I love to do a little bit of reflection at year’s end (or, in this case, the year’s beginning), but I don’t make it complicated. Around my house we’ve been using the same two questions for going on two decades to help us take stock of the year gone by.
They are:
- What worked for me last year?
- What didn’t?
Today I’m sharing a few of the things (from significant to shallow) that worked for me in 2024. Regular readers may know this was a hard year for me, beginning with my mom dying suddenly in January. When I sat down to assemble a “what’s working” list I didn’t know how much I’d be able to come up with, but as you can see my list is long, and while some of these entries are unquestionably shallow others are significant. (And honestly, isn’t a solid morning routine with coffee and good books significant in a hard year?)
I can’t help but notice that some of the deep things that have worked for me in this hard season are still very much in process, and not quite articulate-able (is that a word?). Maybe I’ll be able to write about those in the future. But for now, I’m happy to share what I can.
(Same as last year and many years gone by: I’ll share my list of what didn’t work in the newsletter. Sign up here if you’re not on the list.)
I’ve been blogging about these year-end reflections since 2013. Some things have changed little over the years, while some of my long-ago changes are now thoroughly incorporated into my life, like 2013’s “taking a photography class” and “setting up designated office space for myself.” There’s no going back! Sometimes the things that work are specific to the season, but more often they get folded into my routine way of being in the world. Perhaps this is why the What Worked for Me archives remain entertaining and interesting reading: check out my recent-ish lists from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018.)
I hope you enjoy perusing my list, and that it gets you thinking about your own. You know we’d love to hear your own reflections in comments.
Routine-related
Tiny first coffee: Instead of hitting the coffeepot first thing, I’ve been starting my days with a teeny shot of espresso courtesy of our hand-me-down Nespresso machine, a thoughtful gift from a friend who was upgrading. (I’m fond of the decaf Ristretto.)
Morning reading: I take that tiny cup of coffee to my favorite reading chair and sit with my stack of daily readers, then spend 10-20 minutes in the kind of slow-paced, reflective nonfiction that lends itself to being read a few pages at a time.
Dinner. Dinner more often falls under the “perpetual struggle” category instead of “what’s working,” but this year weeknight dinners went more smoothly than they have in years. We’re often eating on the early end before everyone heads out to their various activities, but it seems Will and I have finally assembled a nice collection of “easy weeknight” recipes that we like and can get on the table fast. The Paprika app is really helping us here, as it has cut way down on the number of conversations Will and I used to have along the lines of “which website has that chicken recipe we liked?” Plus with two college kids away we’re usually cooking with four and not six, and while I dearly miss the kids, dinner for four comes together faster. (Parents of college kids and adult children may laugh when I say it took me forever to realize this was a changed variable.)
Evening candles: This season Will and I have made a habit of lighting a candle in the living room every night. Currently we’re burning hard-to-source Scandinavian candles he hunted down for me for Christmas, but my favorites are collected here.)
Family togetherness
Visiting our college student in Germany. My eldest spent his 2024 spring semester abroad, and during spring break all of us save our college sophomore went to pay him a visit. It was deeply good to see him in his new surroundings, to hang out together in his university town, and to all pop up to Copenhagen for an adventurous long weekend.
Traveling with our kids individually. This past fall Will and I took one of our teenagers to Florida, and another for a quick trip to Atlanta. It was so good to spend extended time with our individual children; in recent years that has been hard to come by in our busy family of six. And it’s not that we were necessarily doing anything exciting—sure, I got to take our high school senior to Nashville for a concert and that was a blast … but that Atlanta trip was for a funeral and it was still good to have two-on-one time with our daughter.
The beach. After a rough spring and summer we had a completely lovely week at the beach, at the place that we’ve made ours, also the place where we had spent so much good time with my now-deceased parents, and our family time away was quiet and restful and needed.
Silly stuff
Roller coasters and theme parks. I never saw this one coming! When we went to Copenhagen in March, Will bought us tickets for Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park that inspired Walt Disney to design his American theme parks. Would you believe that none of my kids—aged 14, 16, and 21 at the time—had ever ridden a roller coaster before that trip? We had a wonderful time abroad, but then several kids brought their newfound love of roller coasters back home and that’s seeped into our lives in surprising ways. I love it.
Skincare. I think this is likely just about getting old—as in, I’m now I’m old enough that strangers compliment me for my skin in a way they never would if they thought I was thirty. But this year strangers are complimenting me for my skin all the time. I don’t do anything fancy, just a good cleanser and moisturizer, a serum or two from the ones I have stockpiled from beauty advent calendars, plus I do love this inexpensive liquid filter from Target. Whatever I’m doing, it seems to be working.
Good air. Several members of my household notoriously struggle with dry, itchy skin in the winter, and—I’m embarrassed to admit it’s taken this long—we finally bought a humidifier and it’s making all the difference. Is this related to “skincare” above? Definitely maybe. My houseplants are also happy! This one is similar to the model we’re using, though I got ours at Costco.
Readerly things
Family dramas. 2024 was a wonderful year for the emotionally resonant literary fiction I love, which means I read an exceptional number of really great books last year.
Spotify audiobooks. I have complicated feelings about this, and am attending to industry news on what Spotify’s entry into the audiobook space means for readers, authors, and publishers. Here’s what I’ve noticed in my own reading life: I have two separate audiobook subscriptions (Libro.fm being my favorite), I regularly use Libby and Hoopla, and yet I can see that Spotify audiobooks worked for me in 2024. I typically turn to Spotify to try brand new audiobooks I’m not entirely sure I want to read but I’d like to take for a test drive, that I can access immediately without spending a precious credit or waiting for my library hold to come in. (Like the new Ina Garten, which ended up being a 2024 favorite.)
Printing things. With the exception of my books, my work exists primarily in the digital space—and this past year it has been wonderful to put actually printed stuff in our readers’ hands. In 2024, we experimented with making a physical hold-in-your-hand, delivered-by-snail-mail booklet for our Fall Book Preview, and then in December we printed physical copies of our larger Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club Yearbook and popped them in the mail to any Book Clubber who wanted one. There’s much to love about digital media but there’s something to be said for holding a real book(let), and it’s been a joy to make that option available this year. (We’re also offering this option for our coming Spring Book Preview: orders are about to close so if you want one, order yours here!)
I’d love to hear what worked for YOU in 2024, and what didn’t, and why. Tell us all about it in comments.
P.S. I’ll be sharing what DIDN’T work for me in 2024 in the newsletter this weekend. Click here to make sure you’re on the list.
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