Pretty sure I say every year I’m not doing resolutions, but…and I’m still not. But. I have been thinking lately about how I want to make some changes in my life, and what better time than the new year to give me a bump in the backside about getting moving on them?
One thing that, I think, really changed things for me this year was getting furloughed back in March. I spent six weeks at home, happily puttering. I (belatedly, it turns out) decided to do a little gardening. I say belatedly because I was not the first to come up with the idea, so I waited forever for my seeds… One tomato plant is still out there, struggling to turn some tomatoes red for me.
I also started writing every day, twice a day. Morning and evening, my friends and I would gather online and write through the pandemic. It drew us closer, it got us words, and it got me more in the habit of looking at myself and my life, because even though I was attempting to write fiction, when the story-words wouldn’t come in the middle of a sprint (coordinated timed writing time, after which you report your word count) I would just journal instead.
Enough of that and, I’ll tell you what, you end up writing fiction just to stop the navel-gazing.
Anyway. Another thing that came along, was a “wellness” app that comes with my insurance. Normally I wouldn’t be interested–I have enough apps nagging me, thanks–but this one, our HR department said we’d get rewarded for points.
I’m always into rewards, especially monetary ones.
So I’ve been doing the app most days, because obviously you get more points the more you participate. Mostly it’s stuff you can find anywhere, like “did you know you should be eating more vegetables?” or smug budgeting advice like “if you didn’t buy that $7 latte every day, you wouldn’t have a tight budget!” but hey, I’m getting rewarded for putting up with that carp.
Useless info or not, along with the journaling the app is keeping things like my health and happiness top of mind, where usually I’d just be down in the day-to-day weeds. And sometimes, just occassionally, something of value comes through.
Here’s an exercise I did last week, bored out of my mind at work on Christmas Eve, office coordinator for a closed school, front desk for an office with the doors locked during the pandemic, why wouldn’t I do the app and get paid twice to be there on Christmas Eve?
So I followed the instructions, took a piece of paper (or do it on your computer) and divided it into quadrants. Labeled the first column “Things I Have.” Labeled the next “Things I Don’t Have.” Down the side, labeled the first row “Things I Want.” Labeled the bottom row “Things I Don’t Want.”
If I’d been stuck in a seminar or forced in some other way to do that, I’d have probably filled it with snark and silliness.
But I was completely alone, doing it of (pretty much) my own free will, and I’ve been getting better at the navel-gazing. So I gave it an honest(ish) try.
Hmm. Certainly looks like some trends there…so yeah. I’m not going to be making resolutions. But I’ll be pondering a SMART goal or two. I’ve got a camping trip planned in February (rented a cabin for my birthday!) so we’ll see what I can do by then.
Wow. Me. Reflecting on stuff. Oooh.
Next I’ll be juggling chainsaws or something.