I totally buy into all that New Year, New Me shenanigans. It doesn’t matter how many times I have consistently failed to transform myself into someone I like better I always feel inspired by the promise of a new chapter. And that’s ok.
Be more active. I’m not going on a diet. I hate diets. I love food and I have no willpower. Instead I have signed up to do to the weekly Parkrun in Exmouth and I’ve agreed to go to Zumba classes once a week with my mum friends. I am the most uncoordinated person in the world so that should be hilarious for them. I have even purchased a sports bra and some pretty snazzy “leisure wear” from Primani. It’s nothing too drastic and even if I only manage the Parkrun once that’s still a huge deal for me.
Be more Leslie Knope. I have recently revisited my love for Parks and Recreation and am slowly working my way through it with the Hubby. I’d forgotten how much I love Leslie Knope. I wish she was my spirit animal. She’s passionate, enthusiastic, nerdy, hardworking, crafty, kind, and hilarious. I think the world would be a better place if we could all be more Leslie Knope. I have to constantly remind myself that she is a fictional character who is written to be awesome and not an actual flawed human like the rest of us. And she is mean to Gerry sometimes.
Read a little everyday. I love reading. I have bookshelves full of unread books and apparently no time to read them. Yet I have lots of time to watch Netflix and Prime until my eyes bleed. I have already failed at this resolution. Last night, just as I was about to settle down on the sofa with Stephen King I got distracted by a hole in my kitchen ceiling and a leaking shower. Stress brain took over and there was no switching it off. Instead I just lay in bed for ages going through worst case scenarios and listening to the wind howl. I want to make a little time everyday to read, to use my imagination and fall in love with books all over again. I need to stop letting TV do all the imagining for me. I want Tiny to keep loving books and reading as much as she does now and I need to be a better example as she gets older.
Learn how to use my sewing machine. My mum bought me a fabulous Brother sewing machine for Christmas and even had time to give me a few lessons before she went home. I’ve always been slightly terrified and in awe of sewing machines and 2018 is going to be the year I get over this. I have purchased myself My Sewing Machine: A Step by Step beginner’s Guide by Jane Bull to help get me started.
This book is probably aimed at kids but it’s perfect for me. The step by step pictures are awesome and there’s lots of handy information that a complete sewing machine novice like me finds really useful. I actually know what the stitches are called now. I’ve already made a cover for my machine and a drawstring bag.
I also bought the more advanced Fat Quarter Home by Amanda Russell and Juliet Bawden as I think fat quarters are the size of project I want to start with.
I can see that this is going to become an addiction. I’ve bought some fat quarters from John Lewis with some vouchers and I spend a little bit of time every day on EBay looking a fabric and thinking of various projects I could use it for.
Grow my blog. I’ve been really happy with the progress I’ve made since September and I want to keep it going. I’ve been very lucky to have had two great collaborations with companies and I’ve found lots of really interesting people and stories on this journey. I even messaged someone about a possible collaboration which is very Leslie Knope of me. My target in 2018 is at least one blog post a week. I should probably figure out what a linky is too.
Stop stressing about the little things. I think I’ve probably failed at this already. A certain lack of New Year’s Eve party invite, the possible damp patch above the bay window in the living room, and the hole in our kitchen ceiling spring to mind as things I’ve spent too much time worst case scenario-ing repeatedly. I don’t think being a worrier, (or the Departmental Eeyore as my old boss used to call me) is something you can change overnight but I intend to keep reminding myself of the Dalai Lama’s words: “If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it is not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. Then there is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”
Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions this year?
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