It’s the start of a new month and I’m trying very hard not to forget about those resolutions I made at the start of the year.
I’m doing okay on the “spend more time with family”…I’d still like to spend more time with immediate family, but what can I say? I have two teenagers…I’m not always in control of how much time CAN be spent with them. As for the rest of my family…it’s hard, but I’m making those regular trips to the nursing home to visit my dad. Two of my editors lost parents this month and I tried very hard not to feel superstitious about that (bad things come in three’s, right? When I found out about the second one, I couldn’t help but wonder if MY parent would be the third…) But their losses impressed upon me just how important it is to make that trip every 2-4 weeks.
I’m doing REALLY good on the “spend more time with friends” resolution…I have a lunch date with one friend tomorrow, a movie date with a second friend on Saturday, and a lunch date with a third friend on Monday. Got that one covered!
“Put my own writing first”…that’s been pretty good, too. Of course that’s been pretty easy to do this month because I only had one very small thing to finish up for an educational publisher all month…other than that I haven’t had any other work. I would be doing better with “putting my own work first” if I’d actually started on something new these last couple of days while I wait to get my T.M.S. manuscript back from my toughest (but best!) critiquer. I have been thinking a lot about ideas, though…and catching up on things I’ve let slide over the last month or so…
“Don’t let go of ‘other’ writing work completely”…I did look into two new opportunities this month. I don’t know if they’ll amount to anything…what I need to do here is think about 1) how much other work I want to do this year, 2) what kind of other work I want to do and then 3) pursue that. Then I won’t make the mistake of taking on too much stuff at the wrong time…
“Work on my public speaking skills”…making progress there, too. I haven’t missed a Toastmaster’s meeting yet. I’ve even taken on a few roles — I’ve done the word of the day (lots of fun!), grammarian, and now thought of the day (my message was “Never say never”…I talked about how my dear friend L. back in Rochester tried so hard to get me to join Toastmasters FIFTEEN YEARS AGO and how I told her I was NEVER going to join…Ha!). I’m working on my ice breaker speech, but it’s slow going. I’m having a hard time figuring out what to say about myself and how to organize it…but I’m making progress here nonetheless.
“Be better at letting things go”…I will always struggle with this. But I recognize that part of my personality and I’m working on it…
And “be thankful for every day I have health, happiness, a family, good friends and work that I love…I AM very thankful for all of that, but I don’t always remember to take TIME to be thankful every day. (And I haven’t always remembered to make note of three positive things that happened each day…I’ll try and start that again…)
I didn’t resolve to lose weight or exercise this year, but I’m always trying to do those things (I’m just…trying harder sometimes than other times). I have been better about my exercise this month, though. I’ve gone for my 4-mile walk almost every day this month — even when the wind chill has been -20. (Considering I’m looking forward to a slice of the world’s best chocolate cake tomorrow at lunch, we won’t discuss my diet…)