New Year 2018
[Illustration: Brian Wildsmith]
Happy New Year!
“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”
Neil Gaiman
I like the changing of the years. I don't love big parties or getting drunk, but I do love the feeling of a fresh start. Of course, a fresh start can come any minute of any day of any year. But there's something about January 1st that makes me want to think ahead and plan and make changes. A sense of renewal.
A couple of weeks ago I jotted down some words that I wanted 2018 to encapsulate:
- Mindful
- Nature
- Create
- Dance
- Tidy
...and most inspirationally of all... - Vegetables
Being mindful doesn't exactly come naturally to me. My brain is pretty much always whirring at 100mph and what's more, often I enjoy getting lost in there. But it isn't always beneficial to me in the long run. Happily, I find I'm much more able to be mindful when I'm in nature, so teaming my first two 'words for 2018' together makes a lot of sense. Being in nature makes me feel calm, which slows down my brain, which makes me more mindful.
Being a writer I 'create' quite a lot. But I don't always feel like it. It's easy to get bogged down and not feel very creative. So I'd like to feel a bit more playfully creative. And not just in writing. I love art, theatre, music... basically taking part in and consuming all kinds of arts. Including dancing. I LOVE dancing. But I don't do it. My energy levels are precarious to say the least and dancing is very physically intense. This is also why I haven't done any aerial fitness for a while. But I'd love to get to a place where I can manage my energy and routine well enough to incorporate some dancing. Maybe a class every other week. Or even once a month, as a treat.
The 'vegetables' is because I basically live off a diet of cheese and the 'tidy' is because there's quite a clear divide in the bedroom I share with my boyfriend as in one side is tidy and the other is mine. I guess these are just mundane habits I'd like to form. The other words sound more fun. (Although I do actually find forming new habits quite fun... so maybe 'VEGETABLES' will end up being my spark of inspiration for 2018 after all.)
So those are my hopes and goals for 2018, vague and nebulous as they are. And all the things Nail Gaiman said up top, too. I look at that quote every new year and it makes me feel sparkly inside.
I'll have another post up next Monday, as usual. True Crime Podcasts (Part 2)!
I hope you all have a wonderful 2018.
