Funny thing is, I wrote the above title in the beginning of 2021.
I never finished that post and here it is the beginning of 2022. How’s that for sustainability?
So… my last post from March 2020 was about my cat, PC. RIP, little buddy. Sadly, I had to put him down the first week of April 2020.
That was the beginning of the covid quarantine and I think it just put me in a fog. I didn’t feel much like writing because I didn’t want to talk about covid, but yet we were all going through so much in our isolation. It seemed like ample opportunity for writing and I probably should have, instead of keeping it all inside my head and slowly torturing myself.
But here we are, 2022, with an abundance of fresh optimism and new goals to tackle!
I love the beginning of the year. Seriously, my Virgo list-making traits are in full-force.
I outline my New Year’s goals and organize them into categories: Health, Family, Home, Travel, Education and Business/Financial, and Lifestyle/Personal. Pondering what I’d like to work on this year and actually writing it down gets me motivated and fills me with optimism. So many things to learn, projects to complete, people to see and travel to experience.
I’ve been doing this for years. I then review the list periodically to see if I’m on track, cross something off or maybe add something new. It’s like a dynamic bucket/to-do list combo.
It’s not meant to make me feel guilty if I don’t achieve something. Instead, it gives me the opportunity to reflect and check-in to see if my head is still where it was in the beginning of the year and adjust as needed. When it’s the New Year and time to create a new list, I peruse the year prior’s list to see how things have changed and then use that to jump start the new list.
For example, “learn to play chess” has been on my list for more than two years. I haven’t learned chess yet, but I’m not beating myself up over it. It’s still something I really want to do. Maybe this year will be the year!
As for the more spiritual and personal goals, “attend or serve at a Vipassana course” wasn’t achieved and it’s been on there for several years. I’ve done two 10-day sits, but that was back in 2018. Covid certainly put a wrinkle in large group mediation. This year though, I’d like to at least serve at a course or help as a volunteer. I highly recommend the 10-day Vipassana courses for anyone, no experience is necessary, the benefits are vast and it is free.
“Move in with bf” was a big goal that was achieved. After 11 years of dating, we decided to combine our resources. Going from a 2,000 square foot house to a small sub-1,000 square foot house has posed its challenges, but overall, it feels right and has brought so much to our relationship.
I know there is a lot of discussion about how the personal drive for productivity is a negative byproduct of our capitalistic society, but I do get immense satisfaction if I can look back and see I have accomplished something or made progress. I makes feel like I haven’t been wasting my time.
Just make the things on your list count.
Update – last night I stayed up a few extra hours learning how to play chess on Chess.com. I can see why this is one of the most popular games in the world. Game on!