Wow... so, 2023 eh? It's been a minute since I've been here, hasn't it? Yeah, well.... get over it.
There's quite a bit that's been rolling around in my head that I wanted to write about today. I'm not quite sure yet whether this will all go into one blog, or if I will break it into two separate posts. I'm not even sure I will write about all of it here. I suppose it will depend on how much my brain vomits out through my fingertips as I sit here and contemplate all these ideas swirling in my noggin' here.
2022 closed out on an unexpected but pleasant note. Our power went out at around 9:00am due to a vehicle accident that took down a power pole. I spent the daylight hours going through my kitchen cupboards; removing items no longer wanted, discarding expired items, and then reorganizing and rearranging everything. There is still a little bit left to do in that area, but I'm waiting on some items to arrive to make sure it will all fit how I want it to. The rest of the daylight hours I spent with my blanket and my book until I realized that food was probably something that should happen. After taking my daughter to get something to eat, browsing the store to waste time, and running into some friends I dropped her off at her boyfriend's house. I came home to a dark house with the power still very much out. So, I lit a shit-ton of candles, opened a bottle of wine, grabbed a glass and my book, and settled in on the couch under my blanket for a couple of hours. Eventually I got up and grabbed my tarot cards to do a new year's reading, which was direct but positive. The power came back on around 9:00/9:30pm, but I didn't bother going and turning the lights back on. I was quite content with where I was. After the tarot reading I returned to my book. It was a pleasantly quiet, calm way to say goodbye to 2022 and enter 2023.
It was also a brilliant entrance into the theme I chose to focus on for this year, which is hygge. For those of you who are unfamiliar:
It's a feeling that pulls at me, so I want to embrace it. I want to strive for it. So, it's what I'm going to have be my over-arching theme be.
This is also the time when we're all supposed to be making all of our grand New Year Resolutions, right? All of the good-for-us things that we are going to do this year that will change us for the better. Mmm-hmm
We all know that new year resolutions are just glorified to-do lists for like the first two weeks of January. Then they just become these big gapping black holes that cause us shame and self-loathing for the rest of the year, and then on the 1st of the next year we go "This is the year it happens! This is going to be my year!" Don't do that. Shit like 2020 happens when you do that. I mean, you don't have to think I'm talking from personal experience buuuuttt…
Over the past few years I've moved away from resolutions and more towards just trying to set more realistic goals. So instead of the big brother who you have the high expectations for (resolutions), it's the younger sibling who you still expect to do well, but you've learned a little bit from your previous experience in parenting (goals). You know- instead of boiling the binky because it touched the floor you just mopped for half a second, you stick it in your mouth and then plop it back in theirs.
Yeah, that hasn't been working all that great for me either. I kind of suck at this. LOL The scary part is- I have raised two kids to adulthood.
I'm pretty sure I've discussed this before, but I've come to realize that setting goals (or resolutions) for myself is basically like telling myself "You Have To". So I promptly turn around and do exactly NOT that. I don't know what my problem is. I have issues with authority. I don't know what to tell ya.
Then I came across this nugget yesterday while scrolling through Facebook, and bells and whistles started ringing through my head. Okay, some of that may have been from my meds being adjusted, and the fact that I hadn't eaten all day- but we aren't here to discuss that today.
Look- I don't have to DO anything. I just have to BE. And quite frankly, all of the doing has just been exhausting. I like the idea of a year where I can just take the time off from all of that trying to do, and simply just be. It's no longer the older sibling or the younger sibling. It's pretty much just a bunch of free range chickens out doing their own thing and living their best life. Sounds pretty damn nice to me. It also sounds like it fits right nicely into my whole hygge theme.
So there you have it. My plan for 2023: Hygge and free range chickens.
