I'm doing things a little different this year. With ROW80, we usually plan goals in 80 day increments. Perhaps it is because last year was so incredibly hectic and unpredictable, I have decided to focus on one month at a time.
My January goals are to develop the following:
- A DRAWING plan
- A FRENCH plan
- A HOME plan
- A MARTIAL ARTS plan
- A MUSIC plan
- A SKATING plan (complete)
- A WRITING plan
Now, I don't think I really did a summary of last year yet, but I'm not sure I have a lot that I completed. I did get a lot of momentum going that I will carry into this year. As I don't do resolutions, but rather choose a word for the year's focus, last year I had chosen THRIVE. I believe I managed to do fairly well despite many things not working out.
I enjoyed parts of my drawing course and will be continuing to learn and improve those skills this year.
French had to be abandoned while I fulfilled two job roles and had so much going on at home. I'm looking forward to getting back to this. It turns out that according to DNA, French is the largest ancestral group in me. Discovering this has brought new importance to it for me.
My bathroom is still under renovation. I was told that the wall I need replaced will be done mid-January, however, that was before the province went into another lockdown, so I'm unsure if it will be delayed. At least the job that was before mine was done. Now, I need to hope that no other emergencies happen before my wall gets done.
Otherwise, I am on the upholstery section of my DIY chaise. This is not something I want to get into beyond this project. It has been a learning experience, but I'm not in love with this type of project.
Martial arts didn't really happen much at all for me last year. This year, I am expanding my skill set by learning some new sword arts and I'm really excited about it.
Last year, I didn't do enough music. Actually, I haven't for several years. Part of that was because I couldn't decide what instrument I wanted to be my primary one. I have decided to focus on guitar since much of the music I want to learn is most naturally played on guitar. I'm not abandoning trumpet, I'm just going to play it a little less than my guitar.
One of the things that was wonderful about last year for me was returning to skating. In fact, I didn't know how much I missed it until I got back to it.
I didn't get to where I wanted to with Sparks, but I discovered important things that I believe will let me complete it this year, so I'm OK with how it turned out.
This year's word is PASSION and nearly all of the things I listed above are things I'm passionate about, so I want to fill my life with things I love for this year. When I can't do something I love, there might be something I can do that helps me improve at those things anyway. For example, maybe I can't skate right now because we're in that awkward phase when there is too much snow, but no ice yet, but I can do exercises that will make me better at skating.
My goals for Round One are to develop the plans listed above. After that, I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing when, but I feel like a slightly dynamic approach is more helpful to me.
Mostly, I’ve been planning for the new year, but I discovered I know Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. It was a recollection under the influence that brought this to light. I also discovered I still suck at drawing, but I’m okay with that. I used to think I had to be good at everything, and I’ve realized that’s just not so. Some friends and I recently hit up a local board game pub. It was a pretty fun night. The first game was Balderdash and I was terrible at it. Because I was the writer in the group, some of my friends thought I should be more embarrassed about it and hide the fact that I don’t spend all my free time learning advanced vocabulary. But I’m not upset about it. Why? Two reasons: 1. I now know what I don’t know. 2. If one takes a close look at the top selling novels on the market, the level of the language used is not the level of many of the words in Balderdash. Not that I’m comparing my own work to those, but audience is what matters in writing. To me, it is far better to e...