3 Comically Small Things That Dramatically Improved My Life (And One Not-Small Thing)

Don't tell me about the thing that changed your life and cost $5,000

I’m so glad you’re here! I’m Sarah Von Bargen, a long-time online writer, marketing consultant, and coach. Every week we’ll be exploring ideas around spending our time, money, and energy on purpose + how to build a life we love that doesn’t make us broke or exhausted.

Has someone ever described something to you as “life changing” and then - when you dig deeper - you realize that the “life changing” thing in question costs five figures and takes 10 hours a week?

Like, yes Makinzie, I’m sure that going to reformer pilates four times a week changed your life. Just like having a personal chef or housekeeping staff would change mine. But we don’t all have unlimited time or money, right?

To that end, I thought I’d share three comically small (and free!) things I’ve started doing in the last six months that have had an outsized positive impact on my day-to-day life. (And one less-small thing that’s also been great!)

1. I count out - like, literally on the my fingers - five “nice things” things that have happened in the last 24 hours every morning as I walk the dog

I find the concept of gratitude practices sort of … overwhelming? It seems like the sort of thing I need to take Very Seriously and even the word gratitude can feel a bit heavy to me. And if I’m being honest, I’d probably just keep cycling through the same 10 things I’m grateful for every few days.

But when I switched to saying to myself “Isn’t it nice …..” and then naming five things that have happened in the past 24 hours? It gets a lot easier to appreciate that my sister-in-law brought really good lemon bars to the birthday dinner and that the hardware store restocked my favorite, hard-to-find sour gummy bears.

And counting these blessings on my fingers like a kindergartener while I walk the dog? It creates muscle memory and keeps me on track. I walk out the front door with the dog, my body remembers that this is what we do now.

When I’m counting on my fingers, I’m less likely to get distracted thinking about sour gummy bears -> why do Sour Patch Kids tear up your mouth? -> Cap’n Crunch also tears up your mouth -> cereal is so expensive these days -> we’re out of Greek yogurt.