2024 Learnings

What is this post about?

Throughout my life, and particularly this year, I've tried to be more reflective and understand myself as deeply as I can. Mainly because I've always believed that this is my best route to contentedness in life. I really strongly believe that knowing yourself, understanding your own thought patterns, your anxieties, your likes and dislikes, etc. is the best way to craft a happy and fulfilling life for yourself.

With that mindset, I feel like I've learned soo much about myself. Like an insane amount. To the point where I wonder if I even really knew myself 5 years ago? Or maybe I've just grown since then too? Who knows lol, I digress.

I've called it "2024" learnings but it's actually gonna be more like an "everything up to now" learnings haha, seeing as this is my first of these posts and many of these things I actually learned before this year. The goal is now to do this every year moving forward. But anyways, enough preamble. Here's some NatGPT Wisdom™ for my future self to read:

The actual post

• Go outside!!! Literally just get up and go outside. Go for a walk, grab a coffee, sit in the park and listen to birds, hang out with friends. I cannot overstate how much going outside helps your mental health. Especially when you don't feel like it.
• Listen to music. Blast your favourite songs as often as possible. There is some sort of magical fairy dust in music that is so powerful and can change your entire mood in an instant. My Mum always used to say that "music soothes the savage beast", and this has stuck with me all my life. It really can be like an emotion-hacking cheat code
• Enjoy things. And enjoy enjoying things. Try to be really intentional about noticing the things you enjoy and then actively seek them out. And try not to deprive yourself of them either (within reason of course). What is the point of life if not to enjoy things?
• Don't undervalue social connections. An hour with your friends can completely change your entire outlook in that moment. I think nowadays society tends to be heavily individualistic and people tend to think they don't need other people to enjoy life. Maybe some don't but I think most of us do. Humans are social creatures! Lean into it, reap the benefits of it. Hang out with people you love as often as you can.
• Reading is incredibly calming. I think for me it stems from the stark contrast with most other media I consume, which is like quick gratification or a barrage of different topics in a short space of time. There is something so serene about diving into a book and focusing on one thing for hours — watching characters develop or learning something new about the world. I love it.
• Write your thoughts down. I do this by journaling and I'm trying to add posting on here into the mix as well now. I think we really often have thoughts that fly by without us really dissecting them, acting on them or recording them. Something else will come by that grabs your attention and the thought just evaporates. But it often stays imprinted on your emotional state, and so writing those thoughts down can really give you an incredibly clear window into your moods and feelings over time.
• On a similar note, meditate. Doesn't have to be anything crazy, just sit down and let your thoughts flow. Try not to interrupt them and watch where they take themselves. It can be so illuminating — I've genuinely learned so much about myself, my thought patterns, my innate tendencies and preferences, etc. by doing this. Just 2 mins every morning can alter the trajectory of your life I guarantee it.
• When you're feeling anxious, breathe. Sounds a bit silly and obvious but man, it's actually insane how powerful a few mins of deep, intentional breathing can be to slow your anxious thoughts and bring you some peace. I like to do 4 seconds in, 4 seconds holding, 4 seconds out, 4 seconds holding and then repeat. (Loved it so much I made a little animation for this site to help me do it without counting lol).
• Do things! Very common sentiment going around on social media recently tbh and I agree wholeheartedly. Your ideas are not helpful to you if they never leave your head. Give them a try! You probably won't regret it. And if you do, who cares? As long as you didn't die you're probably fine lol. You can literally just do stuff.
• Go to the supermarket with no list and no plans. Another one that sounds kinda silly but it genuinely turned something that used to feel like a chore to me into something exciting and fun. I'll still write stuff down that I need, like new toothpaste or something. But particularly for meals I kinda just wing it now for the most part, and I've been cooking so much more as a result.
• Watch live music! This might just be a me thing (and in writing this I'm realising these are all just "me things" tbh), but the same magical fairy dust that is in all music is multiplied by at least 10000x when you watch it live I think. Seeing the musicians interact with each other, watching the joy in their faces and in those around you, the excitement of improvisation, the feeling of a bassline reverberating through your chest. It really is an unmatched experience. Go hit that jazz club and lash a glass or two of red wine fam.
• Be authentic. I think I definitely have a tendency to be a bit too self-conscious and worry about how I'm perceived or what people think about me. Which is fine, it's largely unavoidable to have those irrational feelings sometimes. But what is avoidable is letting those feelings make you change yourself, or deprive yourself of something you want to do, or try to like something you don't. What is the point of that? You're the only person who has to live inside your brain man. Might as well let yourself be yourself, you'll be happier for it I promise.
• Let go of anger. Of all the emotions we have as humans, I think anger is probably the most useless one. I find it always stems from, and obscures, an underlying emotion like frustration, embarrassment, pride, etc. I'm a big proponent of letting ourselves just feel things, but I think the one exception to that is anger. There is never any benefit to just sitting and stewing in anger. Instead of leaning into your anger, try to pinpoint that underlying emotion and address it! What is causing it? What can you do to mitigate it, if anything? Your mental state and your relationships with people (platonic or otherwise) will benefit greatly.

I could probably keep going but I think this does a good job of encapsulating the most important points I wanted to hit. If I think of anything else maybe I'll add a part 2 or something. Anyways, if any of this resonated with you or you'd like to talk to me about it, please feel free to reach out (: love you all thanks for reading and may 2025 be the best year yet for all of us🫶🏾

— Nathan