With a huge thank you to everyone in the FIRE community and beyond who has shared their content and ideas this year. Staying in touch with the community has been even more crucial than before, since isolation has often felt very much like being cut off from everything and everyone. Carrying on with the journey and its ups and downs has only been possible thanks to those brilliant folks, as well as to others who are working on thoughtful, gracious approaches to how we can live more intentionally. Do let me know what I’ve missed or what has inspired you this year – I would love new ideas!

Proper Books

So I read a lot – as a single mum, once the kids are in bed my time is my own (however knackered I am). I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks as these are great for when I’m cleaning / cooking / doing chores: but I read every night as part of my sleep routine. I seem to have an awkward addiction to old detective novels <twirls Poirot-like moustache> but I try and make time for inspiring media as well. These days when there is so much bad news as well, it’s nice to have something which makes you feel better rather than increasingly dystopian, so I’m sharing brief highlights from this year. I also read the Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx & Crake – both of which I recommend without hesitation but since I had nightmares for a week after each of them, you might want to read them *not* during global meltdown.

Quick note on links – I have tried to use independent bookshops here but these are of course available elsewhere.

Personality Isn’t Permanent: Benjamin, Jr. Hardy

Not FIRE related but a brilliant book about exploring limiting beliefs. The main idea is focusing on your ‘future self’ and directing your energy to this future. This is based on anything being achievable, and the things, or characteristics which you think might be holding you back are eminently changeable. I am not sure there is anything new here, but it is well explained and organised, with key points such as ‘just do it’ – taking action, and ‘forcing function‘ whereby humans can adapt to just get on with something, learning and becoming richer from the experience.

Make Time: Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky

I read this after hearing an interview with the authors on the Choose FI Podcast – and found that there was tons of simple and immediately actionable advice. After reading, I immediately reorganised my phone so that time-wasting apps, what the book calls ‘infinity pools’ are either deleted or much harder to find. I also used it to plan out a morning routine which I have stuck to since August: mindfulness, gratitude journaling, and planning out a highlight and simple goals. The value from these changes is immeasurable, and there is more to pick up each time I read the book.

The Unexpected joy of the Ordinary: Catherine Gray

This book really resonated with me. Gray works through the miraculousness of every day life, echoing the idea that comparison is the thief of joy, and investigating evidence about what really makes us happy. Considering how modern life is making us increasingly anxious and depressed, this book invites you to consider a simpler, more mindful way of living in which we are ready to jump off the hedonic treadmill.

Free online content

I continued to devour blogs and podcasts this year, finding regular inspiration and ideas from others on the same path. In particular:

• I have loved A Purple Life‘s incredible blog over the past years, and since she hit early retirement and quitting her job in 2020 I wanted to celebrate her here, and share with you to see what a journey looks like from start to realising-its-not-a-finish.

• I also love Our Rich Journey. This year they moved to Portugal as a family with two kids similar in age to mine – something we would love to do as well. Their advice is simple and actionable, and their energy is infectious (awkward choice of word for 2020 but I’m gonna stick with it).

• Financial Independence Europe has a special place in my 2020 heart since I made my podcast debut there this year, but it’s also chockful of relevant advice in a movement which can feel very American. They have episodes on all subjects to do with FI and just with living different, intentional lives.

Other stuff

I watched The Biggest Little Farm on an aeroplane back in February when such things were possible, and loved it (the irony of enjoying a film about conscious care for the earth from my high-carbon plane seat notwithstanding). It’s a story of a family choosing a different life after they lost their jobs, and bought and brought back to life an incredible bio-diverse farm.

Share what inspires you

I’d love to hear what you enjoyed in 2020, or things to add to my reading list for 2021!