Five on Friday: Foundation Habits

 ... and somehow, someway, it's almost mid-January. Huh? In lieu of traditional resolutions, I made a 23 in 2023 list as I've been doing for a few years, thanks to inspiration from author and podcaster, Gretchen Rubin. I'll expand upon that in a future post. Along with my 23 in 23, I'm trying to double down on my foundation habits: the things I do that make me feel like myself and like I'm living the kind of life I want to lead. 

A fantastic day encompasses all of the following, but life has other plans. Here are the five foundation habits that I strive to do every day:

1. Yoga & a devotion in front of the wood stove in the morning. I have a little time between Rosie getting on the bus for Hampshire, and the time I go upstairs to wake Buddy for his school day. I roll out my yoga mat in front of the wood stove (and usually have to ask our dog, Angel, to move), and settle on the mat with the current devotional I'm reading. I finished a great one last year: The Helper: Growing as an Enneagram 2 and am currently working my way through Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Mom to Meet with Jesus. Starting my day with a short God message helps set the tone. I then start my 15-minute yoga sequence. It always feels so good to stretch out.

2. Drink 72 oz of water before lunch. Seems strangely specific, right? That's the size of my favorite water bottle. I try to drink 3 of these between 5:30am and 12pm. I don't keep track after lunch, so this is my way of knowing I'm getting most of my hydration in the first part of the day. To my family and friends' dismay, I think water is the solution to most everything. Feeling sluggish? Drink more water. Think you're hungry even though you just ate? Drink more water. Headache? You're dehydrated. 

3. 3+ miles on the treadmill or a long walk outside. This really makes me feel like myself. I love to walk. And I enjoy pairing it with podcasts, TV shows, checking out Pinterest, etc. This serves double duty as much-needed exercise and me time.

4. One Line A Day Journal & reading before bed. This year I started my third (!) one line a day five-year journal, which means I've journaled daily for over 10 years. It's literally a line or two about our family's activities. I love reading over the past years, and seeing how much has changed in our lives. After writing, I settle in with my current fiction book. I realized a few years ago that right before bed is no time for non-fiction. I need a story to escape into and ease my mind into sleep.

5. 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Nothing ground-breaking here; we all need at least this much sleep. But, like any adult, I find it hard to go to bed when it feels like the evening is my only downtime. I can work with 7 hours sleep, but my body craves 8-8.5.

These are five foundation habits that ground me and make me feel like me! What are yours?

Five on Friday: Favorite Books of 2022

2022 was the year I got my reading mojo back! I finished 35 books, up from 31 in 2021, 27 in 2020, 25 in 2019 and 27 in 2018. My goal for 2023? Simply to read more than 35. How will I do it?

• Continue my habit of getting to bed early enough most nights to fit in 20-30 minutes of reading.
• Continue my newly developed habit of choosing reading as my cool down activity after exercising, instead of scrolling on my phone or iPad.
• Search out more books by favorite authors that I have a good chance of enjoying. (I know this sounds obvious, but in the past, I felt beholden to the books on my shelf, even if I didn't really want to read some of them.) 
• GIVE UP ON A BOOK if I find myself struggling through it! Why do I still do this to myself at times? When I'm not looking forward to picking up my book, I know it's time to dump it, but I still get caught up in the feeling that I "should" finish it. Here's to dumping more books that aren't the right fit for me because there are too many great books in this world, and too little time.

Without further ado, here were my top five books of 2022!

1. Apples Never Fall by Lianne Moriarty. The newest book by one of my favorite authors did not disappoint. It had me guessing until the end. Amazon's summary: "From Liane Moriarty, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, comes Apples Never Fall, a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest."

2. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. 2022 was the year I discovered Kristin Hannah, and this book of hers in particular really took me for a ride. She weaves a tale like no one else can. Amazon's summary: "In Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone, a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in human nature."

3. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Need I say more? I know you've read this book or at least heard of it, since it also came out in movie form this year. A story that spans decades and is impossible to put down. Amazon's summary: The #1 New York Times bestselling worldwide sensation with more than 15 million copies sold, hailed by The New York Times Book Review as “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.”

4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Reid is another author I am thankful to have "met" last year. This is my favorite of hers. Amazon's summary: "From the New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & the Six—an entrancing and “wildly addictive journey of a reclusive Hollywood starlet” (PopSugar) as she reflects on her relentless rise to the top and the risks she took, the loves she lost, and the long-held secrets the public could never imagine."

5. Summer of '69 by Elin Hilderbrand. I had seen Hilderbrand's books everywhere for years but thought (mistakenly) that her books were just romantic fluff. I was wrong! Is there romance? Of course. But there's also SO much more going on, with wonderful characters and plot turns. I am glad I finally took a chance on her, because now I plan on reading some of her books every summer (the one good thing about discovering an author several years in is you have a lot of books to catch up on!) Amazon's summary: "Four siblings experience the drama, intrigue, and upheaval of the '60s summer when everything changed in Elin Hilderbrand's #1 New York Times bestselling historical novel."

Because it was such a great year of reading, it was hard to nail it down to five favorites. Honorable mentions include City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, and Verity by Colleen Hoover.

Happy Reading! What were your favorite books in 2022?