new year's resolutions done backwards, aka The Sev Way

[seventhe]

So over my brief microsabbatical I decided on a list of things I want to get done by the end of the year: thus, New Year's Resolutions, in reverse, ie my resolution is to have this done before the new year. See? Get it? It's like I'm clever instead of backwards and wrong!

1. Get Healthy [metric: exercise 3+/wk; lose 10+ lb]
   Content note / Note this: being healthy and losing weight are not always the same thing! Health has a unique meaning to every individual body!
   That being said: for me getting healthy and knocking off weight go hand-in-hand at this point in time. From May-September I ate poorly, rested poorly, drank too much, drowned in stress, and had no time or motivation to work out at all. That plus medication changes has resulted in what is, for my body, unhealthy poundage.
   I miss swimming. I miss yoga. I don't miss running, fuck running, but I miss being able to run I guess? I miss punching my bag. I want to have Korra arms. And I have, quite reasonably, 10-20 lb I could lose before being even close to "danger". (Trust me, I'm a Taurus; we don't diet.)
   This is something I can make happen by 01 Jan 2016.

2. Inhabitable basement [metric: obvious]
   Right now the basement is storage, which is part of what basements are for, but mine opens up to my patio (and grill, and fire chimney) and has a nice little area by the windows where friends could sit and drink wine and grill things. I've two drum sets in my basement and my keyboard, all of which I have been missing desperately. (I miss music! I dream about pianos.) My workout area is functional, but not at all welcoming. My laundry area could use some sprucing.
   Much of the storage is related to the above, which means I just need to sort it and work through it. A good part, however, is my grandmother's stuff. She finally passed away in August (I am not sure I even mentioned it here; I was too broken by it to do so) and I do not mind storing her things forever but need to go through them and decide which way makes sense.
   This is, also, quite doable by 2016, and having those areas back in my life will please me immensely.

3. Shame room --> Craft room [metric: obvious]
   I want to turn my spare bedroom into a crafting room, to house sewing / knitting / beading / anything else I may start doing. Right now it's a shameful repository of clothes-to-be-donated and a few boxes from moving (not original boxes - these were empty boxes that were repacked with "shit i do not want to deal with rn" and hidden).

4. Plan for the greatroom [metric: having an estimate / loan]
   I have plans in my head to redo my entire greatroom, which started with my neverending desire to replace the horribly stained carpet in there and grew into a really, really epic floor plan. I need to get it from my head onto the page, then find a contractor who can give me estimates on time / cost to make it happen. Why not? Houses are investments, and my cafe-bar thing will be incredible.

5. Work-Life Balance [metric: ???]
   I need to prove to myself that I can, in fact, work the kind of job that pushes all of my success buttons without killing myself. The next 3 months will be busy, as always, but not deadly, so it's time to fucking do it. I still don't know how to make a metric for this; maybe I can use success on the other Resolution points, because they won't happen if I continue to use my energy on work.

6. Mental Peace [metric: ???]
   I went back through some journal entries and I've been in a massive depression funk since early 2014. That's too long. It has started to severely affect my health and my job. I need to attack this. I realize depressions don't "go away" but I haven't tried anything really and I at least deserve an effort.

7. Write Again [metric: get some word count] No real comments. I just miss writing.

I stopped there, since there are really only 3 months left in the year, and they will contain not only the major hols of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but also the birth of my newest niece or nephew, so I'm well aware that this is a lot to do in that time frame. (Obviously they won't need to be complete, but I work better with deadlines, even self-imposed ones. Better to not let myself cheat.)

There. Public posting makes it real, right?

Comments

[sathari]

....holy crap that is a lot. I am in awe. And also extremely glad that you did get some rest, because rest and recovery is an important thing to being able to do anything the fuck else.

[seventhe]

It's a lot, because that way even if I only get some accomplished, I'm still accomplished. XD

[sathari]

....okay, I think I literally felt the world wobble as I read this the first time.

Because holy fuck, I have never in life thought about a to-do list that way. The contents of the to-do list always become the minimum standard for me to feel accomplished. HOLY FUCK. I... went away and processed this, and I need to go away and process this some more. Because this is awesome and epic and useful and I thank you!

[novel_machinist]

I think if you can do 2 or 3 of those I'd feel pretty accomplished if I were you.

[seventhe]

Exactly. I don't always have the motivation to work on one specific thing, so having options as to where I put my energy works best. That way I don't go "well I don't wanna sort basement shit" and do nothing; I can move on to something else instead.

[lassarina]

ZEROMUS SURE AS SHIT WANTS THIS ACTION

These are good goals and I cheer you on with them! Let's be old ladies remodeling our houses together; once i get the mortgage fuckery sorted I am so fucking redoing my kitchen omfg.

[seventhe]

LOL WE ARE OLD HOMEOWNERS LET'S DO IT

[lassarina]

WHEN DID WE BECOME OLD LADIES

[thene]

Donate The Stuff. Yeah I know you're not ready, I know you've got more stuff to sort through and donate after this but donate the fucking stuff right now and use the extra space to manoeuvre in so you can donate more stuff.

This shit looks hella hard, but at least a lot of it is stuff that generates energy when you do it? Getting rid of things and making things and moving and not drinking. It all removes friction.

[seventhe]

Yes, that's a good move: it sits just enough out-of-the-way that I only think about it when I don't have TIME to pack it into boxes and drive it to Goodwill. I need to just get it out of there and open up that breathing room.

[sathari]

May I throw out another option, as someone else dealing with a late relative's possessions? Storage units. They are an awesome place both for stuff you want to keep but don't have room for and for stuff that you need to sort through; it means being able to make decisions about that stuff with less immediate-personal-space pressure. (This has worked really well for me over the last year; you and I may be different enough in how we process that it would be the opposite of helpful for you, see above on our differing experiences of to-do lists.)

[ser_pounce_alot]

kind of a weird thing to rec you, but i've been doing the free 10 day trial of headspace, this mindfulness/meditation app. i'm wary of paying for anything mostly because i'm a miser, but this was free to try, and i have to say, i've done meditation before and i still really, really like it. i look forward to these 10 minutes when i can not want to violently stab everyone riding on the train with me (to be fair, moving will cut out a good chunk of my hell commute every day, and that will probably make me want to strangle people less, too). if you want to check it out, the first 10 days are free and then you can decide if you want to pay for more months/years or if you want to torrent things because the guy is like a gagillionaire already.

other than the possibly unhelpful rec, I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU and am cheering you on in whatever way possible, with booze. and boobs.