4 habits I won't be taking into 2025


Welcome back to my blog, my family and I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I hope you did too. Life with Helen Johnson has returned and I'm excited for what this year will look like and I will continue to share encouragement, updates and advice on various different topics.

In today's blog I'm sharing 4 habits I won't be taking into 2025, these habits are either things that held me back in 2024 or things which I have noticed are negatively impacting not just my life but the lives of everyone around me.

Habit #1 - Stretching myself too thin

I'm not sure whether it was triggered by my health diagnosis, but 2024 became a year where I felt I had to prove myself and take on numerous responsibilities. Every 6 weeks or so my husband and I were staying away from home, every week we were seeing family or friends, we were taking on new projects and potential business ideas and it became exhausting. The final few months of 2024 I was burnt out, I was catching colds, not sleeping well and I couldn't wait for a Christmas break, it's one of the reasons I stepped away from blogging. I'm slowly learning that life is not about trying to prove something, it's to be lived and enjoyed. We have started 2025 fairly slow and steady and I'm excited to see the benefits of pacing myself and living life slow. 


Habit #2 - Not seeking help

To say we live in a culture where it's perfectly acceptable to seek help and share your vulnerabilities many people I know (including myself) seem to suck at seeking help. We either bottle up our emotions and struggles until we can no longer take it anymore, or we end up using our friends and families as therapists. What 2024 taught me is that waiting too long before seeking help can make things 10x worse and also seeking help can make your life so much better. I've learnt that whenever I start to feel like I'm struggling, to seek help, whether that's speaking with a GP or calling your therapist. Don't get me wrong there is nothing bad about speaking with trusted loved ones about your struggles, but don't let it turn into a therapy session as this won't help you or them. 


Habit #3 - Living in a chaotic environment 

Andy and I recently went through our home and removed all the clutter that we no longer use. Our home does look very empty and not very lived in I will admit, but for Andy and I we quite like it this way. It makes the home easier to clean, we naturally want to be more organised as we worked so hard to get it looking this way and it means we can live in a home that feels peaceful. You hear the word minimalist used a lot, essentially it is just living with less. This could mean something different to you, so I'd encourage you to think about what it might mean and start making some changes. I think we've all learnt that the 'living with more' mentality our world seems to have hasn't brought happiness or peace, so maybe the concept of living with less is the answer. 


Habit #4 - Not letting God lead

2024 for me was a year of stress, a year of trying to control every aspect of my own life and failing miserably. We can all probably admit that we're not very good at handing the reigns to God, we maybe hand one reign and cling onto the other with the intention of guiding our own way if we're not a fan of God's way. We know this is not how we're supposed to live and as I learnt from last year it never works out well. I can't say I have fully mastered this, but it is a habit I want to implement, letting God be my leader. I often remind myself that this life is not mine to lead in the first place, it wasn't designed by me, I'm not the author, so I can't finish writing a book I didn't even start writing in the first place. 


Next Blog: How we're preparing for our future family

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