21 Manageable Things to Do in 2021 (That Might Make You Feel Better)
Tags: Life, Wellbeing, Life Lessons, Resolutions

21 Manageable Things to Do in 2021 (That Might Make You Feel Better) Deborah Jan 2·7 min read

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Every year, I usually make the same half-hearted New Year’s resolutions. I am full of good intentions - quit sugar, exercise more, lose weight, write a novel, live in the present, practise gratitude, wear bold colours, go grey gracefully, be productive, limit online activity and so on…

Just like my mother always furiously tackled shirts and pillowcases, starching like crazy, so she could have her ironing basket cleared by the stroke of midnight on 31 December, we all somehow believe that the fresh start of 1 January offers us yet another opportunity to cast off the detritus of our under-whelming past and transform ourselves into the amazing creatures we were always meant to be.

Alas, it is never the case. We slip up before we have even got started, the ironing inevitably piles up again, the half stone wants to stick with us. This year is so much worse. I simply could not muster the enthusiasm to make a list and when I read an article that encouraged averageness in 2021 and my youngest daughter announced she just planned to wash more in 2021, I decided, let’s make it bearable.

So, here are my 21 manageable things to do in 2021 (that might make you feel better and if you are not existing on 500 calories a day, possibly also the lives of those around you):

1. Eat an apple every day

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. You can choose what type. I like a Pink Lady. There is no joy in a Golden Delicious.

2. Read books you enjoy

There are so many books I feel I should read and I have berated myself with them. But who is putting this pressure on me? When I eventually finished The Milkman during lockdown, wasting far too many hours on it, I had to eat an entire tub of Ben and Jerry’s to recover. I was traumatised. Every line was a struggle. Only read books that make you feel excited inside, the ones that make you desperate to get back to the next chapter and preferably ones that are less than 350 pages. I recommend anything by Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, Jane Gardam - no fancy language, no big words, just stories of humanity that will connect you again and again to the richness of life and all its mysteries.

3. Moisturise from the inside

This is sort of the same as eating healthily but it sounds better. Your skin always looks plumper and your eyes brighter if you ingest oily fish and avocados, rather than sausage rolls and cake.

4. Start a conversation (with someone you don’t know)

I include this one tentatively as I realise this may not be the best time to talk enthusiastically to strangers - there will be a tendency to back off and the mask-wearing adds a layer of complexity. But honestly, so many people really want to have a conversation, they just don’t know how to start one. And so many people are very lonely and perhaps, a chat in the post office queue will be the only human contact they have. Someone has to go first - be that person.

5. Cull your Wardrobe

In 2020, I may have gone a little bit too far with the culling. Should I ever return to a physical workplace that requires a level of professional apparel, I could be in trouble. Most of my wardrobe has winged its way to other homes via eBay. We just over-burden ourselves with endless unnecessary stuff — evening bags (I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of evening events I have attended in my lifetime), scarves, mules, sarongs, attire for a lifestyle we will never have. It’s so freeing to get rid of it and if you have kept anything in the vain hope you will eventually shrink into it, let it go. It is probably too dated now anyway.

6. Nourish a Plant

You have to trust me on this one. I can’t really explain it. But when you are responsible for a plant and it survives, even thrives, it is so affirming.

7. Stop comparing yourself to others

We waste so much energy wondering why we are not like everyone else -thinner, braver, articulate, poised, athletic. But comparison truly is the thief of joy and it is our uniqueness that makes us interesting. No-one else has your heart and your gifts and no-one else will mean what you mean to someone. As I say to my children, I am the only mum you have.

8. Go to bed earlier

It is so blissful just to be in bed, with a good book (see number 2 above) and a cup of tea by 9pm.

9. Hold someone’s hand

Again, this is slightly tricky at the moment but you can probably limit this to those in your ‘household’ bubble. When you hold a hand that is smaller than yours, you feel an overwhelming love. When you hold one that is bigger, you feel an overwhelming reassurance. Both of these are really great ways to feel.

10. Cook something from scratch

This is one that particularly horrifies my family as I am not known for my culinary successes. (No-one is allowed to mention the panettone tiramisu on Boxing Day). But, there is a satisfaction in gathering all your ingredients, chopping aggressively if it’s one of those days and producing something edible that doesn’t come in a microwaveable container. Plus, slow cookers are hugely forgiving if presentation is not your forte.

11. Spend time with yourself

I don’t necessarily mean spend time by yourself although that may be another necessity of 2021 but spend time with yourself. Learn to enjoy your own company. You may find you like yourself and that you truly are the best person you know.

12. Appreciate something retro

Returning to the past is a must in hard times. Dig out some music, a film, a food, a concept that transports you back to a different era. For me, it is anything from the 1980s.

13. Watch Dickensian

The whole glorious 20 episodes of this are currently on iPlayer. It did not receive the recognition it deserved in 2015. But you can watch it now. And if like me, you are easily bored, each episode is only 30 minutes.

14. Move your body

So, this is exercise in disguise - but instead of loathing yourself because you didn’t complete a five mile run in the rain or a full Les Mills work-out in your living room - just try to do any kind of movement that stops you seizing up completely and frees your muscles from the daily slouching over a keyboard. Walk, skip, dance if you like.

15. Send a handwritten note

Before the advent of social media and before I met my husband, back in the 1990s, I met someone who lived in another country. He wrote me letters regularly, mainly full of nonsense but I can still remember the buzz of receiving one in the post (once he sent me a fly swatter, but that is another story). In an era when we can fire off an email in an instant, there is just something special about receiving a handwritten note. You could do that for someone.

16. Learn to say no and learn to say yes

I realise this is probably the hardest to implement but if you can learn to say no to anything you know will deplete you and yes to anything that scares you, you will be about a million times happier. You will be in control. ‘No’ can include no longer seeing people that suck your energy and ‘yes’ can be as small as using your voice to speak up in a meeting. But, this takes skill and determination so I will write more on this in due course….

17. Appreciate what is on your doorstep

When the waitress in my local restaurant called me ‘Deborah’ as she chatted to me, my eyes welled. She knew my name. Sometimes, we think what we need is far away, it is travelling to exotic places or finding distant paradises. But, it’s not, it’s relationships and it’s connections closer to home, right here on our doorstep.

18. Don’t read too much

When I had four children under the age of seven and could barely sneeze in peace without someone needing me, I would occasionally weep at the thought of being able to read, undisturbed. Now, I seem to read way too much and my brain is often quite fried with the amount of information I am trying to squeeze into it. Don’t try to pack so much into your head, intersperse all that intellectual activity with movement (see number 14).

19. Watch a sunrise or a sunset

You won’t regret either of these.

20. Eat chips in the car

For some reason, most men hate this idea. It’s something to do with the lingering smell. This one made my husband wrinkle his nose in utter disgust. But, if there is one thing I recall most fondly from my childhood, it was those rare occasions when we ate chips straight out of the paper in the back of the car, the steaming heat burning our laps. Sometimes, you just have to let your standards slip and open the windows.

21. Be open

And finally, be fully open about who you are and about how you feel. If you are justifiably angry, then tackle that injustice. If you are confused, share that burden with someone. If someone has made a difference to you, say thank you and let them know. Too many people hide their feelings. As I said before, someone has to go first. If you can be open, you allow everyone else to be open around you.

So, happy 2021 everyone. May you find it manageable.