How did you ring in 2022? To say that it was no more lackluster than 2020 or 2021, would be a gross understatement, in my opinion. I try to enter each new year with a list of goals at the ready and a spark in my enthusiasm to make this year better and more productive than any of the previous years; somehow it will be 'the best year yet!'. Here we are, just getting through the first full week of January 2022, and I'm fizzling out already. How about you?
I was reluctant and hesitated, really, to sit down around Thanksgiving, to write out what I was thankful for. I mean, why do we do that, anyway? Shouldn't we be thankful every single day for any experiences we encounter or the people that we have in our lives? Why do we need to take a month or day out of each year to count those blessings and be thankful for everything? I find it a bit daunting and useless, frankly. Here's why.
We take 20 seconds of every single day for less than a full month each year to post on our social media accounts what we're thankful for. Then, immediately after waking from that food and turkey coma on the 4th Thursday every November, we do stupid things like crowd stores at midnight for the best Black Friday deals and we truly have no concern for our fellow human being. Most everyone is rude, pushy, angry, tired and just a plain jerk when they don't get whatever it was they were looking for in each store, whatever it may be, or someone has just been all of those things to you or around you, so you're now doing it to someone else. So, are you really thankful, or are you using it as a convenient excuse?
Then, we purchase more stuff we don't need, to replace that feeling of importance and thankfulness that we had just a mere few hours prior. Hypocritical, don't you think? Why do you need all of this? It's a vast amount of clutter of things that we don't truly need, that will end up broken, forgotten or re-gifted to the next unsuspecting schmuck sometime throughout the next year, or sent to the landfill or thrift store, anyway.
Then, the holiday rush of December. Oh, how wondrous the lights, trees, decorations, pretty gift wrapping tied with amazing ribbon, that the gifter spent so much time and effort on (and let's face it, probably dropped a pretty penny on, because; inflation), only to be ripped to shreds and tossed into the landfill to rot for the next umpteen years. Then, the gifts themselves. Oh, the gifts.
You probably ended up with that courtesy basket of bath goods because the gifter had no idea what to actually purchase for you, because, while they're thankful that you're in their life in the previous month, it is more likely that they don't really know you or your likes or dislikes, anyway. So, you end up with a bunch of smelly stuff that you will never use. It's probably going to end up being re-gifted or donated, or just sit in a closet, collecting dust. Ask me how I know this.
Then, we enter the new year. Oh, the hopes and resolutions; the goals, the drive to make it an amazing new year; profitable or productive in some way. You've probably made the same resolutions that 90% or more people make every single New Year's Eve; you're going to lose weight, exercise, eat healthy, take better care of yourself, or a whole slew of other resolutions and promises that you know you aren't going to keep. I'm no exception in partaking in this wild scheme. This is why I no longer make resolutions. This is why I make a list of goals I'd like to accomplish throughout the following year; and I usually sit down in mid-December to start writing those down.
You see, I have a notebook full of ideas, thoughts, feelings and goals I would like to accomplish throughout a year. I add and delete those goals on almost the daily throughout a year. Why? I'll tell you.
My goals change throughout the year, depending on how things work out financially and most often, depending on my physical health and capabilities, which lead to my mental and emotional status changes throughout a year. Goals, like resolutions, promises, wants; they change throughout a year. Your health status (or someone that you're close to) may change for the better or may take a downward turn because of things out of your control. These types of situations then create the necessity to modify your goals for a year.
You may have to change the direction in which you're going throughout a year. What if you experience a traumatic emotional or physical event and can't complete that promise that you made not only yourself, but another or many others? Well, then you've ceased to be able to follow through and complete that promise, letting yourself and others down, which puts you into a precarious situation on an emotional and mental level and a relationship level.
In the end, you truly don't have full control over outside circumstances that may alter or nullify those promises, resolutions or goals that you have set forth. So, wouldn't it be better to just make your resolution to promise to try to be better than you were last year and to try many things, instead of setting yourself and others up for failure with only one goal? Maybe that's all you can handle, is one, but I think that depending on the type of goals you are setting, you can accomplish more than one.
I encourage people to make a list of goals for a year. Start with something as silly as maybe making sure you brush your teeth or hair at the very least twice daily, or the garbage goes out every single night, the dishes get done and put away immediately after a meal, or something very mundane. Add more goals, going up in effort, until you reach a really lofty goal, of say, reducing or paying off all of your debt, building something, getting a certification in something; a goal to work really hard towards, but if you can't reach it fully or find that it isn't going to work out like you'd planned, you can change course, modify or delete it altogether.
I have a list of literally 100 goals to date. I just keep adding and deleting or modifying each one when necessary. This goals list never goes away, but it changes frequently, and sometimes daily, and it carries into the next year. I use the method of scheduling; hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, every 6 months and yearly. It helps me to stay on track, as best as I can, but I also don't get upset and act too harshly on myself, if I cannot complete those schedules as laid out. I have health issues, family issues, city issues and homesteading issues that need to take precedence, sometimes.
I truly hope that you can use some of my thoughts to help improve your 2022 and keep yourself on track to accomplishing your goals. Live a more simple life. Lose the clutter. Lose the competition to have more "stuff" than your neighbor and just learn to be a kind neighbor, friend; human. That's probably the biggest and most important goal for every single day; kindness.
Live from the Earth. Play in the dirt.
Blessings
