NEW YEAR'S DAY IS JUST THE FIRST OF 365 FANTASTIC NEW DAYS THIS YEAR
January 1st is traditionally the day of new beginnings, an opportunity to put the mistakes of the past 12 months behind us and a promise that the next 365 days will be fantastic. Like many people I sought to review the past 12 months to try and identify perhaps where I went wrong and how I could improve.
I don’t fully understand why many of us put things on hold and see the New Year as the time to make changes or promises to ourselves, when every day is new and an opportunity for a fresh start or to make changes to our lives. Whether small token changes like endeavouring to smile more or life changing decisions that take you down a completely new path, each new day presents new opportunities and possibilities. You only need to watch the movie Groundhog day or one of its many and varied remakes to appreciate that every one of the year’s 365 days is an opportunity to do something differently than the day before.
I appreciate for many the limitations of commitments or health or finance play a huge part on what is actually achievable but if you want to make a change only you can make it happen and sometimes starting small is a great place to begin that journey.
YESTERDAY IS THE LAST DAY OF LOOKING BACK
Yesterday of course being 31st December was New Year’s Eve, day 365 of last year and a day spent on reflection and in conversation (with Jay), about what brought me/us to this point in my/our lives. We have made some observations about patterns of behaviour that might prove useful moving forward.
Luckily we are on the same page about many things, including lifestyle and outlook but we are also individuals so if we were to make a list of how we are different it would be just as long as the list of how we are similar. Importantly we are similar in the less negotiable of things and our differences we can pursue without compromising the other.
Although we don’t really make new year’s resolutions (I have actually only kept to one, made 36 years ago, to not eat fish anymore.) we ultimately decided to stop looking back and to focus on the future. What has already passed we can’t change, we can only make changes to our future, so while we can learn lessons from the past we must not dwell on things we can’t change instead that energy and time would be better invested in forging a brighter future.
COULD DO BETTER, BUT CAN I?
When I hear the words ‘could do better’ I immediately think of every school report card that has ever been written about me. It used to hurt my feelings because I always tried so hard, I just wasn’t naturally the best at anything and as a child I always wondered why trying hard was never enough.
Now as an adult with a slightly different perspective I feel differently about the sentiment behind these three words in particular related to: being a good person; making a difference; doing my bit for the environment; or making ethical decisions.
For a long time now I have said “I try my best” or “I do the best I can” . I know trying my best is not always doing my best and sometimes my best is not good enough but something is better than nothing. That’s not supposed to sound like a lame excuse for not doing better, it’s more the realisation that nobody is perfect including myself but endeavouring to try and make an effort most days (but by no means all 365 of them) is better than being dismissive or complacent or just leaving it to everybody else.
A PLAN TO DO MORE AND DO LESS
DO MORE LIST
- WRITE MORE
- READ MORE
- LAUGH MORE
- TRY MORE
WRITE MORE
I love to write, I don’t always find it easy and it takes me a while but I love the creative process of expressing thoughts, emotions and ideas through words that are written rather than spoken. I also value the feedback given by the people who read my work.
READ MORE
So many great books, so little time. I read every day if possible but only get through 2 or 3 books a year. I used to read more like 12 to 15 a year so I’d definitely like to increase the amount of time I devote to reading. I did recently join audible and I am on my third audiobook and quite like this different way of enjoying books but I love the feel of physical books and whenever possible prefer to buy second hand books.
LAUGH MORE
‘Laughter is the best medicine’ although the origin of this famous quote seems unclear, a similar sentiment is expressed in Proverbs 17: 22 (King James Bible) which states:
“ A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up bones.”
Everything seems lighter and brighter with laughter so I try to find joy in the simplest of things.
TRY MORE
When I say try more it could mean try harder but for me I mean say yes to more, try new things more often. We recently returned from a trip to Amsterdam, where we were visiting Jay’s mum who has lived in the Netherlands for over 20 years. It was my first visit to both Amsterdam and The Netherlands despite being with Jay for 7 years. Having many pets between us it has always been difficult to manage a trip together so when some lovely people generously offered to pet sit for us we jumped at the chance.
