32 Signs Your Life Is Better Than Last Year

1. You are able to react more calmly to situations that used to deeply upset you — your first response is not to lash out and hurt others the way you have been hurt.

2. You are more comfortable in your living situation, even if it is not “bigger and better” by financial or real-estate standards.

3. Your roommates, if you have them, are cool and easy to live with.

4. You feel more appreciated at your job, and you feel as though you have a better sense of where you want your career to go.

5. You are making more money.

6. If you are not making more money, you are learning how to manage it better and not feeling so pressed at the end of each month.

7. Your friend group, while not necessarily being bigger, is full of people you feel certain about the genuine kindness of.

8. You are relying less and less on quantity as a metric for how well you are doing in terms of friends.

9. The people in your life you know are inarguably bad for your mental health are no longer a part of it.

10. You have stopped sending drunken text messages to people you shouldn’t be talking to (or you at least do it markedly less).

11. You are fully aware of what a credit score is, why it is important, and what you can do to improve it.

12. Your credit score is higher.

13. You have a savings account where you actively put money aside on a semi-regular basis, instead of just living on your checking account and hoping it doesn’t hit zero like you used to.

14. Though you still have moments of messy living, as everyone does, you an all-around cleaner, neater person who is learning to take good care of their personal space.

15. You have learned how to take care of a stain on clothing, and do so in a timely fashion.

16. You put more emphasis on treating your belongings with care to make sure they last.

17. The things you buy are now often judged in terms of quality — for example, you would rather invest in one well-built product that will last than repeatedly buying cheap ones that often need to be replaaced.

18. You have fewer hangovers, less severe hangovers, and have learned what tends to cause them and how to avoid them when going out.

19. If you smoked, you don’t anymore.

20. Your mornings are now better-managed and allow for a more efficient use of time to accomplish more things. Where you once were pressed for time to brush your teeth, you now have a few minutes to enjoy a decent breakfast before you begin your day.

21. You are more brave about going out on first dates, and more confident in the fact that you are someone that people should be excited about dating.

22. You have learned to be more careful with the people who give you their hearts in life, even if people don’t always do the same with you.

23. You are working on being angry with your ex, and not with the next person they decided to date.

24. You have made your participation in social media more reasonable and less consuming of your time — you are less invested in what happens online, and much more in what happens in real life.

25. You are working on cooking more at home, and eating your leftovers.

26. There are many fewer moments of “How do I get myself out of this terrible situation I put myself in at the very last minute?” in your life.

27. You exercise more, and enjoy doing it much more than you used to.

28. Because of your more regular exercise regime, you are used to having more energy throughout the day and don’t know how you used to be so tired all the time.

29. You walk places whenever it’s an option.

30. You’ve gotten used to taking an umbrella around with you when there is even a slight chance of rain, instead of running around with a newspaper over your head yelling “Shit! Shit!”

31. You love more, and understand that it doesn’t make you a weak or defective person to do so.

32. You try to realize what the best qualities are in the people around you, and keep the ones closer who really deserve to be close in your life.