The (Juice-Free) January Detox.

I feel sorry for January. We expect it to sweep in like some sort of superhero, magically transforming our flabby arses, pickled livers and half-sketched dreams. So, in the spirit of giving January a break from all that pressure, I thought we might look at a few simple ways we can make life easier and lighter in 2019. A detox of sorts. No juicing required.

Less Adding. More Subtracting.Most of us are looking for MORE – More money, more time, more stuff. What if, instead of looking to add we started trying to subtract. Full credit to Derek Sivers for the math on this one. In his latest blog (which is always more lofty and succinct than my own) he reminds us that, ‘The world pushes us to add, because that benefits them.’ Makes sense – the more we WANT, the longer and harder we work. Endlessly stressing ourselves out, trapped in mortgages we can’t afford, servicing debts we didn’t need. ‘The adding mindset is deeply ingrained,’ he says. ‘It’s easy to think I need something else. It’s hard to look instead at what to remove.’

The Detox: What can you subtract from your home, life and list of commitments that is no longer serving you?

Less Invasion. More Control.Without us really noticing, technology has seeped in to every facet of our lives. It informs how we feel (smug, jealous, fat, liked). It validates what we think (algorythms ensuring we only see news and opions that match our own). And has stripped us bare for all the world to see (because someone always knows where you are, what you like and the easiest way to sell you more.) Don’t panic – I am not suggesting you stop scrolling, snapchatting and swiping right…..but, with minimum effort you can downsize your digital footprint for the better.

The Detox: DELETE the apps you don’t use (less location data for them to sell), UPDATE the apps you do use (reducing your security risks) and burst your FILTER BUBBLE (don’t rely on social media for all your news – websites like Allsides show both sides of opinion.) And never forget – no matter how perfect their life looks – I promise you it isn’t.

Less Stress. More Peace.Sometimes, we make life harder for ourselves than we have to. It may be laziness or simply force of habit – but most of us complain about the same exact things every-single-day. In our house it’s phone chargers. ‘Where is my phone charger?’ ‘Has anyone seen my phone charger?’ ‘Who the f*ck has nicked my phone charger?!’ You get the idea. So, not one to do things by halfs, I went out and bought a gazillion phone chargers and plugged those suckers into every available socket I could find. You can barely boil a kettle in our house without getting your charger in twist. Life has been a lot less stessful as a result.

The Detox: What are the stupid, dumb, niggly things in your life that you moan about all the time? Take the time and spend the money to eliminate them. Because the cost of peace is priceless.

This GET HAPPIER post is brought to you by someone who is not trying to reinvent the wheel, but is just trying to make it squeak a little less.