Whilst in Amsterdam I had vegan sushi for the first time, in fact it was also my first time eating authentic Japanese food, I also had my first experience of riding on a tram and it was also the most non-Christmas Christmas I have ever had; no Christmas trees or decorations in the houses we stayed or visited; no traditional Christmas fayre (except for a slice of Italian Panettone that Jay’s mum received as a gift); no wrapping presents, writing cards or buying gifts.
Christmas was a day trip to Voorlinden Museum to view works by Michael Borremans, Nick Cave and Paul Kooiker amongst others. It was a completely new experience to be able to visit an art exhibition on Christmas day and it was the highlight of my trip. It felt a really good use of a day that would otherwise be spent eating too much and sitting in front of the TV.
DO LESS LIST
- EAT LESS
- WASTE LESS
- CARE LESS
- DOUBT MYSELF LESS
EAT LESS
I was doing so well 3 months ago before we left Spain to build our new campervan in the UK. I managed to lose 6 KGs using a calorie counting app to log everything I ate as part of a calorie controlled diet. I didn’t want to cut any foods out, more ration high calorie foods and portion control my meals. When we threw a grenade into the life we had in Spain it also launched a spanner into my weight loss efforts. I would very much like to try to get things back on track with regard to eating less, especially high calorie low nutrition foods.
WASTE LESS
As consumers we create waste, I already advocate less is more and reuse, repair or recycle but I think this is an area I can do better in. As we plan to live in a vehicle for the foreseeable future we will have very little room for unnecessary stuff. I have always been a bit of a collector especially related to fabrics, yarns, small toys and books. The things I own take up very little space but I think I can downsize even more. I hate waste though so I am going to try and downsize by using the materials I already have to create my work without the need to buy or acquire anything new.
Waste less is one thing I will definitely aim to apply to all 365 days of the coming year.
CARE LESS
Caring, sensitivity and crying are strange things that mean different things to different people. Crying for example can convey a wealth of different meanings, there are tears of sadness, tears of joy, laughter, anger or pain and the act of crying can be seen as weakness, vulnerability, empathy or a loss of self control. So crying, like other sensitivities and emotions, is difficult to define but primarily I interpret my tears as emotions spilling out, unable to be contained.
I have always been considered a HSP personality type by those closest to me. An overly simple explanation would be a Highly Sensitive Person, I am often perceived as a sensitive, caring, thoughtful person but this can also be both physically painful and detrimental to my mental wellbeing. It has often been suggested to me that meditation might help me manage my emotions and sensitivity to my surroundings and I feel this would be a good starting point.
DOUBT MYSELF LESS
If you were to look up imposter syndrome in the dictionary, I kid you not, there would be a picture of me! I have years of experience in both teaching and textiles. When it comes to my specialist subject I know what I’m talking about and would probably be considered an expert. So why do I have a constant feeling that everyone else is better than me, everyone’s work is more valuable and worthy than mine and that I am about to be discovered as a fraud at any moment?
I always put these feelings down to low self esteem and lack of confidence and only discovered the concept of imposter syndrome a few years ago from another artist. I’m like “Wow, lightbulb moment, that is me!”
Recently I also came across another concept while researching about starting a YouTube channel, that often people care a lot less than we think they do. Why do we worry about what others think about us when they probably are not thinking about us at all?
We need to live their lives for ourselves, spending precious time doing what we want, wearing what we want and spending time where and with whom we like. (Without negatively impacting others/animals/the environment.) So if I’m plodding along my merry way not hurting anyone who would judge me and if someone did why should I care or let it change me or my values?
My time could be better spent learning to accept myself and having confidence in my decisions rather than doubting myself and worrying what others will think.
A SUMMARY OF NONSENSICAL MUSINGS
So although I haven’t made New Year’s resolutions in the traditional sense I have made observations identifying things that could be improved upon these past 365 days and have a positive impact in the long run.
I do have some big life changes planned for the coming 12 months and will update you more on that as they unfold but in the meantime I felt I would share my nonsensical musings about how sometimes even just a slight shift in perspective can have an impact. I hope you find some of the ideas expressed in this article useful and I wish you a Happy New Year and Happy Day for all 365 days of the year.
Have you made any New Year's resolutions?
Let me know in the comments below.
Did you enjoy reading this FREE article?
Would you like to read more?
YES!
Then please consider making a small donation using the donate button in the menu above.
There is no obligation whatsoever but your support is very much appreciated and helps to keep this site free from those pesky adverts.
Thank you x
