100 things that worked for me in 2019

Instead of doing lessons learned from 2019, I copied off of Austin Kleon and wrote down 100 things that worked for me in 2019. It was a fun way to think about things that I want to continue into the next decade if at all possible. I also made (far shorter) list of things that didn’t work for me in 2019, but you’ll have to sign up for the newsletter if you want to see that list!

1. La Margarita being walking distance from my office and discovering their half order of (local) chicken nachos for half price.
2. Our screened-in porch. I told Grant that we will never live in a house without one now. We had it last year, but this year was the year we finished it and really used the heck out of it.
3. A skincare routine.
4. Morning movement – even if only for one minute.
5. A weighted blanket after a few years of stealing the kids’.
6. Another wonderful Nowhere Else Festival. And staying in an Airbnb this time instead of a tent. As much as I love camping, AC and a hot shower are requirements after a day of music festivaling.
7. Seeing Disney through Grant’s eyes (even better than seeing it through the kids’ eyes!).
8. Sticking to my what I’m learning and loving habit all year long.
9. Yin yoga. The deeper I get into this practice, the more benefits I experience. (Locals: join me every Monday at 7:30 for yin and meditation!)
10. Luxury Cakes‘ chocolate chip cookies. (Literally drooling just writing about them).
11. Dry brushing. I started this Ayurvedic practice a few years ago, but I really become consistent this year. I do it before every shower, and I like to incorporate a little self-compassion practice as I go: telling each body part that I love it, and I’m grateful for it as I move from my toes to my face. Random benefit: I have had bumps on my upper arms since about junior high. When I asked dermatologists about it, they always prescribed antibiotics, and it was never that bad to make antibiotics worth it. So I just let it be. But after a year of consistent dry brushing, I noticed that my upper arms were completely smooth. I don’t know if it was just aging or dry brushing, but whatever, I’ll stick with my dry brushing for the other benefits regardless.
12. #septembernaturechallenge…going to have to make this one a tradition.
13. Midland Trail. The new expansion of Midland Trail runs right in front of our house, and it was on top of the entire family’s favorite things about 2019.
14. Hosting the rehearsal dinner for my sis and new brother-in-law at our place.
15. Their whole wedding weekend was a definite highlight of the year, especially getting to experience all of Grant’s time and hard work paying off with his epic wedding officiating.
16. Old Crow at Pisgah with the whole fam and friends.
17. Grant’s and my epic trip to the gorgeous Oregon coast sans kids. Anytime Grant and I can get away just the two of us always works for me. Related: my parent’s tradition of taking the kids to Florida for a week every summer, meaning that Grant and I subsequently get a week to ourselves every year really works for me – and the kids for that matter!
18. Lots and lots of bike rides (thanks to #13).
19. Our community at Roots of Life. I am continually thankful to have found this place and these people.
20. Reading. Reading has been a safe haven for me since I first learned how to do it, but I notice, as information continues to speed up, it is more important than ever for me to slow down with a book.
21. Our Jøtul.
22. Letting good enough be good enough.
23. Diffusing essential oils from trees.
24. Our sprouting routine. It makes such a difference to always have a super nutrient-dense snack in the fridge.
25. Digging into history and appropriation with These Truths, Lies My Teacher Told Me, the 1619 project podcast and magazine, and the Honor Yoga summit. It wasn’t always comfortable, but it was good and necessary.
26. Related to #25, after listening to the Honor Yoga Summit, I stopped saying “namaste” at the end of the yoga classes I teach because it is traditionally an Indian greeting. As a way of honoring the roots of the practice, I added it to the beginning of my classes and explained to the students why. It took some getting used to, but, overall, it was a pretty seamless transition and gave me a simple way to honor and try to practice non-appropriation each time I taught.
27. Giving up social media for Lent. Wondering if I should do it altogether.
28. Walking (see #12 and #13). There are more results-oriented ways for me to move my body, but I don’t enjoy any of them as much as I do a long walk or hike.
29. Down-the-hatch supplement method. I don’t care if it’s weird, but this is one of the best things I adopted in 2019!
30. Podcasts. I still love podcasts, but I don’t think I listened to as many this year. My favorites that I stuck to throughout the year were: the Robcast, Pantsuit Politics, On Being, The Daily.
31. Audio books. I’ve always had trouble with audio books, but, for whatever reason, they worked for me this year, and I think contributed to me slow down on podcasts. I just check them out via the library’s Hoopla app.
32. The library. Duh.
33. Finally getting into a sourdough routine and sticking with it (seasonally – we eat more sourdough in the fall and winter and less in spring and summer).
