My Tiny House New Year’s Resolutions
Hello, Friends! And Happy New Year!
My name is Alaska. I'm the millennial who quit her life, moved into a tiny house, and now spends her days writing you letters here on the Tiny House Expedition blog in the hopes that you will join in the fun and buy a tiny house, also.
The idea of buying a tiny house brings up the topic of goals, and since this is a season of resolutions, I wanted to outline a few I have for the coming year.
My first resolution is going to shock and appall many of you. Are the kids in the other room?
Good. Because here's the thing, my first resolution is to throw the entire idea of resolutions out the window.
Actually, go get your kids because, on second thought, they probably should hear this.
AHEM.
Let's talk about my fresh take on tiny house New Year's Resolutions.
Who decided it was a good idea to set up a system in which humans are pressured to set massive, often unrealistic goals, staple their self-worth to them, and hurl the whole charade in the general direction of December 31st? (A date too far away to properly aim for?)
What if the new goal was to achieve the simple life?
Sure, if you achieve your resolution, you'll feel like an olympian, but according to a two-year study on New Year's resolutions conducted by the University of Scranton, only 19% of people were able to change long-term and keep their resolutions for two years.
This means that 81% of us who set resolutions will miss that proverbial gold medal by a hairline and be shot straight into the failure zone.
Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
How brutal is that? No wonder we're all depressed.
Why are the choices to be ever-expanding or doomed to failure? Why can't we just focus more on enjoyment and less on securing that which we don't have?
Fortunately, this is one more way in which the tiny home movement is swooping in to save us all.
Tiny House New Year's Reflections
Tiny houses make you think, and this year, my tiny home is making me think about the ever-expanding quest for greatness that New Year's resolutions encourage. I'm starting to think we ought to seek growth in a lower-key way.
What if this year is just about sitting down & having a cup of coffee?
And if you feel similarly, I have done some me-search that may give you hope.
Are you ready for this? Despite thirty-odd years of failed New Year's resolutions, my life is now much better than it was ten years ago.
Now, I live in a tiny house. I also work for myself and write 10x more than I used to. I still can't crochet or make zoodles (zucchini noodles), but I am marginally better at getting cats to like me, and I think that counts for something.
The point is that if I look at my life through the eyelet of my past New Year's Resolutions, the only way to view myself is as a colossal failure. But when I zoom out and look at my life as a whole? Trending!
So obviously, there must be something else at play here. New Year's resolutions aren't the only way to succeed.
But if not formal New Year's resolutions, is there anything I'd like to achieve this year?
Yes.
Less Instagram scrolling and more 3-mile+ walks.
The latter is preferably taken in pursuit of brunch.
How about you?
-Alaska
Alaska is a writer, realtor, and tiny homeowner living in the great state of Colorado. She is the founder of The Tiny House Concierge, a company that offers consultation and copywriting services for people looking to rethink their housing and rewrite their lives. In addition to her website, she can be found on Instagram and YouTube.
