I don’t love to do New Years Resolutions anymore, as they’ve always turned into another project I could never finish. But I’ve decided to just do some general cleaning up – cleaning up of my interpersonal relationships, my online presence, and of my home.
Interpersonal relationships
I’ve realized over the course of my twenties that there are two types of people: givers and takers. This is exactly what it sounds like, and while many attribute this to social class or other factors, I’ve found it has absolutely nothing to do with those things. Givers with nothing will still find a way to give and takers with everything will still only take for themselves, whether that be tangible goods or more intangible things, like energy or time. As you might guess, naturally and consciously, I’ve worked to surround myself with givers. I find the best, most healthy relationships to be reciprocal.
I’ve also always been so obsessed with the concept of loyalty, but people really do grow in different directions. Forcing a relationship that worked before for the sake of loyalty, I’ve found, tends to be really unhealthy. Very few things work well when forced.
And lastly, there are those say, “You’ve changed,” in a negative tone. Let me just say – thank god I’ve changed. If I were the same person 10 or 5 or even 1 year ago, that’d be a little worrisome. Thus, in my cleaning mindset, I hope to continue to draw more boundaries and slowly phase out those that no longer fill meaningful space in my life. This allows me to give the proper time and energy to the people who continue along with me deserve.
Online presence
I’ve taken the time to delete chats across all of my messaging platforms, and archive a ton of Instagram posts. This sounds so silly and trivial, but if I’m online for so many hours a day, I might as well keep that space – which indeed is its own space – clean. I think keeping my text messages clean also reminds me of who is actively in my life at the moment along with whom I need to prioritize. As for photos, I think there are some photos that made sense at the time, but no longer need to exist for anybody else. I’ve also just revamped and cleaned up my ages old blog! I hope you like it!
My home
With the continuation of the ever frustrating pandemic, home has become an even more important space. I’ve found that my external space is a very accurae reflection of my internal self, therefore I have spent a large part of this first month of the new year just literally cleaning. I’ve thrown out old clothes, jars and boxes that I’ve collected but don’t use, and old food that should’ve been thrown out long ago. I’ve also rearranged some of my beauteous plants to create more open space and to add greenery into empty corners. It’s incredible what thoughtful space can do for my headspace and mental health. On that note, I cannot recommend plants more.
So with some cleaning and gradual healing, the rain inspired me to bake some delicious cinnamon rolls. As we approach another week of more rain here in the Bay Area, it looks like the earth is doing its own washing and cleaning too. 🙂
