Welcome to 2024 + 24 Things…

I hope the year has started well for you, but if your year has begun with challenges, please ask for the help you need. 

After a long and restful summer, I am energised and excited for the year. We had a stress-free and connective Christmas with family, and my husband Emrys and I celebrated our seventeenth year of marriage. We were overseas for two weeks in Bhutan and Tamil Nadu, without our offspring – (I know!!!!) We went with some dear friends. I’ll share some of what I learned and experienced during this trip in future Weekly Words. 

This year, I’ll be turning fifty; I am incredibly excited about this chapter in my life. It is an opportunity to focus on what and who is important. 

What and who is important to you this year? What do you want or need to focus your life energy on this year?  

What dreams and whimsy do you need to let go of because they are of a time past? 

What dreams and whimsy do you need to hold onto with dear life because… it is a dear life?

We all face challenges. Some of our challenges are brief and easily fixable. Some make us feel like we are drowning, and when we come out on the other side, we look back and see these challenges as transformative moments in our lives. 

Some of our challenges are seasonal, and even if we don’t believe they will pass when we are going through them, they will pass. 

Some of our challenges will always be with us, and there is nothing to do but to own them and do our best. And as I mentioned above, ask for the help you need. 

If you have been in my world for a while, you will know I am an avid fan of the creative Bullet Journal. NOTE: Don’t Google it! You’ll get lost in beautiful bullet journal land. You have been warned. But if you don’t listen to me… Welcome.😊

I want to share a little exercise I do every year in my bullet journal, allowing me to focus on the ‘little big things’ for the year.

24 Things for 2024 

Last year, it was 23 things for 2023; you get the picture. 

On this list, you write down the experiences you want to have, the people you want to spend time with, and the places you want to go. 

None of these are big goal items; they are more like the things you want to do, but they get lost if you don’t focus on them. The experiences that ‘should’ be easy to plan, but another year rolls around, and you still have not done them. I’ll give you some examples of what I have for this year. 

1. Visit the NGV (National Gallery of Australia)  

2. Go to an alcohol-free dance party 

3. A weekend away with my trail sisters 

4. Find a new café to write in 

5. Go to the new cinema in my suburb 

6. Bake a glorious vegan chocolate cake 

7. To lie on my stomach in a park and read all day 

8. A Melbourne day hike with a friend 

9. Attend an in-person creative workshop  

And so on.  

My list still needs to be completed. I like to leave space for the things that come to me throughout the year. Some items appear yearly, like attending a creative workshop, and I always attend one. 

I do not expect to do everything on my list; I never do everything on the list. It is a list that I hold loosely, with space and ease. But I find that when it’s written down, I am more likely to make the time and take action.  

What are you going to spend your life energy on this year?  

As always, I would love to hear your insights, thoughts or musings.

Wishing you a year of holding things loosely, while holding yourself tightly.