Each year between Samhain (The Celtic New Year) and New Year’s Eve, I make a list of goals for the next year.  I think of it has my trial period between the old and new year. A time of reflection.

The list  is mix of practical and intangible items.  No matter how I craft the list, I have never managed to accomplish everything on it. This past year I came close and if it hadn’t been for my sewing machine dying I might have made it. Ok, Ok, there still would have been more than one item left on the list. Blaming the accident might seem reasonable, but that would be a lie.

The true reason that I didn’t complete the list that I didn’t make any sort of plan to do so. I just kept hoping, as foolish as it was, that the universe would grant me the time and motivation to follow thru; as always the cosmos doesn’t give us anything we can obtain for ourselves. Well, except for the cosmic 2×4.

The creation of this year’s list has been delayed not due this site; it was pushed back because I was letting my life lead me instead of the other way around. The days have been zooming past me and I have been lost in all the haze.  It isn’t hard to do when balancing teaching, writing and just being a functioning human being in today’s world. And that’s where I know I made a mistake; trying to do everything I thought needed to be done instead of actually taking time to think about whether I really needed to be the one doing it.  Delegation has never been one of my strong suits.

In contemplating this year’s list I decided that no item from the previous list would make this new one.  (Besides, the kitty boys knocked the old list off the bulletin board and it hasn’t been seen since.) The new list also needs to incorporate things which can be realistically accomplished in the next year.

Here is the list so far.

1. Finish my first novel

2. Finish the dresses for Emma and myself

3. Edit my collection of poetry

4. Put money away in savings each month

5. Replace the spare tire on my car

6. Reduce storage by half

7. Become healthier through regular exercise/doctor visits/regular sanity breaks

8. Take a trip to some place I have never been outside the state of Florida.

9. Experiment once a month with a new gluten free recipe.

There aren’t many intangible things on the list. Everything thus far is something that I can reasonable accomplish in twelve months. Some I have already started on like storage.

One thing I have learned from years of writing these lists is that I have to be reasonable. None of my lists have ever included specific weight lost goals; normally they include something about exercising more.  I have learned can happen with weight.  Last fall, I lost almost twenty pounds only to gain it back after my accident.  Setting myself up for failure seems like a pretty foolish idea.  Getting healthier; something that I was able to do in the last year and continuing that in the coming year is more than reasonable, it is practical.

Adventures don’t need to filled with risk, sometimes just learning to live everyday a little better is the most challenging adventure.