Resolutions or revolution?
What's new in the new year
Do you make New Year’s resolutions and not keep them? If yes, then we have something in common. But if you use the time between the years, as the Germans say, to hunker down and spend time planning and looking ahead to the promise of the New Year, a Dragon Year at that, then we too have something in common.
Two years ago, as the pandemic eased, I’d have enough of the attempts at self-improvement that rarely lasted until the end of January. Instead I took a different approach. Rather than making a list of resolutions that began with “quit,” “stop,” and “don’t,” I thought about who I wanted to see, where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to do.
That year my list included seeing Jochen one last time in Berlin before he passed. Attending my first ever yoga retreat with a dear friend, in Portugal. And an evening of theater with friends produced by genius artistic director Barry Kosky (he’s gay, Australian, and Jewish and has been responsible for injecting the already vampish capital city of Germany with a jab of the unexpected in theatre performances). Brilliant.
The list brought me joy. I was making memories.
So in 2023, I continued. Our sons live in beautiful cities - The Hague and Vienna, allowing us great escapes with local guides. I spent hours online waiting to nab tickets to the blockbuster Vermeer exhibition in the Netherlands before it sold out. It did not disappoint.
I busted out a little, booked mini trips spontaneously. Nothing was a stretch or a challenge. I’m not planning to climb Mount Everest. Ever. But I wanted to ratchet up experiences.
This year, on top of experiences, I’m thinking more of how to live intentionally and sustainably to make the most of the last quarter of my life.
My social media consumption has become an unhealthy habit so I put myself on a digital diet. It’s actually kinda fun to see a notification pop up - only five minutes left today! My phone goes dark at 9:00 PM. Basta. Then I have a bath and read in bed.
Reducing the 3,000 accounts I’m following on Instagram has also been satisfying. Away with the brands and anyone wagging their bottoms, jiggling their infants, or parading their outfits in front of the camera. No more #OOTD and #GDWM reels. Since Instagram introduced a paid option (which I declined, thanks), there’s loads more advertising and the experience has diminished. I still relish in the visual glory of it - on a good day - but am frustrated with people like Tim Ferriss trying to tell what what to have for breakfast and how much better my life would be if I got up at 5:00 A.M. like he does.
Maybe because I know he’s right.
Biting the bullet journal
The German word “verzettelt” (to dissipate one’s energy or fritter away), captures the state of the scattered brain that results from writing appointments, to-do’s, and notes on scraps of paper, post-ins, online and paper calendars, and notebooks. The only thing holding me back from buying a Smythson agenda in birds egg blue with wafer thin paper, and my initials in gold embossed on the cover is the price. It’s too precious for my mess. I often have several notebooks on the go at once, one for work, one a diary, plus small notebooks to put in my bag in case of an inspirational emergency.
Not much wonder I miss things, or forget appointments.
Motivated by a desire to get the full picture of personal and professional life, I started a new kind of agenda, a bullet journal. I had seen images but never one up up close until I met Sarah. She got me started in December. What is it? Oprah explains here.
Three aspects appealed to me:
Having all my key dates and goals in one place.
The visual trackers of say health data. The habits tracker is my favourite page. I keep track of whether I did steps, yoga, pilates, breathing, and intermittent fasting. Did I have a sugar-free and alcohol-free day, did I read, drink two litres of water, and go poo?
The potential for creativity. I like designing spreads and figuring out how to visualise my content. One of my favourite bujo creators has painted her pages with gold and used an Art Deco theme. See the Plant Based Bride here. She produces beautiful work.
I went right out and bought an A5 Leuchtturm with numbered pages, an index, and dotted lines; a set of coloured markers; washi tape, a a pallet of pride coloured markers. (Remember the girls at school who said I’m not allowed to share my crayons?)
“Instead of life happening to me, I’m planning it. I switched my mindset from judging myself to being curious about myself.”
That’s what my new friend Sarah told me when I asked her what difference bullet journaling has made and why she’s been doing it for three years now.
While I’m not ready to display photos of my bullet journal quite yet (because it’s private but also has to be beautiful), I have to say it’s a brilliant way to stay structured.
So with that I’m going to hit publish, and by tracking the schedule in the bullet journal, hope to establish a regular publishing schedule here this year. Resolution? Or revolution?
What are you doing differently this year? Let me know.
xxAngela
Great reminder of the bullet journal. I did try one some years ago but it never stuck. I think maybe I’ll give it another go. Not disciplined enough for resolutions I try to work with an intention through my word of the year and this year the word is embrace. I would like to live more in the moment of wherever I am, and especially so with my body as I age. As always, your prompts light a spark and I appreciate the opportunity to reflect. Cheers to another year full of wonderful experiences.
LUCKY, Angela. Kosky, always over the top but true theatre transcendance. Would love to have seen his "Cage" which we missed by wk in Berlin. Enjoy throughly! Btw: Komische was my fav of Berlin's 3 opera companies . My second home. My Berlin landlady's son work as carpenter there. Her former husband was a former principal dancer.