Looking Back, Looking Forward

 I'm not one for new year's resolutions but it seems inevitable that ringing in a new year gives one pause, especially after the year we have just finished. 2020 was momentous for us in quite a few ways. Mike and I made a new home on Roseville Rd. which allows us to have the feel of country solitude despite being quite close to the city. I was able to begin raising goats and chickens and to start a new garden. Mike had the space to create both a music studio and a listening room. These are dreams we've held for a long time so it has been satisfying to see them come to fruition.

Of course 2020 brought us COVID-19, quarantine, mask wearing, virtual learning/teaching and an insane presidential election. 2021 started with a riot in our capital after weeks (months?) of deceit from our soon to be ex-president. We are looking forward to a (hopefully) peaceful transfer of power, vaccinations for all citizens and a slow move back to some kind of new normalcy.

So, as I look ahead toward this new year, I do have some goals in mind. 

• I lost 30 pounds in 2020 but have found the stress of teaching and my increased responsibilities have pushed me back into my old habits of eating and drinking and resulted in gaining back 10 of my lost pounds. So I'm trying to look at what caused the backslide and rebooting new healthier habits surrounding food, drink, fitness and stress. My basic plans include exercise 4 days per week either walking outside or on our (new) treadmill, planning ahead for healthy but delicious foods using an app called My Fitness Tracker and drinking a lot more water.
• Limiting my work load at home. With a little bit of planning I should be able to stop working so much after school and on the weekends. I tried to share out some of my responsibilities at school (at the moment there is some inequity in that area with the teachers) but was shot down. I've come up with another idea that I hope will be met with a little more positivity and will help eliminate some of my stress.
• Revisiting some hobbies. I began working on my photography skills but got stalled (again) in part because I'm limited in the places I can go due to the pandemic and because it has been so dark and cold outside. So this one might get moved to a spring goal. I was also able to learn a new quilting skill while making (the above) quilt for my new little grand-niece, Eloise. I'd like to keep working to finish a few quilting projects for myself which is a good winter project. 

In general, I want to learn to manage my stress levels in more positive ways. I allow things to overwhelm me too easily and I need to use my past experiences to help me remember that most things that happen aren't huge and don't require me to do more than take one day (or one hour, or one minute) at a time.

So, here's to 2021. I'm going to remain hopeful that good things are coming on the political, medical and personal fronts and will do the things I can to make at least my little part happen.