When Clare Skelton got sent a list of 100 small improvements to make in your life during 2022, she was intrigued and decided to try each and every one over the course of the year. Here’s what she learned from the experience.

Number 32: Connect with nature – stand outside barefoot for a few minutes – even when it’s cold

By Clare Skelton

Pre-Covid, I was an avid dedicatee to the New Year’s Resolution and would always (over) commit myself to some great feat or activity that I’d intend to do that year: run a marathon, write a novel, learn French. The marathon got run but the novel and speaking a new lingo: nil points, so far…

So, at the start of January, when a colleague shared a link to an article: “100 ways to improve your life without really trying”, I was intrigued. Could I, now a mother to a toddler, juggling work and home and a social life and life admin, find windows of time to make small changes to my life? And would any of them actually be any good?

I printed off the list and got going, deciding to document them on twitter. I kicked off at with Number 100: ‘for instant cheer, wear more yellow’. In the dark months of the start of the year, when a uniform of navy, black and grey tends to be my go-to colour palette, this was the reminder I needed that it only takes something small – a jazzy sunshine yellow scarf, a mustard jumper that had been buried in the back of the drawer – to give me a lift, and to make me feel different.

Next up: Number 37: ‘for short journeys, walk or cycle’. Living in the Southside, we’re lucky to have a range of parks for some green space walking, and the South City Way for a safe cycle route into town. (If you’re not sure where to start with this one, Bike for Good and Women on Wheels are two brilliant local organisations, offering training sessions, maintenance classes, affordable bikes and a buddy scheme to help you get going.)

Following on from that, was Number 13: ‘feeling sluggish at work? Try the Pomodoro technique: 25 minus on, five-minute break, and repeat’. Working mainly from home, I tend to get a natural energy dip around 3pm, so this was a great one to make me get my head down and crack through the to-do list.

And so, as the year went on, the small actions did too. At first glance and as standalone actions, they might not seem especially groundbreaking but, as a collective, I’ve loved weaving these small, easy and positive actions into my every day.

As I approach the end of the year, with six left to go (why on earth did I leave ‘skinnydip with friends’ until December?!), have they really had an impact?

Some of my favourites, and ones which I’ve fully committed to, have revolved around food: Number 35 (‘eat more salted butter’), Number 59 (‘always have the dessert’) and Number 91 (‘if in doubt, always add more cheese’) are lessons to live by.

77). Rent rather than buy a dress for that forthcoming wedding

Others have been about being kinder to myself, and to others. ‘Don’t save things for “best” – wear them, enjoy them’ has been a big one. Coming out of the pandemic, working from home and shoving on the first thing I can find for a nursery drop-off meant that I was feeling pretty uninspired with fashion and my wardrobe, but I’m trying harder to wear things I’d normally reserve for an event or occasion. In doing this, it’s been fun to dress up a little for the ordinary, and surprising how much better I feel.

Number 94 – ‘give compliments widely and freely’ – saw me approaching a woman I’ve seen regularly in Queens Park, and, if you’re reading this, lady with the gunmetal grey bob and red lipstick, my compliment still stands: you always do look amazing.

On occasion, some smacked a little of “if only millennials stopped buying avocados they could afford houses” (prime example: ‘instead of your £2 morning coffee, transfer money into an account and forget about it’). Number 28 ‘always be willing to miss the next train’ is all well and good until you’re rushing to start a shift at work, or need to go and pick your kid up from childcare.

There were others that I frankly don’t have the time, patience or energy for (‘dry your cutlery with a tea towel to keep them shiny’...? Not for me) while others (reuse your bread bags, hang your clothes up on hangers, keep all your keys in the same place) are possibly the most boring content I’ve ever tweeted.

When it came to those, I either tried them once then ignored them or made up my own variation on the theme, and in doing so, it was liberating to flex a ‘rule’ to suit me, and not beat myself up that I was somehow failing to meet a hard-and-fast resolution.

7) Plant spring bulbs, even if they’re just in a pot

Living where I do, the Southside has really delivered for many of the actions on the list. ‘Buy second-hand’ is easy when we have the amazing charity shops that we do: Barnardos on Vicky Road, Cats Protection in Shawlands and Merry-Go-Round being in my top three. ‘Buy in person’: easy peasy and enjoyable when you have three floors of home and hardware delights at Inex and delicious 80p baklava from Party Cakes. ‘Get something fixed’ is straightforward when you have Elen’s around the corner for tailoring and ‘learn the names of ten trees’ is a lovely afternoon activity using the South Seeds tree trail.

When it came to Number 63, ‘volunteer’, I chose a marshalling role at Queen’s Park parkrun and loved it, embracing the persona of ‘embarrassing cheerleading mom’ scarily quickly. They’re always looking for people on a Saturday morning, by the way; you don’t have to be a runner and there’s a lovely cuppa afterwards in the local church.

With health obviously dominating the news for the past couple of years, it was interesting that many of the things on the list focused on looking after our bodies and minds, and perhaps it will be small things that can help us find the energy we need in the darker months.

Set against a backdrop of NHS pressures and cost-of-living crisis, I’m not going to say that ‘eat more fruit’, ‘breathe deeply’, ‘drop your shoulders’ and ‘exercise on a Monday night’ are going to solve all our challenges, but they can’t hurt, right? Reducing screen-time was a common theme, and I’ve found that going for a walk without my phone, sleeping in a different room from it, muting a WhatsApp group, and setting a time limit on social media apps have all been gamechangers in their own small ways.

What’s emerged for me has been the way these small actions have served as reminders either of things I do but don’t think about, or things I know I need reminding to make time for. It’s been refreshing to not make grand intentions, or a rod for my own back that’ll only serve to stress me out.

15) Keep your children’s drawings and paintings. Put the best ones in frames.

So, a message for next year (and I hope I don’t sound too much like Baz Luhrmann here): put up that bird feeder, wear yellow when and where you can, send postcards from your holidays, send them when you’re not on holiday. Look closely. Spend ten minutes every day doing something you really enjoy. Nap. Stretch. Laugh shamelessly at your own jokes. Call a friend out of the blue, and say hello to your neighbours.

Wishing you a happy, healthy and peaceful 2023, Govanhill.