A New Year

So, it's taken me a while to get around to posting the very first blog for the new year. Why? I dunno. I'm so busy whizzing around doing stuff, maybe I just forgot to sit down, breathe, and do some writing. Which is okay, I guess. It's all right to be busy so long as you are doing what you want and you are happy about it.

So what about 2014? Other than the fact that it follows on the heels of 2013, so far... it's a blank slate. Which, for me, is pretty brilliant, because it means I can take the time to write up potential goals I want to achieve. Not set-in-stone, solid-as-a-mountain goals, but "potential goals". Why potential goals?

Because I'm human.

I am not Wonder Woman. I have no special powers (as much as I think that would be a brilliant idea). I have my limitations, what skills I have managed to master over the last few years, and a desire to learn and do more. And you know what? You're only human too (and there's nothing bad about that!)

Having a list of potential goals is more positive and satisfying, I think, than having a list of set tasks you want to do before next year, as the latter is more likely to make you feel guilty, or like a failure, if you didn't get to those tasks and finish them. You spend so much time telling yourself "I HAVE to do this, I HAVE to get it done", that all the enjoyment eventually goes out of the game, and you get tired of the constant tirade against yourself.

Choosing to write potential goals allows you some flexibility. You can pick and choose which task to undertake first, and it allows you to see which tasks will take longer than others due to the number of steps needed, the money/parts/tools required, the time it takes to complete, etc. If you don't finish them all by the end of the year, that's okay, because they were potential goals, so you can now roll those unfinished projects over to the next year, and make more, and pat yourself on the back for all the things you did do.

Whether you'd like to paint the house, improve the garden, or lose 30 pounds (I hear you on that one!) no matter what your potential goals are, you should by all means try to have fun doing them, and never make yourself feel guilty for not getting it all done at once. Just take a deep breath, pick something you can manage at the moment, and be proud when you finish it.

I hope everyone has a brilliant, happy, healthy, and loving New Year.