2024 - Bettie Toon

How to Make 2024 Your Best Year

admin — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 08:00:00 +0000

Happy New Year and I really hope that you had a wonderful evening. I am also hoping that you will have the best year so far. Maybe you are reading this blog post because you want to do something completely different in 2024. Maybe you have come to realize at the end of 2023 that you want to change your life. Today I will help you to become the best version of yourself and change your life. Although, you are still the only person who can change your life, by using my tips. This is how to make 2024 your best year.

How to Make 2024 Your Best Year

Set goals
First, you need to know what you want to achieve in every area of your life (Relationships, Work, financial, physical, etc). When you are setting goals for this year, be as specific as possible. If you want to find a new relationship, what kind of person do you want to meet? If you want to find a new job, what kind of job do you want? This is the fun part because you can write down everything you want.

Do more of what makes you feel good
Life is all about having fun and feeling good. A lot of people are stressed 24/7 about the craziest things. Find ways to cope with your stress. What are your hobbies and what makes you feel good? Do you like to have a meaningful conversation with someone, do you like to play sports, do you like to play games or read? Find something that makes you feel good and happy. And make time for it. Don’t say you would like to play a team sport or read more and then watch television instead.

Work on your mindset
We all know that working out is amazing for your body, but the thing we forget is to work on our mindsets, which is maybe even more important. I am telling this from my personal experience because I was in a dark place at a certain point in my life. It was not great. Then I started to work on my mindset (affirmation, more good feeling thoughts and it changed my life. I am not going to say this is going to be very easy. That is why I like to compare it to working out. You have to do it as often as you can. And eventually, you start to notice the changes. I don’t recommend forcing yourself to think happy thoughts like: ‘I am so happy’, ‘I am rich’ and ‘I feel so loved’ when you don’t feel like that at all. Just think about something fun. Maybe you had a great evening with your friends or maybe you had a lot of fun at a concert. Think more about those things. Those thoughts make you happy.

Try new things
One of my goals for 2024 is to try new foods/drinks and other things. Maybe there is something you would like to try. It doesn’t matter what. I remember I wanted to go thrift shopping, but I wasn’t sure if I would like it. Turns out, I love it. You never know whether you will like it or not. Just try new things. Maybe you find a new favorite recipe or maybe you discover a new sport. It can be anything. But trying new things and stepping out of your comfort zone is fun.

Establish Healthy Habits:
Everyone has habits but maybe you have come to realize that those habits aren’t good for you. Maybe you are binge-watching a series on Netflix while you want to read more books. Maybe you want to be more active, but instead, you lay on your couch every day after work and on the weekends. Changing your habits is not going to be very easy. You have been doing the same things for a very long time now, that is why they are your habits. But try to stay disciplined for at least two months and it will get easier. Consistency is key. Small, positive habits can lead to significant improvements over time.

Celebrate Successes, Big and Small:
Often when you achieve something, you go on to the next thing immediately. We don’t really celebrate our successes, whether they are small or big. Celebrate when you are making progress with anything. Maybe you are exercising more often, celebrate it, and be proud of yourself. Acknowledging your achievements can also give you extra motivation to continue. You don’t have to throw a big party every single time you achieve something. When you achieve something smaller and maybe a bit more personal, just celebrate it by yourself. Make your favorite meal, order takeout, or buy something nice for yourself.

Prioritize Self-Care:
Self-care is always important and self-care does not always mean you have to take a bath every single time. Self-care is more than just facemasks and getting nails done. Taking five minutes for yourself while enjoying a cup of tea is a form of self-care. Going for a walk while you feel overwhelmed is self-care. Walking away from a negative person is self-care. Prioritize yourself! It is not selfish.

Practice mindfulness
Incorporate mindfulness practices into your daily routine. Whether it’s meditation, deep breathing exercises, or simply being present in the moment, mindfulness can reduce stress, enhance focus, and improve your overall well-being. When you have less stress, you will have more energy for things you want to do, and you feel and be healthier and happier. And it does not have to be an hour of meditation. Even five minutes is good. Take a few deep breaths when you are feeling bad, it will help. When you are overthinking, breathing exercises can be extremely helpful (speaking from my personal experience).

Build meaningful relationships
Foster connections with people who support and inspire you. Surround yourself with a positive and encouraging network. Cultivate both personal and professional relationships, as they can contribute to your personal growth and success. Stay away from people who don’t make you feel good or anything. You deserve friends who support you.

Photo by Sam McNamara on Unsplash

The post How to Make 2024 Your Best Year first appeared on Bettie Toon.

25 Things I want to Do before 2025

admin — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 09:20:34 +0000

It is the last day of the year and although it is a good day to reflect on 2023, I think it is also a great moment to set new goals for the New Year. And it has become a tradition to share these goals with you on my social media and blog. I am so excited for 2024 and I honestly think it is going to be an amazing year. I will do everything to make my dreams come true. These are the 25 things I want to do before 2025. Of course, these are the things I want to do this year, but maybe you can find some inspiration for your own list.

