a break to see if I was worth visiting. It didn't happen, so I'm back to visiting.

• I took effort to leave good reviews at places where customer service was above and beyond - a rare find these days.

• I emotionally bonded with a horse that I felt present and alive whenever we spent time together (oh how I'll miss you … until we meet again).

• I look into my cats’ eyes, hug them, and tell them how much they are appreciated and how they've helped me deal with the tough times in life and always kept me company.

• I spent more time following my faith. Thinking about keeping one day a week holy which I'm not sure I've ever done before.

Healthy Living

• I'm examining packaging labels and trying not to put anything with Bioengineered / GMO ingredients in my cart. Note: Sometimes they use a symbol instead of text to designate this.

• Avoid propylene glycol.

• I look at the first digit of my produce (fruits and vegetables). I stay away from 8 - GMO and try more for 9 - organic. Make sure it doesn't have Apeel sticker and try for local, seasonal, fresh picks.

• Recognize glass as preferred food storage method. Got rid of a lot of plastic storage containers and water bottles.

• Switched to healthier health, hygiene, and beauty products and use old versions of ones I've kept in my stash. Buy natural ingredients, organic if possible. Limit use to only what's necessary.

• I'm using an alarm now instead of waking up when I think I need to wake up. I've had a lot of intermittent sleep. Hoping that limiting digital info junk will allow me to sleep better.

• Bought a non-5G phone to replace my broken non-5G one.

• I examined blood under a microscope to better understand what's going on.

• I bought a bunch of heirloom seeds and have started to shop where heirloom produce is available.

• I am eating less fast food and drinking less pop.

• I started to subscribe to substacks about gardening, cooking, and living more simply.

• I pushed myself to do another Spartan obstacle course race that I had skipped doing last year. I wasn't in the best of shape, but still got it done and helped encourage others to do their first one too.

Financially Stable

• I opened an account with a local credit union and started sending my deposits to that account. I may open an account at a small local private bank to not put all my “eggs” in one basket.

• I closed my bank accounts with the big bank, cancelled a few credit cards, and stopped using even more.

• I monitor my changes to credit cards and try not to overdo changes that may negatively impact my credit score. For example, while I rarely use it, I kept my oldest credit card account open. This positively impacts my credit score. I also don't want to close too many cards at once until all my debt is paid off.

• I'm paying with cash as much as I can.

• I made concerted effort to study who were/are strategic WEF partners and am now taking as much effort as possible to support smaller businesses instead.

• I examined my monthly bills and dropped what monthly payments I don't really need, like most streaming services.

• Took steps to eliminate debt.

• Updated beneficiaries.

• Organize papers to prepare my will.

• Looked for a job that would fill my financial goals. Created a spreadsheet to compare all monetary factors, including commute (gas and time), days off, health care, parking/office stipend, and impact on pension.

• Make decisions on eventually retiring and knowing I have enough retirement and/or passive income to sustain myself and family.

Better Future

• I voted towards positive progress (I hope) and not perfection. I do not believe all issues will be solved. I'm staying on track towards simpler, more meaningful life moves.

• I started learning how the Amish get things done.

• I ensured that I have multiple sources of energy / heat (up to five now).

• I took a women's defense class offered at the local shooting range.

• When my friends that I've had for decades decided I'm not that important to them or they felt that they simply can't be in contact with me because of my views, I moved through the hurt, accepted it, and moved on.

• Start prepping for short, medium, and long term constraint situations. Distribute effort roughly in this way: short (70%), medium (20%), and long term (10%).

• I started a ton of work on my house in the burbs to get it ready to sell.

• I learned how to replace a bathroom sink faucet and drain myself. Even required some hack saw action. I replaced the tub spout, fixed the shower handle and changed out the cartridge. I refinished a cast iron tub and replaced grout and caulking. More skills is a good thing!

• I went through the basement, closet, basement and took anything that I no longer need, but could still be useful out to the curb in huge boxes that said free. Left for three days until almost nothing left then dropped what remained to the local donation center.

• Recognized when items are really not worth repurposing and threw items in the garbage like old shoes with holes in them, things missing parts or mostly broken too cheap to bother to repair, books that got wet-logged, Christmas lights I had already rewired once to string together that were starting to go out again (this is very hard for me to do, throw things out, but I was able to do it!)

• I bought a small hobby farm where I can grow my own food, and even support some farm animals and a chicken coop.

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I hope sharing some of things I've done helps encourage you to take whatever steps *you* need to take for you to move towards healthy and happier. The ones I list above are just what helped me, yours could be entirely different.

Planning, hoping, and wishing can only go so far. Small action steps can be taken - a little here and a little there - every day.

You will likely never achieve perfection, but moving in a positive direction makes the present feel more enjoyable, and that's a good thing.

~ Happier Holidays and a gracious New Year to all ~