The month was more exciting than I had hoped for as far as national news goes, but with any luck things will settle down going forward. Personally, the year is off to a good start.
Inspired by last year’s reread of The Happiness Project, I experimented with setting an intention: Use what you have. Although when I first sat down to review the month, I felt that I hadn’t done great with that, the more I considered, the happier I felt with the results. In no particular order:
- Wrote 29,000 words of the first draft of a new book
- Did well on running (until the deep cold arrived this week), and have been using my new weight set regularly
- Learned how to knit mittens
- Hit a 125-day streak on Duolingo
- Went cold turkey on Diet Coke; soda consumption is down to a mini-can of Polar ginger ale (Coca-Cola Co. is literally the worst plastic polluter)
- Picked up some cloth napkins for everyday sustainability
- Read three of the books I received for Christmas
- Got a new microwave/hood to replace the one that hasn’t worked for an embarrassingly long time
- Bought paint for the kitchen
- Replaced ratty bath towels, uncomfortable pillows, and broken wine glasses
- Stayed involved with the mutual aid association, doing grocery shopping for housebound neighbors
- Managed two weeks straight of daily sketching
- Finished watching She-Ra and the Princesses of Power with the older teen (pure joy); middle kid very into Kung Fu Panda right now, so we’ve watched all three a couple of times lately
Not too shabby!
Which is not to say all has been wine and roses; pandemic blues and cabin fever are a recurring issue for everybody. I may be a homebody, but this is ridiculous. There have been some very draining days, and a lot of frustrated hours. It’s hard to focus sometimes, to go through yet another instance of routine.
I think the next month or so is going to be rough, as we close in one full year of this while simultaneously coping with the end of winter. I’m going to try to focus on writing the new book, painting the kitchen, and cooking my favorite cold-weather meals while the season is here. There will be a lot to look forward to in the spring; I already bought a bunch of seeds.
R Jean Stevenson 