Recap to 30 Days of Composed Living
Recap to 30 Days of Composed Living
As January has come to a close, we have finished up our 30 Days to Composed Living - a guide to creating a life you love - that we were featuring on our instagram all throughout the month. BUT, these are practices you can integrate into every month to really prioritize yourself and the aspects of life that you value most.
For me, the areas I choose to focus on are: Home, Education, Family + Friends, Marriage + Partnership, Finances, Health + Wellness, Community, Career, and Spirituality. Below, I will give you a recap on how I bring these values to the forefront of my life and share some ways the CL team members do as well!
Elsa
***For a deeper look into each of these bullet points, check out my full 30 Days to Composed Living Guide linked here or embedded at the bottom of this post.
Home:
Create a household calendar
Have shared notes with your family
Sage and Palo Santo
Plants + fresh flowers
Declutter + Simplify
Automating + Delegating
Daily + Weekly Planning
Education:
Learn a new language
Read at least one book a month
Family + Friends
Keep in touch regularly
Send handwritten letters for no reason
Put birthdays in your calendar and set them to recur yearly
Marriage + Partnership
Choose 3 words to describe your ideal partnership
Leave love notes
Date nights
Finances:
Saving for something meaningful to you
Quality over quantity
Pay attention to where and how you spend
Health + Wellness:
Nighttime routines
Breath work
Healthy eating + sustainable food
Journaling and afternoon reflections
Move your body!
Meditation + mantra
Community:
Find a community that supports you
Volunteer
Career:
Find a career coach or mentor
What are your goals? Be clear on what you want and work toward that
Spirituality:
Gratitude
Be present in the moment: slow down + allow your heart to hear what you’re being called to do
Spend time in nature
Maddy - Home
DIY
-Do house projects
-Modify your space to make it as YOU as possible
Goals for the year:
-Paint bedroom
-Revamp boyfriend’s office
-Put some shelves up in the bathroom
Create Pinterest boards to get DIY ideas
-Check out her Pinterest inspo!
Ali - Education
Politics
-Learning about politics and activism is really tricky because there is so much information and it’s tough to know where to start. It’s easy to get down on yourself in feeling like you’re not doing the work quickly enough - but you can do it. It’s not something that happens over night but it is important work. I find it really helpful to follow established activists on social media and I like listening to the podcast The Daily to get basic information on current events, but it’s super important not to get all of your information from one source, hearing from different perspectives and grasping the whole story before making an opinion is an essential skill.
Psychology
-Read books like Attached or The Body Keeps Score to understand more about yourself and those around you!
Astrology
-Listen to the podcast: Learn Astrology with Mary
Learn new skills
-Bust down that limiting belief that you’re too old to learn new skills!
-I want to learn songwriting, music production, piano, and photography!
Grow what you know
-Practice your existing crafts, there’s always places to expand
Paris - Friends + Family
Share a family recipe with friends (I’ve shared one below for you to try!)
Watch a movie over facetime - great for friends and family who live far away!
Leave post-it notes - a great way to let someone know you appreciate them and are thinking of them.
Tech-free quality time - tuck that phone away and be present with your loved ones!
Send a greeting card - you don’t have to be somewhere exotic to do this!
Rachel - Finances
Identify income sources
-Make a complete list of your incomes (job, how they pay you, rates/contracts, etc.)
-Go over your bank statements for the last few months and make a spreadsheet
Identify monthly costs
-Track bills, rent, utilities, memberships, subscriptions
-I use Truebill to find the subscriptions I’m paying for to see what I no longer need
-Don’t forget about your loan payments!
-Account for things you know you’ll be spending money on but don’t know exactly how much and estimate it as best you can to be prepared
Create a budget
-Find patterns of how you spend your money by looking at your bank statements
-Set up categories for things you like and allocate a budget to each one
Revisit your budget
Things to think about!
-How much $ do I bring in?
-What does my money need to do before I get paid again?
-What do I want my money to do before I get paid again?
-What do I want and need my money to do someday?
Financial Resources:
-Acorns: beginner investment friendly
-Podcasts: Nerdwallet Smart Money, NPR Planet Money, Millennial Money, How to Money, NPR Life Kit
Caroline - Community
Incorporate your hobbies into your life
-Having people to go out and do the things you love with you is really motivating to do those activities more
-There are tons of facebook groups, you can type in literally any hobby you’ve ever wanted to do and find people to connect with who have the same passions
Yoga
-I do a work trade at a yoga studio, I work the front desk for free yoga and meet tons of incredible people coming in and out of studio
Surfing
-I joined girl’s surf group on facebook! They have mixers to meet people and now I have a community of people who are the same level as me that I can go surf with
I’m also interested in joining a hiking group!
Volunteer
-Pick whatever cause is important to you and you can find an organization that is a good fit
I work for Didi Hirsch’s suicide crisis line
-It is heavy but feels really important and good to spend time with other people who give back and are working to end stigmas against mental health
Janelle - Health + Wellness (Healthy and sustainable eating)
Utilize your local farmers market - eat local and sustainable! Use social media and government websites to find them! Learn about your nearby farms.
Don’t buy your produce in bulk, only buy what you need for the recipe or for a snack and use ALL of it - so much goes to waste in the fridge or on the counter.
Mindset! If there’s something left on the plate - we feel the need to finish it as a compulsion even if we feel full already! I try to remind myself that this is not the last meal I will have and I don’t have to finish it - you can always eat it later. Put it to the side, have some water, and then if you’re still hungry 15 minutes later, finish it! It’s about listening to your body!
Meal prep, meal prep, meal prep. If we don’t have anything healthy ready in the fridge, we’re more likely to make unhealthy choices. Also have healthy snacks on hand like berries, veggies, or popcorn you can pop yourself!
Maddie - Spirituality
Reading books of people you can relate to
Journaling - gratitude, prayer requests, highs and lows
Begin and end each day with a prayer or reflection
Seek and savor quiet time
Don’t be afraid to share your joy!
Fellowship - find spiritual friends who can hold you accountable and help you grow
Carry mementos to remind you - necklace, crystals, tarot, rosary, etc.
Create rituals - make your morning and night routines sacred
Say affirmations or listen to affirmational music that can remind you of your worth and purpose
Spring Clean your soul - retreats, confessions, or meeting a spiritual counselor