To many of us, the idea of “changing your life” or giving yourself a life makeover has a great appeal. However, this post isn’t going to tell you how to become someone else - changing your life is more about pinpointing who you are as a person and what makes you happy, and shaping your life around these things so that you are leading a life you truly love.
While you can do this during the school year, it’s much easier to do over the summer because it takes a lot of energy and concentration. Of course, many of these things do cost money, but remember that changing your mindset is 100% free!
1. How do I want to look?
Think about this with the perspective that you will never necessarily look like Daisy Ridley (because don’t we all wish that), but that you can look like the best version of yourself. In my opinion, the best version of yourself is someone who is happy with how they look. We can’t control our faces of course, but there are some things about yourself that you can control like your hair, clothes, and makeup. If you don’t like your hair, change it. As for clothes, it can be expensive to buy a new wardrobe, but that isn’t always necessary. The simplest step to create a wardrobe you love is to get rid of everything that a) doesn’t fit you well, b) you don’t like or c) you probably won’t ever wear. This is the best way to start off a wardrobe that makes you happy–by only hanging onto clothes that bring you joy (and yes I’m a fan of the KonMari method). If you wear makeup, think about changing up your makeup look. If you want to try something more edgy or more bold, go for it! Do what makes you happy.
2. What do I want my room to look like?
This is another thing that’s so important: people automatically assume that a room makeover is expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. The first step to feeling good about your room is culling it, AKA getting rid of all of the stuff you don’t want or need, or that doesn’t bring you joy. Most of us own way more than we need, want, or even realize. This can be quite a time-consuming process, but I promise that it is so worth it. It goes way deeper than just tidying your room: it means keeping only things that are necessary. I did this in “waves” at a time. I donated probably 40% of my clothes, 50% of my books, and got rid of a ton of recycling bins and garbage bags full of STUFF. I didn’t even know I had that much! After you cull your room, make sure to fully organize everything that’s left so that everything you own has a specific place to live in your room. Other free things to do include rearranging your furniture, re-organizing your closet, desk, or bookshelf, and hanging up or taking down posters and pictures. I have a corkboard in my room, and I printed out some moodboards I made for free at home to pin up. If you have a printer your can print little things like that to put in your room. If you do have some money, think about buying something decorative (that you LOVE only) or painting your room. It can even help to buy one ‘luxury’ type item that you love such as a fuzzy throw blanket or one of those neck rest pillows.
3. Am I organized?
Or more importantly, does my system of organization really work for me? I started off grade 11 with a seperate binder and notebook for each subject. In grade 12 I had a fully stocked pencil case with a hole punch, ruler, calculator, stapler, white-out, post-its, and dozens of pens, markers, pencils, and highlighters. Soon I realized that all of this was really unnecessary for me and was just overcomplicating how I needed to pack my bag and how much I needed to carry around. I’m nearly done grade 12 and now all I carry in my backpack is one binder and a plastic pen case from Muki that contains three black Muji gel pens, a pink Muji gel pen, a pink highlighter, and two mechanical pencils. Since I’m a math student I also carry two graph paper notebooks, a ruler, and my calculator. Point is I really recommend paring it down to what you really need and use. It will save your time, your space, and your back. Additionally, finding a planning system that works for you is important. I know a lot of people swear by their bujos, but I could just never stick with it. I prefer a planner. Some people prefer to do it all online and on their phones. If what you’re using now isn’t perfect, try to make it perfect by trying out different products and techniques until you find something that helps you be a more organized and stress-free person.
4. Am I healthy?
I am no guru when it comes to fitness or diet, but I can touch briefly on sleep. Changing your sleeping habits can radically change the way you feel. If you sleep too much, try to only sleep when you really need to, and stick to sleeping at night. If you don’t get enough sleep, make an effort to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Even if you aren’t an early riser, you can train yourself to get up early in the morning. Learn techniques to help yourself fall asleep, such as putting your phone away and reading before bed or taking a hot bath/shower. There are a ton of techniques you can look up online, and try different things until you find something that works for you. As for diet and exercise, there are plenty of ways you can kickstart this. Start exercising, for one. If you don’t like what you currently do, switch it up. Try a new sport or active thing like hiking or biking. For diet, only put things in your body that really benefit you. This doesn’t mean eating clean all the time, but it does mean not eating when you’re not hungry, and not eating things that you don’t really like and you’re just eating because it’s there.
