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Hello and welcome to 2024, the year I get Healthy, Wealthy & Happy. Yep, I’m calling this my HW&H year, inspired by the much catchier Hot Smart Rich by Maggie Sellers, my new girl crush.

Before we go any further, let me explain that I started this blog last year because I was burning out (you can read my first post here). I called my first post my Wellness Starting Line; I did this because I wanted to take note of where I was starting from and have something to benchmark how I felt as the months went on. If you’ve read or skimmed that post, you will have seen I split my wellness into SEVEN categories; health, fitness, skin & overall appearance, mental performance, emotional, financial and spiritual. I don’t even honestly know what I wanted out of some of these categories; I just knew from all the wellness content I had consumed that it wasn’t just as simple as ‘wellness’ because what does that even really mean, right.

Finding myself in a cycle of burnout, between a full-time demanding job, working on our house, trying to train for a marathon, having a social life and writing about it all here, I could barely stay on top of my skincare routine, let alone everything else so I’ve decided 2024 is the year we simplify. My boyfriend and I have talked at length about how we didn’t enjoy 2023. It was hard for both of us, and I think because we spent so much of the year not being able to talk to friends and family about our plans (we spent months researching our options to move to Australia and didn’t tell anyone until the flight was booked). Most of the year was spent on setting ourselves up for 2024, so I’m going to honour myself and show up as the best version of me that’s possible every day. 

What that looks like for me:

Surprisingly, I’ve spent a lot of time journaling lately, which is something I couldn’t get on board with last year, but I can honestly say I’m starting to notice a shift. Similar to my life edit, which you can read about here, I’ve taken a blended approach from different people, some from the Hot Smart Rich guide, some from Roxie Nafousi, some tips from To Be Magnetic, some from Lauryn Bosstick and a few other things I’ve heard on podcasts that have felt relevant for me. Through all the journalling and just sitting with my thoughts, I’ve gotten into the details of who I want to be, how I want to show up and most importantly, how I want to feel. With such a life shift, I was worried at the end of last year about what my life might look like, and if I’m honest, I didn’t even know what I wanted to do with my life other than live by the beach. Knowing how I want to feel at work, in my relationship and day to day is my North Star, and I know the right thing will come along for me.

It was actually by doing the work in the Hot Smart Rich guide and a life edit that led me to see the wider picture; despite this being a guide to help you take a deep dive into your finances, it helped me step back and look at my life. Where I was spending my money was where I was hanging out; were these the places my best self would be? 

This is how my Healthy, Wealthy & Happy concept was formed.

The fact that I’ve narrowed down my goals into three buckets feels much more digestible for me, and each evening when I journal, I like to ask myself what one thing I have done today to make me healthy, wealthy and happy. Writing down one thing each day for each bucket makes me see that I am moving the needle and growing in the right direction. 

Let’s break these down:

Healthy:

Pretty straightforward, how do I look and feel? Am I bloated? Am I tired? Is my skin starting to resemble dried fruit? It’s probably the easiest out of the three for me to monitor and see change in. 

Currently, January was tough on my body; between emptying our house, which took a couple of days and meant loading a van and multiple trips to a storage facility, it also meant not eating until we were starving and then getting sandwiches from a coffee shop. When that wasn’t the case, we spent time with friends and family, which meant eating out and drinking… a lot. Then there was the 24-hour travel, which meant aeroplane food, limited water, cramped seats and recycled air. Then there was the jet lag.

I’m happy to report that after being here for three weeks, I am starting to feel myself again. We’re getting into a routine and eating better. Still, it hasn’t been overnight. I also tried to pick up where I left off with running and the gym and burnt out pretty quickly. 

I would rate my overall health right now: 7/10

Key areas of focus in Feb:

• Staying hydrated 
• My skin (I’ve had a nasty eczema flare up under my arms).
• Running in distance and speed (just not at the same time)

Wealthy:

Straight up, my goal in life is to be a multi-millionaire; okay, my goal this year is to be a multi-millionaire (Roxie says dream big), but this goal isn’t JUST about money. While it was initially about my financials, after sitting with this for a while, wealth to me also covers knowledge and overlaps with health. When it comes to spending money that I hadn’t budgeted for, I ask myself, will spending this money improve my health, make me more knowledgeable, or make me happy. If the answer is yes to one of those points, it’s worth spending the money. For example, I’ve not budgeted to spend money on my wellness since arriving in Australia, but I also didn’t realise how accessible things are here or how affordable, so when my legs feel like they weigh ten tons each and I want to go on a long run it’s worth the money for a cold plunge session to speed up that recovery. 

I would rate my overall wealth right now: 5/10

Key areas of focus in February:

• When I have the desire to spend money, I think about why and ask myself, will this bring me joy?
• Sticking to my budget
• Putting myself out there and joining professional networking events. 

Happy:

There is one clear rule about my happiness bucket. NO QUICK FIXES. For something to classify as making me happy, I need to have wanted it for a significant time, and it can’t be linked to external validation; this is where journalling comes in. When reading about budgeting and/ or healthy habits, the number one thing you will see are things like meal prep, not eating out, and not buying coffee every day. And while these are valid, the truth for me is that I LOVE FOOD. Not only do I love to eat, but I also love trying new food, new flavours, and being in a new restaurant. These things fill my soul. Walking in the morning to try a new coffee shop excites me, seeing their branding, their vibe, what coffee they use, whether they roast their own, etc. It makes me happy, so yes, while I don’t think you should eat out every single day, I’m not going to beat myself up at how much I spent on eating out in a month if I know that brought me joy. That said, if I’m scrolling Uber because I’m just being lazy, that’s not joy. 

I would rate my overall happiness right now: 8/10

Key areas of focus in February:

• No impulse purchases; think about why I want something. 
• Gratitude journal each night, basically a huge list of all the good things that have happened 
• Smile every day. 

And there you have it, the breakdown of my Healthy, Wealthy & Happy Year. 

If you want to see the main questions I asked myself that got me to this, head over to this post here and see how you can create the life you want as well.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Don’t forget to comment below and let me know your thoughts.