January 10, 2016

Okay, I suppose 10 days rest from the blog is enough for now, and it’s time for me to get serious about what goals (New Year’s resolutions as some call it) I would like to accomplish in 2016 and write them out for the world to see (so it sets it in stone, so to speak).  Thank you to all those who followed me through my journey in 2015 to complete one writing prompt EVERY DAY for the year. I did accomplish that, and it was a test in discipline for sure.  It may not have been best-selling thoughts every day. Some days it was not more than a sentence or two, but I did my best to at least consider and put down my thoughts for every prompt (or a topic of my own choosing) for 365 days last year.  Yea!!

Unfortunately, the focus on that goal (along with other things in life) got in the way of me accomplishing my other New Year’s Resolutions, so in the spirit of retirement plan “roll-overs,” I would like to “roll-over” those resolutions as well as add a couple of new ones for 2016.  So, here goes:

1. Stop spending so much money at COSTCO, buy only what is REALLY necessary! Okay, I’m kind-of kidding on this one, but seriously, I thought moving back to the states, I wouldn’t spend as much being on a tighter budget with bills and all. When we used to come back to the states once a year, a trip to Wal-Mart meant spending a couple of hundred dollars each week for a month, then spending another hundred or two to mail everything back that we really needed (or thought we needed) to our tiny rock in the Pacific.  We also did clothes shopping, enjoyed eating out, going to the movies at an actual indoor theater, visited zoos and amusement parks, etc, etc, etc….So, I figured, at first, we would spend some money getting established in a new home, get our fill of eating out, have some fun participating in activities we had missed out on for so long, and then settle into life in a more normal stateside way, but then we joined COSTCO.  Now, we only go once every other month or so, and we do stock up on all the staples of a household, but we can’t seem to leave that place without spending more than I ever spent at Wal-Mart in several stops on vacation! It does make me wonder how much I have fallen back into the trap of American consumerism. Do we really NEED to stock up on all this stuff? It’s something to think about.  We still really enjoy going out to eat and spend more than we should in general, so I think it’s something as a family we could consider and make sure we are not just spending to spend. 

2. Join that running club I talked about last year or get involved in some other sort of social activity (a book club at the library, perhaps) or a yoga or art class.  I think it’s important to make those connections, so that WA becomes not just where we live, but our home.  This is something that even after almost two years, I think we are still working on, making it home.  I have been joining a friend from work in the JBLM runs on base, which is like fulfilling part of this resolution from last year….joining a “running club” of sorts, but I need to be a part of something closer to home more regularly to really make those permanent connections. 

3. Be a more active participant in marketing and selling my children’s books here in the states. I sent an e-mail to the library system here (to which I never got a response), and I found a international school bookseller interested in selling one of my 3 published books to schools around the world and signed a contract with them, but I haven’t taken the time to really get involved in the reading and writing community here.  The library is the most logical first step, and being involved there in a volunteer capacity promoting my books (donating free copies and reading for children’s hour or something like that) could actually help me accomplish my next goal for the year (#4 below).

4. Find and commit to that service opportunity in the community that I talked about at the beginning of last year and still have not accomplished.  I did find some opportunities that I would like to look into (such as being a Big Sister to a child at the Boys and Girls Club OR being a Court Appointed Advocate to children in need right here in my county). It could be that getting a start on #3 will help me find a service opportunity I had not yet discovered and take me in a different direction, but with #3, there’s some selfish motivation with promoting my books and all, so I want to make sure that I do include a volunteer job that it not at all about me, but instead about benefitting someone else. 

5. Last, but most certainly not least, make the most of my weekends with family and friends and plan more “outings” to get outside in nature, to enjoy this beautiful state, and to spend less time cleaning and resting and instead enjoy doing and being. 

So, how does the blog fit into all of this? Well, if you look back at my goals, most of them have to do with me getting up and DOING SOMETHING! I feel like my year of blogging in 2015 was about looking within, analyzing life, and developing my introspection skills and then writing about what I discovered inside, but this year is going to be about coming out of my shell into the real world outside myself (not just the written, online world).  I will attempt to be less of an introvert, put myself out there, and do something good in the world.  I hope to use the book, “More than a Bucket List” by Toni Birdsong to help me with this, and I will write about my progress along the way. It will not be daily, but hopefully at least weekly as I want to be able to say I have done something for someone else or off my “bucket list” at least weekly, so we’ll see. I know it all sounds like pretty lofty goals, but if we don’t reach for the stars, we’re not stretching ourselves enough, in my opinion.  I never thought I’d be able to write every day for a year, but I did, so it’s on to bigger and better things, things that benefit more than just myself. Wish me luck! Happy New Year!!