In the year to come

I’ve tried various approached to new year resolutions over the years, but I’ve never really found one that I was happy with. India knight provided me with the reason in this marvellous piece from The Sunday times .
Basically we change when we are ready and not just because it is the first day of the year. I also think that we need to practice making changes. We try to make a change and fail and then maybe try a dozen times or more before we are ready to actually make the change because by then we’ve found a way to work with it.

So I am not making resolutions this year. Instead I have put below a list of things that I may or may not do this year. Ideas, dreams and maybes. The important thing is that I have written them down so that when I am ready to do something or make a change I already have thoughts about what it could be.

Do the 2009 Moonwalk; Learn how to listen; dress like a rock chick; Grow vegetables; Plant raspberries; Get a tattoo; Learn 10 songs on the bass; Take singing lessons; Refashion rather than buy; Restock my etsy store; Clear out everything from cookbooks to coat pockets to cupboards; Finally get rid of the last boxes that came from my parent’s house; think positive; Do NaNoWriMo; Make a crazy quilt; Adopt an older person; Learn to raise one eyebrow; Comment on more blogs; Book a foraging course; Decide what to do with prettylittleparcels.co.uk; Write more letters; Organise photographs; Buy an album every month; Research my family tree; Take moments to just breathe.

Abstinence

January is proving so far to be a month where my mind is busy (the combined result of a new year and no booze). I just can’t stop thinking of lists I need to make, emails, letters and phone calls I should make, concepts that need to be put into action (or at least noted down for further attention) and cupboards and boxes that need clearing out.

However it is satisfying when I look around the room I rather grandly label my study to note that piles of stuff are moving. It’s also rather satisfying to note that a large number of tasks have been crossed off my job list.

It’s all a bit like clothes really. You think you have the perfect wardrobe and then what you see people wearing changes (so subtlety you don’t really notice) and then one day you decide that you have nothing to wear! Hence I thought my study was probably as sorted as it was going get and that various half started project would be completed one day and suddenly I am moving things around and putting up pictures. Clearly the day has come!

An important lesson is to remember that nothing lasts forever or is as sorted as expected. No doubt this burst of energy will die out and I’ll be back on the sofa with my nose stuck in a book soon. In the meantime I’m making the most of it!

I resolve….

This year rather than making resolutions either before New Year (while feeling bloated from excess) or immediately after New Year (still hung over, tired and emotional), I’m taking a slightly different approach.

As I start the year feeling refreshed I’m thinking about habits I have that I would like to break as they crop up in my life. One I’ve identified so far is buying glossy magazines. It started when I was buying snacks and magazines all the time to get change for the bus. I’m also thinking about things I want to achieve but never seem to get round to.

I’m hoping to have a list by the end of next week. I’ll review my progress on both resolutions and targets at the end each month. If I’ve made real progress I might even have to think up some new targets!

The only exception to the above is swearing off the demon drink for the whole of January (post birthday anyway). I’ll appreciate a glass of wine so much more when I’ve had to wait a whole month for it.