7 Simple Things To Do To Wrap Up 2019 & Welcome 2020

Can you believe that we just have about 2 weeks left till we welcome a new year, again? Boy, has this year passed by in the blink of an eye! 2 weeks is a good time for all of us to say goodbye to 2019, and hello to 2020. Don’t worry, this isn’t one of those “new year new me” posts, but little things you can do during this transition period to make peace with 2019 and start 2020 on a high note. Without further ado, get started to welcome 2020!


1) Start Your New Year’s Resolution(s) Early

New Year’s resolutions are a thing because a new year symbolises new beginnings. However, there’s no such thing as waiting for the right time to do something – you just do it, and stick to doing it. If you already have your resolutions ready to start on 1/1/2020, why not give it a headstart and start now? Think of it as the practice phase for your resolutions, and when 2020 rolls around, you’d have got the hang of it. Whether it’s losing weight, finding little joys in life, laughing more or anything else, you can start now without waiting!

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2) Replace A Bad Habit With A Good Habit

Habits can’t really cancelled or broken. Habits are formed when you’ve repeated a certain action/thought enough that it becomes second nature. When you want to break a bad habit, the easiest way to do so is to replace it with a good habit. And the good habit doesn’t have to be immediately life-changing as well. You can start small, and gradually overpower the bad habit with the good habit. A very common example is to replace junk food with healthy snacks. You could replace one junk food item with a fruit, and replace more and more junk food as you go along. But you don’t have to munch on carrot sticks all the time – moderation is key in this case!

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3) Perform A Digital Detox

Did the words “digital detox” send you into a little panic attack or maybe your heart skipped a beat at the very thought of not being connected 24/7? Hate to break it to you, but that’s a sign you’re overly attached to your phone. Sure, we live in the digital age now where technology is prevalent, but what comes with it is addiction. When was the last time you disconnected? Especially if you haven’t done so for some time, there’s no better time than now to do it. It’s the year end – you deserve some time for yourself and real-live interaction. Totally switch off your phone if you can, or at least disconnect from the Internet for a period of time. Just try for 24 hours – more days if you can – the world won’t be coming to an end. And yes, I’ve done my digital detox this year for two weeks!

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4) Declutter

It’s time to throw out the old! Year ends are a good time to spring clean because again, the symbolisation of clearing of the past year, and being prepared to welcome the new year. Plus, if you’re celebrating CNY, you won’t have to clean as hard when CNY arrives. There are a few guidelines to decluttering, but probably the best way to decide what to throw or what to keep is whether you’ve used it in the past year, and what’s the value of the item. Honestly speaking, usually most of us have way too much stuff than we need. Also, back to the digital era thing, you should also consider decluttering your social media friend or follower list. If there are those who constantly spout toxicity, or you don’t even want to see their stuff anymore, unfollow-lah.

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5) Set Your 2020 Goals

Work or otherwise. Goal-setting can be tricky business – there are short-term and long-term goals, and they should also be achievable. Let’s talk examples. Could one of your goals be “I want to be a millionaire”? You can make that your goal, but how likely are you to actually become one in 2020? So what you can do it to break it down to smaller steps such as “get a pay raise/promotion by April”, “start own side hustle”, or other similar things. As for personal goals, “be more happy” is also vague, so sit down think about ways you can be happy. The reasoning for goal-setting is that it’s tangibility is more likely to spur you into action. And remember, your short-term goals especially should be achievable in a set time frame!

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6) Learn Something New

We weren’t actually thinking about picking up a total new skill, but we suppose that could work too, especially if one of your 2020 resolutions is “to pick up a new skill”. We were referring to general knowledge… generally. Sometimes you may come across a term, an article, or some piece of news that you didn’t fully get, so now’s the time to search it up and get informed on your topic of choice!

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7) Make Time For Yourself To Unwind

And stick it to throughout 2020 and beyond. Life seems to be going at a faster and faster pace, and we as humans don’t quite seem to know how to slow down. In fact, when we’re told to relax, we do it nervously i.e. we try so hard to relax we can’t even relax anymore. The key to this is repetition and habit. In other words, make slowing down a daily thing, a lifestyle choice. Like, you get up, you brush your teeth, you get in the shower, you sit quietly for 5 minutes every morning without fail. Everyone definitely brushes their teeth in the morning regardless of what came before or what comes next, right? So make your “down time” an integral part of your life as well! If you can’t do daily yet, try a weekly routine, then increase the frequency. There are various ways to unwind and slow down, all you have to do is find yours. But if you need a pointer, try Googling “mindfulness”!

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