The top posts of 2015

With the holidays, I’m blogging less this week. In the unlikely case that anyone’s holiday is less festive without my musings, however, I thought I’d share my top posts of 2015. The definition: posts written in 2015 that garnered the most page views in 2015. These were not necessarily the posts that got the most views in 2015 (some of those were written in earlier years — Marie Kondo seems to spark clicks in addition to joy!). But it’s a good sense of what’s popular here. A note: My website died in August, and in the reconstruction, comments on posts from about March to August got deleted. So that’s why some of these actually-well-read posts have crickets in the comments section.

My 2015 List of 100 Dreams — I updated the list I wrote in 2010. I think an update is good every few years or so. I’d achieved some things, and some things no longer fit with my life.

Repost: 5 Reasons I’m not simplifying Christmas this year — This is another update on an old favorite. Christmas is a great season for being a bit busier than usual. As I wrote last week, I’m glad I had scheduled stuff in, or I’d be feeling bah humbug, not festive.

How expecting your fourth kid is different from expecting your first — A quick round up of the various things I’d learned about babies in advance of my fourth arriving. Ha ha on the needing to be induced part though.

How to really stay happy when the days are getting dark and cold — We’ve established that the Norwegian secret to enjoying a long winter is total click bait (it was one of Fast Company’s top posts of the year). This is the post on this blog in which I explained the same concept. Apparently it got a lot of clicks too.

Conquer the world in 40 hours a week — You can set your career on fire without you getting burned out. The key is becoming very efficient on core production so you can spend the balance of the week learning new skills, connecting internally and externally, planning, and being open to what comes.

The no-meal-planning guide to meals — Oddly enough, the link on this one seems to be broken (?) A look at how I cook for myself and multiple children without devoting weekends to meal planning and prep. This is part of the larger theme of people falling into the “Organized Camp” and the “Good Enough Camp.” I’m definitely into good enough.

Introducing the new addition — Birth story for kid #4. Key plot point: he was born 19 minutes after we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

A no-childcare day in the life — This post describes how I wrangled four children on a summer Friday. I heard from a number of people that this was more of a read-in-horror sort of post. I didn’t think it was that bad, but I’m used to the chaos at this point.

Faulty work-life narrative #1: If you have a big job you’ll never see your kids — In advance of I Know How She Does It last summer, I did several posts on the false stories we tell ourselves that pit work and life against each other. This was linked to by Motherlode at the NY Times, which probably helped with reads.

Postpartum weight loss round 4 — I was not sure I would ever see the 120s again after kid #4, and this post was written in part to assure myself that the slow steady weight loss was going to be OK. Then I promptly lost 15 lbs over the next 3 months through a low(ish) carb diet. I gained 5 of them back because, while I like being on the thinner side, I also don’t wish to devote the time and energy to the maintenance that takes.

Photo: I have a new iPhone! And it takes non-grainy photos!