What do I want from the New Year? What do we all want?
I think we would all say that we want to live better lives. To be happier. Isn’t that why we make all those resolutions? To work out more, to eat more salad, to read more, to save more money….we choose these things because we believe they will make our lives better, or make us better and happier people. You might say, as Aristotle said all those years ago, we want to live a good life. Maybe not the “good life” as we thought about it in college days when that meant a life full of parties and drinking while being free from rules and responsibility, but THE good life, as in a life that makes us feel fulfilled as human beings, that makes us happy both while we are living it and when we look back on our past years. A life that has meaning. A life filled with joy, thoughtfulness, friendship, love and the satisfaction of meeting and overcoming challenges. A life of learning and growing and becoming stronger.
One modern idea which can make the philosophy of the good life more approachable is hygge. This Danish concept seems especially suited to helping us figure out how to live well in our modern age of stress and anxiety. If New Year's resolutions are about getting closer to living the good life, then I can’t think of a better resolution than to live a more hyggelig life. Hygge encapsulates so many essentials of the good life - simplicity, balance, friends, joy, and good food to name a few.
Better yet, what about 12 resolutions? A mini resolution for each month of the year - to make your life better one little hyggelig step at a time. And no, I don’t mean go buy candles every day in January, and blankets every day in February… that might be the consumerist interpretation of hygge, but it's not the real deal. Think higher. Think about concrete steps you can take to be a better person and live a better life, and then go check out all those cute hygge books from the library to keep you inspired and motivated.
How about bringing order to one room of your house (or your whole house if you’re ambitious)? Order is incredibly calming.
Read. It’s good for your brain.
Go outside. Countless studies have shown its benefits on your mind and body.
Take a walk once a week with friends. Do anything with friends. If you feel like you don’t have any friends, make a resolution to go places and do things that will bring you in contact with like minded people who might be prospective friends.
Learn to cook.
Learn a new method of brewing coffee that takes a little more time and adds more of a ritual to your morning routine.
Make a commitment to spend more time with your kids/spouse/married siblings.
Learn a new skill to keep you busy on cold winter evenings.
Am I planning to do these things? Of course. Some of them, anyway. The ones that will best benefit my life right now. More on that next time…
Don’t let 2024 be over before you even decide what to do with it. Every year is a gift. Every year might be your last. But even if it’s not your last year, make sure it's a good one.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
I LOVE the distinction you made between living a good life and living THE Good Life. Its so easy to think that our. lives are "good" when we have lost of money, cars, and a social status. Really, its about not what we have, but HOW we live with what little or much we may have. And the ideas for mini resolutions to make are great! Can't wait to put some of them to myself and live the Good Life :)