it's a friday january evening and i'm thinking goals tonight. i've been thinking goals for a few nights, in fact. i'm not one that likes to set goals on january 1st to start keeping on january 1st. somehow, that's always seemed too quick. not enough time to really think about what i'm committing to, not enough time to reflect on my old ways and sometimes mourn their going.
so i spend much of january just thinking - thinking and jotting down notes on half-sheets of paper that inevitably end up who-knows-where. ironically, i decided to jot down notes on my laptop this go-around. on "notepad." just as i was really generating some good ideas (and not really reviewing much - on paper and out of my head...) my laptop shut down. i'm not sure if my husband kindly decided to turn it off for me one night (we're working on turning off our electronics at night) or if it finally had enough of being left open 24/7 and shut down to update as it periodically does. but anyway, i hadn't saved that notepad document. which means i lost my brainstorming.
the cool thing about google and thus blogger is that is saves automatically for you. i will never need to remember to press "ctrl/s" while writing a post because it does it for me. how cool is that?
so here goes.
this year i'm thinking a lot about limiting the media i intake. no, not some bizarre year-long media fast. but really. i've noticed so much the last several months how unfulfilled i am by the internet. while at work, i can spend all my free time browsing facebook, pinterest, blogs, internet shopping and generally being bombarded by thousands of advertisements that give me an underlying sense that i simply don't have enough stuff, don't make enough money, am not pretty or skinny enough and don't have enough friends. after a day of leaving my internet up at work, i come home wanting. in a complete attitude of lack. and frankly, i'm sick of it. i've deleted my pinterest account three different times now since beginning it because sometimes i don't like to see all the possibilities or all the amazing DIY projects everyone else appears to be doing. sometimes i think i'd have a more active imagination if i'd just let it do its own thing and find its own inspiration instead of seeking it on everyone else's pinboards. rant. anyway... the point is this: i think i would be a more fulfilled, happier person if i spent less time on online social networks and more time connecting with real people, writing my own stuff instead of reading others' stuff, and pursuing my own creative hobbies instead of browsing all the new possibilities. self-imposed internet restrictions are being considered.
this leads me that hobbies thing. i have more time than i think i do. true, i'm a believer in life being more simple - we don't need to do as much as we think. but really. i have hobbies i'd love to pursue. i want to pick up the violin for real again. i want to learn to knit. i want to start seriously writing. i've been moving around an "art box" for three years without really using it. hobby goals are in the works.
speaking of simplicity, i can always do better. i'm content with my crammed little apartment. and it would be awesome to get rid of all the boxes of clothes, finally clean out our over-stuffed closet and just throw a bunch of the junk away that i haven't looked at in a year. wouldn't it be awesome to have a house filled with things that were only functional, beautiful, or deeply sentimental? spring cleaning, i say. for a year.
the organization is going to extend to the blog, too. i have a few big projects planned for this online journal i keep, one of which being to categorize and organize my archives so everything has labels and is easily searchable. i like to review to see what i've written before and that'll be a lot easier once my blogland gets organized.
there's a lot more rolling around in my brain. continued recovery goals like keeping the weight-loss mentality out of my life and having a healthy-living perspective instead. goals of gratitude and positive psychology experiments on myself. goals for my running and strength. goals for work and savings and money... lots of goals. lots of things to look forward to.
january will be the test run. if the goal is really important, it'll stick around. otherwise... well, life only ever has time for the really important things.
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on a completely unrelated note, i saw a snowy egret at the pond today. really, they are the coolest things - so pure white! i hope him and the blue heron can live peaceably together for the remainder of the winter.