5. Do I have good relationships?
This one is so so important to evaluate over the summer. I can’t tell you what to do - no one can. This one is totally up to you. Evaluate all of your relationships. Cut out ones that are toxic, unnecessary, or don’t bring you happiness. If you like someone and want to get to know them better, make an active effort to (text them, invite them places). If you have a bad relationship with a friend or family member but you still want to maintain that relationship, do your best to fix it. This part can be really hard because of stubbornness or anger or distance, or maybe the other person doesn’t seem too interested in fixing your relationship. Just remember that if you truly want to be friends/have a good relationship with this person, it takes work. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that any friendship or relationship should be effortless, because the good ones rarely are. Make sure to communicate, listen to the other person, and don’t get too defensive. Again, if these relationships are unfixable and are truly bringing you down and making you unhappy, don’t hesitate to burn that bridge, and don’t let others cloud your judgement. This will make you feel much better.
6. Do I have fun? Do I have hobbies?
This one is really important if you can get stressed out and focused on school and totally forget to have fun. But you have time over the summer! My suggestions, as far as life-changing goes, is to try and devote more time to the hobbies you love. If you’re realizing that you don’t have any hobbies or that you want more, try something new. You could learn to code, start an art journal, try a new sport, learn an instrument, start writing, make pixel art, or learn to bake. I think it’s important to have something fun to do with your time that doesn’t involve watching Netflix or youtube or TV because while I love those things, they’re kind of passive activities. I think it’s good to have hobbies that involve using your hands and your brain and your creativity.
8. What defines me? Who do I want to be?
This one really involves some soul-searching. First, think about what defines you as a person? How do others think you? How do your friends think of you? If you don’t like the image you give off, make an effort to change it. The first step is to think of a personality trait you have that you don’t like and focus on that. For example, if you aren’t very nice, focus on kindness. Give compliments to others, help other people, smile, and try to be more friendly. If you’re a negative person and you want to become more positive, focus on your thinking. Try to think of the bright side of certain situations. If you complain a lot, think carefully before you speak and consider whether or not what you’re going to say will add to a situation or take away from it. If you want to be a more supportive friend, communicate with your friends, be interested in their lives, ask them how they are doing, and ask them what kind of support you may be able to offer them. It’s pretty much endless: just pinpoint one of your negative personality traits so to speak and focus on correcting that for like, a week. Some examples: if you’re selfish, focus on selflessness. If you have a low self-esteem, focus on rewarding and complimenting yourself. If you’re lazy, focus on productivity. And so on.
9. Should I go for it?
This is a question I often find myself asking, and the answer (yes, of course!) has often turned my life around in unexpected and awesome ways. Should you dye your hair? Should you go vegan? Should you start a blog or a youtube channel? Should you start a business? Should you go to that audition? Should you ask so-and-so on a date? If you really want to and are hopeful about the positive outcomes of this event, say YES! Don’t try to stop yourself from doing something you reaaaally want to do, just because it will be hard work or spend your money or whatever. If you’ve earned your money and you have extra lying around, don’t feel bad about treating yourself to a new hair colour. It’s so important to do the things that you really want to do. For me, I’ve been hesitant about big decisions in the past, but action has usually been positive for me. Six years ago I asked, should I go vegetarian? And I still am. Should I change schools? I did twice and I don’t regret either time. Should I dye and cut my hair? I just did and I love it! It’s those kind of questions and life changes that you’re mulling over that you should really put some thought into. These questions that are nagging at your subconscious are usually the ones that will turn out to be really important for your life.
Thank you everyone for reading this! Hope I helped inspire you to improve your life and become the person you truly want to be!
my masterposts:
+ summer goals
+ change your life over the summer
+ paranormal masterpost
