Happy New Year everyone!
I love a new year. Just like the first day of school, it has always been the time of fresh starts, reflection and hope. While I don’t consider myself to be the type to make official resolutions, (I am so not the “lose 10 pounds by March 1st type) I do like to reflect set some goals, and begin anew.
However, I am the “try to do too much, get overwhelmed and freak out” type. My dearest friend Annik and I were chatting over the noisy play of our children on New Year’s Eve. I was listing off the various “21 Steps to This” and “10 Steps to That” and the yoga and the no more gluten and this e-book ad that e-book and…..She very calmly said “That sounds like a lot of anxiety.” And I paused, because she was right.
So later that evening after Annik was home, all my children were sleeping soundly and the poor Skeptic was stuck working at yet another New Year’s Eve concert, I thought little harder about it all. And I realized I would never do anything I wanted if I couldn’t chill out and get a little focus. Trying to do 10 different e-book programs all at once is just not a good idea. And my Feedly stream has been full of them the last week…all of them sound great, all of them promise me a clean house, a calm mind,and balanced budget, lots of time to play with my children and never wondering what is for supper again. But all of them together would probably just give me a stroke.
I figured out there are two things I need to do:
- Calm my mind down, paying more attention to the great things in my life with less worrying about I am not doing.
- Clear out the clutter and busyness that has built up over ten years of being a parent, and try to get some organization and simplification in my life.
So rather than take on a piles big books dealing with everything all at once, I returned to my three favorite blogs:
- One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp: She has written one of the most beautiful, honest and life changing books I have ever read by a mother raising a family. No matter what your faith might be, I highly recommend it.
- 52 Changes by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits:
- One Bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler by Tsh Oxenreider
So, I have three things to write down every day, and two new things to try each week. Not too crazy or overwhelming, is it? I have other things I’m interested in, and some helpful links to share, but less is more, right? That’s for another day.
In the meantime I’ll leave you with one powerful short article about time by my favorite writer, Anne Lamott. And I would love to know your thoughts on the New Year!
Knittymama 
On New Year’s Eve, my sister in law and I get together (with our respective spouses) and we pick our word for the year. This year my word was “gratitude”. Hers was “centered”. We talk about what it means for us and what we’re going to do to cultivate more of what we want in our lives. I like the focus that a single word brings as we start out a new year.
I’ve been simplifying my life, too. My change for the year is keeping a positivity journal where I write down one thing a day that I found positive so it could be a goal fulfilled, something that made me laugh etc. It has been lovely so far.