Lower my expectations

I never think my expectations are ridiculous. They just become ridiculous and by that time, I’m so attached to them that it’s hard for me to let them go. But if there’s one thing I dislike more than my ridiculous expectations, it’s constantly being disappointed. So I will stop expecting… anything. Because as I recently read, people with low or no expectations are way happier than the alternative.

Saving money

It won’t save us from the zombies, but it will give us the ability to pay off our mortgage before we pay double for our house.

Stop treating people the way I want to be treated

I feel like I have been going out of my way to connect with people who don’t seem interested in connecting with me. Or at least, not in the way or at the same speed I want to connect with them. Which is not a bad thing. Simply a thing.

When I think about it sometimes, I realize how much of my behavior was completely anxiety driven. Then it leaves me with the question, what do I want to do when I don’t factor in the anxiety? For example, do I want to constantly go through my message apps to ensure I didn’t miss a text and see if there’s anyone I need to message because I fear I will miss something and infuriate someone?

I’m not sure what I would want without anxiety, because there has always been anxiety to consider. But I should probably find out.

Find a new coping mechanism

I read recently that when trying to give up a vice you really enjoy, you should introduce something else into your life that you also really enjoy. Because if you love food and you limit yourself to salads without any snacks, now you are left suffering the loss of good food and you have nothing to fill the gap. Without comfort or even a distraction, it’s much easier to dive back into old habits at a moment of weakness.

Unfortunately, a lot of coping mechanisms are also vices. And there’s no point in quitting smoking to become a binge drinker. So I need to figure out what I can introduce to my life that is fun, engaging, and comforting. But is also health, cost free, and won’t easily become monotonous.

Stop watching the same YouTube video 40,000 times

When everyone began to worship the algorithm I soon realized how this was just causing commentary YouTube to simply report on the exact same topics. Again and again. Endlessly, with no new information, or innovative thought-provoking takes. But I was so programmed, I just kept watching. And watching. And watching.

To be fair, YouTube was happy to continually serve me content on topics I had already watched. After all, if I watched one video on a shady Tik Toker, wouldn’t I want my feed filled with nothing but commentary on that same Tik Toker?

There is so much on YouTube, including videos that pre-date the algorithm cult, so I need to find more of those. A lot more.

Do one thing at a time

It’s been proven that no one really multitasks. Or, to be fair, no one does it well. If you think you do, you would probably score exceptionally poor on a multitasking test. Just kidding. I have no idea what you would score. Maybe you should test yourself.

Anyway, like any good millennial, I have lost myself in trying to accomplish literally everything at once and sucking at all of it. There have been times where I have focused on just doing the task at hand and not allowing myself to be also listening to something, reading something, scrolling on my phone, etc. etc. etc.

Spoiler: It has been so nice. Once I started getting over my antsy feeling like I needed to do something with my hands, it’s actually amazing. I need to do that more often.