34. Lazy Saturday morning breakfasts at home.
35. This season of parenting. Ten and seven are pretty magical ages, and we are soaking up every minute. It isn’t all rainbows of course, but it is mostly a ton of fun.
36. Planning less stuff. We’ve noticed that we just need more “rebound” time from our weeks, so we planned less stuff in 2019. With the kids’ school being faraway and with their increasing activities, we just need more unstructured time. When we first started noticing this, we felt a little guilty, but now that we’re a year+ into it, we notice the benefits and recognize that this is just a season to pull back on our social calendars.
37. The 2019 USWNT run. Man, that was fun to watch, especially with the crazies.
38. Cone + Crumb within biking distance. #trouble
39. Staying married for fourteen years + having maybe more fun than ever + still learning and growing individually and together.
40. Listening to Grant about sun protection.
41. Drinking more water.
42. Related: Costco carrying Topo Chico.
43. A subscription to The Atlantic. The news is bananas, and we haven’t seen anything yet with the election season heating up. The Atlantic has been killing it for years (we started subscribing during the 2016 election), and they just keep getting better. More than ever, we need to support good journalism with our time and dollars.
44. Day dates while the kids are at school (daytes).
45. Day hiking at our favorite local parks or state parks. Even just an hour outside on the trail is good medicine for all four of us.
46. Going back to therapy.
47. The Holistic Psychologist (@the.holistic.psychologist) and Sheryl Paul (@wisdomofanxiety) on Instagram. The whole Instagram psychology thing can be a little worrying, but these two women have gifted me with some truly great lessons and insight.
48. Putting a reminder on my phone for every week night at 9PM to go to bed. I don’t always listen, but that reminder that pops up helps me start winding things down earlier than I would otherwise.
49. My Apple watch that Grant gave me last Christmas. I didn’t want to like it, but I turn off all notifications (except for the bedtime and movement ones) so it works for me, not visa-versa. I find that I leave my phone in the other room more often and am less likely to get sucked into the phone vortex.
50. Treating “should” like a bad word and trying to give up saying it.
51. Morning smoothies. Anytime I’m feeling a little off, I try to get back on the smoothie train, and it helps.
52. Half caff. Because of some blood work I had done last year and because of an elimination diet, I knew caffeine wasn’t as much of my friend as it used to be, but I didn’t do much about it because I love my coffee. Last Christmas, Grant did one of those genetic tests, and the results showed that he too is a slow metabolizer of caffeine. So we switched to half caff/half decaf, and it makes a big difference – and we still get to enjoy our coffee. Win/win.
53. A few years ago, after one of our go-to restaurants closed, we decided to make our restaurant dollars stretch a little farther. We already only spent money at locally-owned restaurants (except for our Chipotle exception!), but we decided to pick only a handful of restaurants to go to, with the idea that we would look at our restaurant budget as an investment of what we want to see more of (depth > breadth). With a few exceptions, this means that we have rarely checked out the latest new restaurant in town, but it does mean that we know servers and chefs by name and that we feel like our restaurant budget is an investment in our community, as well as a nice treat for our stomachs.
54. Naming my stuff: feelings, hard situations, seasons, etc.
55. Keeping half domes in the kitchen and our bedroom.
56. Hearing the kids tell themselves and each other to “be here now” since it has become such a family mantra to remind ourselves to enjoy the present moment.
57. Family dinner – often the highlight of my day.
58. Sunsets at Funky Farms.
59. Rediscovering tea and making it an evening ritual, at least in the colder weather months.
60. Being more discerning with the people and stuff I am willing to give my time and energy to. I still have a ton of work to do on this one in 2020.
61. Minimalist shoes. I had pretty much given up wearing uncomfortable shoes prior to 2019, but I got rid of nearly all of my heels and uncomfortable (but cute!) shoes last year. I’m betting that a healthy back into old age will outweigh any fashion points that I miss out on. P.S. I’d add Rothys to the list.
62. The opportunities that I had to teach this year – at church, at the yoga studio, at work. I love teaching, and I want to find more and new ways to do it in 2020.
63. Replacing “but” with “and.” 2019 was a brutiful year for us, and we learned, more than ever, how to hold two things at once. I am really trying to stop using the word “but” altogether, instead replacing it with “and,” as a way of reminding myself that two things can be true at the same time. For more motivation on how the words we use matter, listen to this episode of The Lively Show, which has (obviously) stuck with me for years since it is from all the way back in 2016!
64. Finally sticking to a morning journaling habit (thanks HP!).
65. Our kids’ school. Our kiddos go to a charter Montessori school, and it really works (minus the long commute) for our kids’ learning styles, personalities, and our family’s priorities.
