Me On A Monday - January 17th

 

Good Morning.  It has been very cold here in the last 4-5 days.  Saturday we woke to -22 & -31 with the wind chill.  Needless to say, the treadmill has been called into play!

Currently Reading: I just finished The Midnight Library. It was a most interesting read, lots to think about after the last page was read.  

I've also read a lot of online articles, especially around the psychology of decluttering & creating comforts of home.  Some of this interest was sparked by Sandie Cottee's F/B link about the "Silent To Do's" (huge impact) & Alexa's recent blog post about Anese Cavanaugh's "tolerances"(another big impact).  Then my article reading sparked several long discussions with Mr Man about our home. Which sparked a surge of successful decluttering efforts. There's more to do, but both of us have a new emotional & mental attitude about dealing with home tolerances & the silent to do's.

Currently Feeling: I'm using a veterinary term used for indoor cats, Captivity Stress.  In Ontario we are once again in a form of pandemic lockdown/restrictions until 26th of January. Although the powers to be, are already telling us, not to expect a re-opening on the 26th ... it will be stages of who & what can have more people present.  Schools other than universities are set to return to in-class learning today, unless the forecast snow storm puts that on hold.

Currently there is no indoor dining, shops are at 50% capacity, gyms, theatres, fitness classes all closed.  Church weddings & funerals can only have a maximum of 10 people, social gatherings can only have 6 indoors, 10 outdoors.  Yes captivity stress has settled in for the foreseeable future ...

Currently Working On: My outline for 2022's One Little Word (OLW).  If you are hoping to read about the official methods & choice of one word for the year, please read no further ... this year I've gone rogue (& just saying that makes me feel rather adventurous).  Last year I did not settle on any OLW & being wordless for a year felt quite the rebellious move. In 2020 I tried to use Nourish. I had some success, but we really didn't dance much together throughout the year, which made me feel rather a failure.

So to OLW 2022. Starting back in later October/early November, I kept having a particular phrase about Change show up in my F/B feeds, my online feeds & the once all too many email notifications.  The Three C's of Life: choices, chances, change.  Along with the Universe's notification about change, I kept hearing in conversations & reading words that would ping a feeling in me when looking to change things.  Words like, reduce, restore, revisit, redefine, renew, recover, reclaim, respond, resistant, ... you see where this is going ... then the thought occurred to me, RE is my OLW. I wouldn't just settle on one, (reduce for a whole year?!?!). I decided on breaking down my OLW need into chunks of time & I settled on quarterly OLW.  My first quarter, January to March, committed word is Reduce; reduce clutter which I hope reduces anxiety which will  reduce weight because I'll reduce the amount of comfort mindless eating.  I am also reducing pressure on myself to do it all. The next quarter's OLW could be Restore or Recover, as we come out of winter lockdown. And in the 3rd quarter as weather improves, & most importantly, COVID numbers are dropping to management levels, I'll want to revisit, renew or reclaim my sense of freedom & adventure.   I have lots of RE words to play with;   Reduce; revisit; restore; renew, resistant, redirect, repair, resolve, relax, redo, review, refresh, release, reconciliation, remember, rekindle, rediscover, rebuild, readjust, rejoin, reflect, respect.

I was very interested to see that a few of you are also using RE words this year for your OLW. 

And I'll leave you with this thought ... "happiness lies in the joy of achievement & the thrill of creative effort."  Franklin D. Rosevelt