At Thanksgiving dinner last week around a big table with chosen and biological family alike, we went around and shared something we were grateful for that we couldn’t have said we were grateful for last year.

At least 50% of us cried. (That’s how I know I spent the holiday with my people.)

A few days later over dinner, my dad noted that almost everyone had gone through some pretty intense turbulence in the last year and that we all somehow seemed to be on the upswing at last.

(If you listen to our podcast, you know that I keep finding myself singing the refrain to Gloria Estefan’s "Coming Out of the Dark" for this very reason.)

Because the folks gathered that night are some of my nearest and dearest, I’m privy to many of the details of their lives, both the exciting and the mundane.

Here’s what I know from knowing them and knowing myself:

The reason we’re on the upswing is not because of some gargantuan opportunity that swept in and changed everything. Yeah, there have been chance meetings that led to lifetime dreams being fulfilled. There have been super-exciting doors opened. There’s been some fairy dust.

But the thing that’s allowed each of the people I adore to not only get on but, more importantly,stay on the upswing are the things that aren’t particularly sexy (and that they sometimes don’t feel like doing) that they do day in and day out, week in and week out.

Another word for these mundane things that seem little but, when done regularly and combined all together, contribute to a beautiful life is: habits.

Your habits matter because they create your life.

Beautiful lives do not happen by accident. They happen because of things that people do (or don’t do) every day to weave a life they want to live.

Mike and I sat down to record an episode of The Kate & Mike Show about our daily, weekly, and monthly habits, and we both chuckled because when we say some of this stuff out loud, it’s actually kind of weird!

But it works, so we’re sticking with it.

Once you’ve listened, we’d love to know which habits we talked about that you’re inspired to incorporate into your own life and what other weird habits you have. Leave us a comment and let us know!

Habits matter. The things you do every day create your life, so choose wisely. (But have fun with it because nothing is worth doing if it feels like punishment!)

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Show notes and links for this episode can be found at http://www.katenorthrup.com/podcast.