I'm excited. This is already a good year - we went to Italy! I saw in the New Year at St Mark's square in Venice! We're so lucky! - and I actually have a Real Proper Plan about how to Fix My Life. While we were away I did a bit of reading, and it was all a reminder that I do know how to Do Things Properly. You know those articles about 27 Things Productive People Do? I read one that actually struck a chord - effective people (I'm not so bothered about 'productive') HAVE ROUTINES. I used to have routines. Now I don't, and I don't get stuff done. Hmmmm.....
But I digress. I read Swimbikemom's blog. It's very open and also very encouraging. Towards the end of the year Swimbikemom set her readers (should they choose to accept it) the task of reflecting on the years behind and ahead by answering the following questions
3 things I did right in 2016?
1. I went to the Grand Final. I was scared out of my mind, a gibbering idiot most of the leadup and hardly watched any of it (I achieved the standing foetal position for several hours, not an easy task, even with many beers) but I made myself book the hotel two weeks out and get on the train and go into the ground and stay there all day, and it was all good! I was willing to risk heartbreak (for it would have been, I'm telling you) for delight, and I'm so glad I did, for it has changed my life in such a good way!. It's nice to have a wonderfully life-changing event at 49!
2. As summed up in this post, I walked the Melbourne Half Marathon and then did the mini tri. "I broke out of the prison of my own fearful thoughts and I'm never going back there". NEVER. More on this later
3. I GOT REAL. That was my mantra last year. I didn't change much of the way I went about things last year, but I stopped bullshitting myself about it. What a relief. I stopped weighing myself too.
3 things I will change in 2017
1. Regular exercise. I have A Plan, and A Chart! About which more later. In a nutshell, for starters, if I do All The Stuff, I can buy a book; if I don't, I can't. I love books so this will do as an incentive until getting off my arse gets automatic again
2. Food. I tried delegating to the Spousal Unit, and the end result was that I wasn't eating how I wanted to. Getting Real means sucking up that if I want to eat better I have to put more energy into planning, shopping and cooking. I will be assertive with my junk food, fried-with-cheese, food-is-love sweetheart. We will eat less dodgy takeaway and more home-cooked veg.
3. Other people. I don't have many IRL friends nearby. I work quite long hours, by myself; I'm quite isolated. I need to work on this. I've put my name down for a book group and I'm going to start a group exercise thing (more on this shortly)
My 'action word'
TODAY. There's been too much putting-off. This word will remind me that I need to do stuff all the time, and stop focusing on barriers or difficulties. This leads me to
My Mantra
Change happens in the here and now. A bit 'Oprah meets Captain Obvious' but I think it'll get the job done. Nothing valuable happens 'later'. Do it now. Go to the pool right now, even for just 1k. Ride your bike for 20 minutes. Clean out that one drawer. Drink that one glass of water. Take 5 minutes to buy those carrots on the way home.
That's enough for now. What do you do to reflect on your year and plan your next one?
More anon, stargazers!