66. Writing accountability. This fall, after talking about it for years, I got some writer friends together, and we started an accountability group. Not surprisingly, I love it.
67. Practicing what I preach about self-compassion.
68. Embracing (again) the power of baby-steps.
69. Getting sucked into Star Wars as a family showed/reminded me how much fun it is to experience story together. More of this in 2020 for sure.
70. Family game nights. Our go-tos this year: Uno Flip, Sleeping Queens (still), Tenzi dice game, Rummikub, Scrambled States of America, and Apples to Apples (we only have the regular version, but I would probably buy the junior if you don’t already have one. Some of the cards are a little PG-13, which I think is the kids’ favorite part).
71. Celebrating the big and little stuff.
72. Things I hate day list.
73. Changing my mind and the power of sharing the ways in which we’ve changed our minds.
74. Spring break and new years in Black Mountain. Duh.
75. Day trips to Wild Geese with friends or Grant or the kids.
76. MarketWagon during the off-season for the farmers market.
77. My Kindle Paperwhite for bedtime reading.
78. Friday catch/frisbee nights when it’s nice out.
79. The Daily Dad emails. Grant and I both loooove these, and they’ve made for some great conversations just the two of us and as a whole family (and Grant uses them with his basketball boys too).
80. On that note, I feel like 2019 was the return of the newsletter – for me anyhoo. I was a little ruthless with my inbox at the beginning of the year, so the stuff that was actually in my inbox tended to be stuff actually worth reading. Stay tuned for a post with my favorites and send me yours!
81. Our Funky Porch and 19-er playlists on Spotify. Tip: start a 2020 playlist now and add favorites to it throughout the year, and then you’ll have a listening time capsule of the year.
82. My work schedule. Because of our childcare situation last summer, I had to switch my normal working days to M-W, and it makes such a difference to have Thursday and Friday off in a row.
83. Sleeping in these to keep my toes happier and healthier.
84. I created a little charging station in our closet (used this to be able to charge everything in one spot), and we dumped our phones there every night at bedtime. Our resolution for 2020 is to try to dump our phones back in the closet before dinner for the whole evening. Having a home for all of that stuff makes it easier to put away, which in turn makes it less likely to distract us when we’d rather be spending time with each other/as a family.
85. Garden therapy. Working for me since around 2006.
86. Our small group of nearly thirteen years broke up (on good terms and for good reason) in 2019. We mostly hosted every other Sunday for those thirteen years. We still get together with those friends, but now it’s just social, no strings/expectations attached. Having our Sunday evenings to just read on the couch or play games or maybe cook ahead for the week has been magical and one of those things we didn’t know we needed until we had it again.
87. Practicing more yoga nidra and teaching it every third Friday at Shine.
88. Walking with friends instead of going out for coffee/drinks/a meal.
89. Reading romance novels, especially when I need a distraction from the $#*%show of American politics these days.
90. Cloud gazing.
91. Getting sucked into the following with G this year: Four Weddings, finishing up Poldark and Durrells, Schitt’s Creek for life (I think the fifth season is my favorite so far, but we love them all), Maisel, Modern Love, revisiting New Girl and GOT (although I was also very glad when it was over).
92. Meal formulas instead of meal planning (still working).
93. You do you, I’ll do me (proof that I have to keep reminding myself of this one: so many posts here that could fall into this category).
94. Trying not to let myself do anything on my phone until I had read the daily CAC email (scroll down to “remembering” section).
95. Gardening parenting > carpentering. I’ve been noticing this works (not surprisingly) on how I learn to re-parent myself too.
96. Trying to put the lessons from Atomic Habits in place, specifically trying to break down new habits (or breaking old ones) into very small, manageable bits. Atomic Habits also helped me realize and accept that, for me (n-of-one again!), I’m much better off building good habits versus setting goals.
97. The times/subjects that I was able to dig deeper into something versus skimming the surface. Depth > breadth.
98. Always trying to grow my “feeling my feelings” muscle. This one will probably be on my year-end reflection lists until I die (#Enneagram7problems).
99. Movement > exercise. I’m noticing several of these on this list would fit into the “words matter” category. The ways we talk, especially to ourselves, have tremendous power. So I tried to remove “work out” or “exercise” from my self-talk, teaching, and to do list. Instead, I try to focus on moving more throughout the day versus having specific working out/exercise goals, and I’ve been finding that – not surprisingly – I actually move more throughout the day, something that will serve me well if I’m privileged enough to experience old age.
100. Living seasonally 🙂

I encourage you to do a year-in-review regardless of how you do it. For me, January is for reflecting, so you still have plenty of time to look back and ask yourself what worked for you and what didn’t (sign-up for my newsletter for my “what didn’t work for me” list next week).