31. Something To Look Forward To

You do not need to be sober or sober , curious , or participating in Dry January to join this book club . You can just want to read this book with me . I will put the details in the show notes , but it is on January 30th We'll be meeting . Also , if you'd like to join my winter support group on Facebook , I'd love to have you .

It's just a place for us to gather and chat about how we're doing and how you're surviving the winter time . I will put that link in the show notes as well .

I've got some really fun things planned that I will reference a little bit in today's episode . I'm also fully aware that my dad will most likely pass away this year , although I thought he was going to pass away last year and that didn't happen . That's just something that is in the back of my brain is that , hey , your dad's probably going to pass soon .

That feels kind of weird , but I'm really , really excited about this year . I've been off from work for the past week , which was just a really nice break . I got to see a lot of family . I got to catch up with a lot of friends . I got to hang out with Paul and Snowball . It was really nice and really needed .

As I've referenced before in this podcast , I was very reflective . I get really , really introspective and reflective at the end of the year , just thinking about all that has transpired , all the good , the bad , the ugly . How I would like the new year to go .

During my reflection the past week or two , I realized I wanted to share something with you at the beginning of this year . I wanted to share with you today One of my happiness hacks . I stole that term from Gretchen Rubin , who has written several books but is most noted for her book , the Happiness Project .

She talks about happiness hacks all the time in her podcast . Thanks , gretchen Rubin , I stole your idea . I wanted to start the year off on a positive note by sharing this happiness hack with you . Many people I know are really struggling right now , personally and professionally . I just want to add a little bit of positivity to your life right now .

That is this Always have something to look forward to . Always have something to look forward to . Obviously , this means something different for everyone . Many of you are listening right now and are thinking , yeah , because you already do something like this .

It took me a long time to adhere to this happiness hack because I didn't realize how much having something to look forward to affected my mental health , especially during the winter season . Here in Minnesota , I have made it a policy for myself to always have something to look forward to . This is what this looks like .

For me specifically this year , but just in general , the most important thing for me is to have a vacation scheduled , and I realized that I am very , very privileged to even be able to do this , to be able to always have a vacation planned . My family did not ever go on vacation . When I was younger , I think we went I shouldn't say never .

We went a couple of times , but my dad didn't like to travel and he didn't like to spend money on anything that wasn't absolutely necessary . So I just never went on vacation . Growing up I didn't understand what the big deal was . I didn't understand why people left Minnesota for the winter to go on vacation .

And now that I've had just a taste of what it's like to either go out of town for a couple of days or to actually get on an airplane and travel somewhere , now that I know how beneficial that is for me , I always try to have something on the calendar . Now this last year , paul and I didn't do this . We did not go on vacation .

I actually was able to go on a vacation in February with my girlfriends , but Paul and I didn't go anywhere because just health in our family wasn't great and also we weren't really sure what we were gonna do with the dog , and I'm happy to say that we've gotten over that and there's some vacations planned . This year .

I'm going on vacations with my girlfriend again excuse me vacation with my girlfriends again in February . That's just a standing vacation for us now , and I'm so grateful for it . Paul and I are going on a cruises and friends in October . I also have two business trips planned , which has never happened before . I'm excited .

For those of you that travel for business a lot , I'm guessing you're like it's not that great , which is probably true because I'll be working the whole time , but I'll be somewhere else . I'm going to Florida at the end of this month for a podcasting conference .

I'm going to Boise in October for the Polkadot Powerhouse Conference , and so I've got four things on the calendar already this year that I'm just thrilled about , and I know how lucky I am to be able to go do that . Another thing that I look forward to is having a new book .

I like books so much that I have a whole shelf of stuff that I haven't read yet , because I'll find a book that I'm so excited to read and I'll start it , but then I'll find another one , so then I'll start that one , but then I'll find another one .

But the point is I love reading and I always have a great book to read and I always look forward to going to bed because I've stopped scrolling before bed and I've started reading and it's been so wonderful . Another thing that I always look forward to is coming home to snowball man . I never had a dog until I met Paul .

I didn't understand what I was missing out on , and I always look forward to coming home because she's here and she's so sweet and so funny and she's always so happy to see us that it's just a joy to come home .

Paul and I have committed to having one official date a month hopefully more than that , but at least one a month and we have such fun dates , even if it's quote unquote only going out to dinner , like last night we went to a restaurant that was new to us , the Apostle's Supper Club in St Paul , and it was just so fun to just go somewhere new and to not

be on our phones and to just talk to each other . And he actually has a surprise date scheduled for us this weekend and I have a date scheduled for us in March , and so just having a date on the calendar is so fun . The girlfriends that I travel with every February , we've recently started going to the Salt Cave every month , once a month .

The Salt Cave is in Minneapolis . It's wonderful . I highly recommend it . I will try to remember to link all of this stuff in the show notes , but just seeing them once a month and having us do something relaxing together is so good for my heart and my soul and my mental health . That's what I have monthly meetings with polka dot powerhouse .

That are always on the calendar and they are always so fun . Yes , it's a networking meeting , but it's just super chill and casual and I just really look forward to it .

So those are the things that are on my calendar this year as something to look forward to , and if you haven't done so already , I encourage you to get out your calendar today or tomorrow and just put something on the books , in the books , on the books . I think those are both correct , I don't know .

Just put something in your calendar that you're looking forward to once a month . You don't have to spend any money . Maybe it's , you know , reading a book , catching up on your favorite television show , going to the movies which , of course , does cost money .

Paul and I haven't gone to a movie in about three years , so that needs to be something we put back on our list . Maybe a volunteer opportunity . Just get something on your calendar , make it a priority .

This could be something that's just for you or something for your family , or something for your friends , but put something that you are looking forward to on your calendar once a month .

And here's why we need hope , we need optimism , we need to be contributing positively to our communities and and having something to look forward to makes us feel better , and when we feel better , the people around us also feel better , and isn't that awesome ? Isn't that what we want ? To feel better and to have everyone feeling better .

So that is my challenge for you this week , dear listener is to have something , some things , many things possibly to look forward to , because it's gonna make a huge difference in the way that you walk through the world , in the way that you see the world and in the ways in which you interact with the world . So that's my two cents for this week .

If you enjoyed this podcast or any of my work , please buy me a coffee . I would love that coffee . In fact , a few people have bought me a coffee this past month and I want to do a huge shout out to them . Thank you , zoe . Thank you Anthony . Oh , my gosh , anthony , it was so good to hear from you . We haven't talked in years .

Allison , thank you so much for buying me a coffee . Mark , thank you for buying me coffee . Not only does it pay for my coffee , but it it pays for my podcasting expenses , so I really really appreciate it .

Everybody , you could also support me by buying a copy of my book or purchasing a copy for someone else . It deals heavily with the grief process , which is something I find people don't really want to talk about .

But reading my book may help you process the grief that you are having in your life , whether it's a person or a pet who has passed , or maybe you know you're grieving a relationship that's ending or a job that's ending . I'll obviously link my book Things I'm Thinking About in the show notes .

I have a guest next week , yay , okay , I'm so excited to share next week's podcast as well , but you're gonna have to wait till Tuesday , the 9th . But I have a guest next week . I hope you're doing well , friends . I hope that your year has started out strong , or however . You need it to strong , need it to strong . What does that mean ?

However , you need it to start . I woke up , did a bunch of stuff today Today is actually January 1st and then I went back to bed . So that's how I'm starting out strong , at any rate . Thank you so much for healing and growing with me today .