25 Things I Want to Do Before 2025

Move to a different city. I love my city, but I feel like it is time to make a move. I have a city in mind, but I would like to keep that to myself (privacy) and I am still keeping the doors open for other locations as well.
Read 100 books. Will this be the first year I will ever achieve this goal? I set this goal every single year and I still haven’t achieved it. Which is okay. And you might wonder why I wouldn’t set my reading goal a little bit lower, but I just want to know if I can 100 books. I try to read every single night, so it is definitely possible. I just get distracted very easily.
Write a book. I have many ideas and it is time to finish writing a book and share it with you. The idea is to share it on Wattpad in the future. So hopefully, next year I will be able to share on my blog that I wrote a book.
Visit three cities. Maybe a few little city trips to Belgium, Germany, England. I don’t have specific plans yet, but we’ll see.
Try 10 new things (food-related). I am the kind of person who sticks to their familiar recipes and food items. This year, I want to explore a little bit more and see if I find something new that I will like. For example, I would like to try cheesecake. I am not the biggest dessert/cake/pie person, but maybe I will like it. And I am also including drinks.
Learn a new language. This year I started using DuoLingo, mostly to improve my English right now. But next year it is time to learn a new language. I am still not sure which one. Maybe German (because some of the words are the same as in Dutch) or maybe Spanish/Italian (because I find those languages so beautiful).
Go to a concert or festival. I love music (who doesn’t?) and I want to see an artist live. Not sure which one, but we’ll see.
Be less distracted. As I mentioned, I could read 100 books per year if I did not get distracted so easily. But I also notice I get distracted while working and doing other things. So I want to become more mindful, and really focus on the task I am doing. Let’s see I want to be more productive in less amount of time. I think I could get done a lot of things if I didn’t get distracted all the time.
Go to 3 events. I would like to go to the biggest bookmarklet in Europe (in Deventer, The Netherlands). And maybe I want to go to a football match. But we’ll see. I sort of want to do things I’ve never done before. I’ve been to many football matches before, but never saw a women’s team playing.
Find an offline hobby. I love to write, I love to create content, and I love to watch movies/series, but all of those things are online. I have one offline hobby, which is reading. In 2024 I want to spend more time offline, but I probably don’t want to read all the time. So I want to find another hobby.
Spend more time outside. I don’t know why but I don’t always spend a lot of time outside, in nature. But I want to change that. Nature can be so beautiful and I definitely want to enjoy that more often. And they say it is a great stress reliever (not that I have a lot of stress) and it is good for your (mental) health.
Visit a museum. There are many great museums in The Netherlands but I never go to them. So I set the bar very low, but I would love to visit at least one museum this year.
Meditate more often. Meditation has a lot of great benefits and sometimes I take the time to meditate, but not very often. And at this stage in my life, I feel like meditation would be a great idea. I am feeling great, but because I am so distracted all the time, I think meditation might help with this.
Stretch more. I’ve never been a stretcher, but I am getting older and I want to take care of myself and my body. Sitting all day on a chair for work is not the best thing you can do for your body. So I want to take time to stretch. I can even do this while watching a Netflix series.
Do 3 things I’ve never done before. Maybe I am going to try my first audiobook or discover podcasts. It is good to step out of your comfort zone and try new things.
No screens before bed. I know I will wake up tired if I use electronics before bed, but for some reason watching Netflix is very addictive. But I also care about myself and I do think it is better if I put away my screens two hours before going to bed. Plus, I will have more time to read, so it is really a win-win situation
Write in my gratitude journal. I love writing all the good things down. it helps me to focus more on the positive things and it is changing my life for the better. Every night, before going to bed I sit down and write the things I am grateful for that day.
Get a new phone. A few years ago, I bought the Samsung S8 and it is still working perfectly, but I am looking for a better camera. The quality of the S8 camera is not as good as the cameras today. And because I like to create content, I think a new phone would be better. I prefer to buy a phone with a better camera instead of buying a real professional camera. It is just easier.
Follow a course. I want to find and follow a course that will help me with self-improvement. Maybe following a course for more confidence Or maybe I want to learn how to play the ukulele for some reason.
Self-improvement. I want to be that person people love to spend time with, I want to stabilize my mood and be more happy in general, I want to help people and be there for them if they need me. I want to feel more confident as well.
Meet new amazing people. I like to meet new people and have a great time with them. I believe there are apps like Bumble to make new friends but meeting people in real life is always better.
Strong and fit body. This means eating healthier instead of going for junk food and moving my body more often. I sit a lot during the day and it would be nice to have a stronger body.
Learn how to make great mocktails. I stopped drinking 8 years ago maybe as a New Year´s resolution. And it would be nice if I knew how to make mocktails, because I used to love cocktails. Maybe I can find out how to make a virgin version of my favorite cocktails.
Improve my posture. Standing up straight. You know what I mean.
Have lots of fun. Life is all about having a lot of fun and that is the most important thing.

So there you have it. These are the 25 things I want to do before 2025 for me. I am pretty excited and hopeful I will do most of them. What are the things you want to do this year?

The post 25 Things I want to Do before 2025 first appeared on Bettie Toon.