Things to keep, things to give away
The whole shitshow of the last year took so much away. Holidays abroad, time with friends and family, and for me it took away my ability to go to Marie's wake because I had Covid during it.
But it was also a positive time for many aspects of my life, and I feel like it taught me how to live better. By not spending so much time travelling, working and being OUT it gave me time to trying out different ways of living.
Firstly financially - we used the first year to shore up our financial position. I got a bit of a thrill in streamlining accounts, paying things off, upping mortgage payments and increasing savings. The legacy from this time will be with us a while I think.
Secondly how we feed ourselves. I learned to menu plan once for the week, to shop for one delivery per week and lean into my cookbooks to whip up nourishing, cheering, interesting food during the week. Again, we've kept this one going, and I'm even more ambitious in trying new things. We're eating better for cheaper and getting some good time together as we prepare dishes for dinner.
I've also taken up yoga, and though my practice can best be described as sporadic and completely stiff and inflexible I have very much enjoyed it and got a lot of benefit from it. I didn't get to my class tonight because I'm stiff and sore from yesterday's.
We've also made some improvements at home, I had the study redone and it's now a peaceful room in which I do my hair and makeup each day, as well as my yoga classes.
And the final thing thing from last year is remembering that writing makes me happy. So I want to just keep doing it. The holiday 'write every day' made me happy, in fact it made me think back to when we all wrote every day, so I'll take a few opportunities here and there to do a bit more of it. Like just now.