Looking to bring on some change to make your life better? Here is a plan to get you started. Creating your own Golden Hour is your first step in building a refreshed you. From there, the world is yours. Future you will appreciate this!

Still life photographed exclusively for The New Maturity by Alexandra Rowley | Food & Prop Styling by Mariana Velasquez

In photography, the term ‘golden hour’ is the first 30 minutes or so after sunrise or 30 minutes before the sun sets. The sun is low in the sky and the light is diffuse. It’s a magical time when everything looks great for taking pictures. Everyone on the photo set also feels optimistic and knows that the day is full of possibilities. 

It got me thinking: How can you apply this perfect window of time to your own life? Better yet, how can you practice it and take charge of what you’re doing? Any stage of your life can become your GOLDEN HOUR. If you’re looking to bring on some change for the better, here is the plan to get you started.

CREATE YOUR GOLDEN HOUR IN 6 STEPS

ESTABLISH A THEME FOR YOUR GOLDEN HOUR

When I’m working on a big idea, I need a headline or word that’s all-encompassing. Think of this headline as your mantra for what you want to create or do. When I was working on ideas for The New Maturity, it began as ‘Project Blog’. Not really that inspiring. However, it was a starting point for me to jot down notes and brainstorm ideas. Once I had all those thoughts gathered, I began to edit the list and see what themes were emerging. If something didn’t feel like ‘Project Blog,’ it got moved to another list and saved for later.  

Example: My theme for this upcoming year is “Better, not bigger”. How did I come up with this? I blocked out time in the morning and brainstormed words or ideas that were running through my head. I was also scrolling Instagram when I saw a poster that inspired “Better, not bigger.” It immediately grabbed me and was a ‘Gotcha’ moment. 

Here are some other words and phrases that arose during my brainstorm session that might inspire you:  

commitment, transformation, recharge, small acts, finding purpose, connect, love, daily practice, here and now, better with age, courage, abundance, take a risk, work in progress, little by little, change it up, renewal

DECIDE WHAT MATTERS

Now that you’ve defined your Golden Hour with a theme, I’m going to show you how to put it into practice with more brainstorming. “Better, not bigger” was my breakthrough. It perfectly summed up the direction I wanted my life to go in. But how? After two years in lockdown, with lots of time to think and evaluate what I wanted my life to be, I knew I was at a crossroads. Gone were the vampire friends who didn’t bring much to my world. Hours of mindless television were replaced with books I wanted to read. Time that had opened up was used to work on this project, produce illustrations and photo shoots, and write about the things that mattered to me. As you can see, there was a conscious switch from maintaining old behaviors to creating new habits that improved my life. These new habits of focusing on things that really made me happy were my definition of “Better, not bigger."

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO GET DONE?

You’ve homed in on what matters to you. Let’s take the next step and figure out what you want to get done. Starting with my end goal in mind helps me figure out where to begin. Sometimes I get caught up in the bigger picture and get overwhelmed. This website and magazine come together slowly. Breaking stuff down into smaller chunks of tasks helps. Here’s a case in point: writing this story. I spent a year marinating on what the concept of a golden hour meant. Once it gelled I spent a month creating the outline. Then, each morning for six weeks, I would get up and write for 20 minutes. That would fill in the outline and create the story. Sometimes in those mornings nothing would come.

ENJOY THE MOMENT 

I’m not going to lie to you. Writing can be hard for me to do. It’s frustrating to set the time aside and nothing comes. Or you have such doubt about what you’re writing, doing, or creating that you’re not sure it’s worth the effort. This is when I remind myself to enjoy the moment. How do you do this when you feel like an amateur? Take some deep breaths. Remind yourself that this IS part of the process. If it’s early in the morning (when I tend to write), I’ll try to focus on the sound of birds in the distance. If you aren’t near nature, create your own here. Doing a little creative ritual like this helps remind me that I’m in charge of my time and how I spend it. That’s right: If you are just getting the memo, you own your time. 

TAKE CONTROL

We’ve all got the same 24 hours in a day. How you make the best use of them is up to you. Life gets busy, from an unexpected deadline at work to making a meal for yourself or your family. Here are three things I know I can control in that time:

a. How I react to things

b. How I treat other people

c. How I spend my time

How I react to things

I try to keep this in mind at my day job. I consider myself incredibly lucky that I get paid to do something creative. However, with that creativity comes lots of cooks in the kitchen with differing opinions and feedback. Sometimes I agree with their comments. Other times not so much. When that happens, I try to take my ego out of the equation and listen to what others have to say. In that moment I know the conversation can go two ways: I can shut them down with a nasty comment or nod with a smile. Oftentimes I do my best to smile and say very little. If it’s something worth fighting for, I’ll take a beat, compose myself, and then repeat back what they are looking for so we both understand what needs to change. That also gives me time to figure out what kinds of compromises need to happen. That is also a big reason why I’m so excited to have The New Maturity. It’s all me and 100% my ideas and execution. If a story succeeds or fails, it’s all on me. But there really is no “failure”; it’s more about what I learned and what I would do differently next time. I wonder if you have a project or thing in your life that is completely yours. If not, what could it be?

How I treat other people 

This is going to sound incredibly simple: I treat people the way I want to be treated. Thank you, Golden Rule. That means if I’m meeting them for the first time, I make eye contact and ask them some questions about themselves so I can get to know them. Fingers crossed they do the same for me. If it’s a good friend I’ll give them a hug. Then I want to know what they’ve been up to. One of my favorite questions to ask folks is ‘what are you excited about right now?' It’s less expected than asking about work or family (which you can get to later) and is a great icebreaker. You’d be surprised how the conversation flows from here. 

How I spend my time 

Back to those 24 hours we all get each day. I’ve set up a routine that allows me to have some creative time in the morning. This works for me because the house is quiet and there are few interruptions. In order to do this, I’m usually in bed by 9:30 p.m. during the workweek. That means I don’t really watch that many streaming shows in the evening during the week. I find having an early bedtime routine in the evening helps me relax and get ready for tomorrow. 

BE FLEXIBLE

Congrats! You’re seeing how to make a plan and what you might want to do for your own Golden Hour. However, life has a way of throwing road blocks at you. It could be an unexpected new task at work, a sick family member who needs your help, or running out of clean underwear — life gets complicated. No worries; you’ve got this because you made a plan. Be sure to give yourself a break and be flexible when your plan gets disrupted. This is something I constantly have to remind myself to do. I tend to set some pretty tight deadlines for myself. Do I hit them? Sometimes. When I don’t, it’s not the end of the world. A project like The New Maturity is meant to be fun and I’m my own boss. That helps me take the pressure off myself and enjoy the process. I wonder if you can also take that attitude and apply it to something in your life!