Annual Look Back and Look Forward

[baronessekat]

2024 To-Do List

My phrase for 2024 is “Recommit with kindness”. Now that I have reclaimed (my 2023 word) the part of my life that I needed in order to take care of myself better – got away from the toxic job that was killing me – literally (my hematologist said that the stress hormones in my blood were through the roof), I can now, hopefully, focus on the other things I need to do to better take care of myself. But I am not going to listen to the Brain Weasels if something sets me back or I fail. I will be kind to myself.
* I tried. I was kinder to myself in many ways, but I am not sure how well I stuck to this particular phrase overall

HEALTH: Re-committing to getting healthy with the new year. Eat healthier, exercise more, drink more water, hopefully lose weight.

*Kinda. What weight I lost this year was all due to getting a severe stomach flu over Christmas. However, I got in with a new neurologist that has been working with me to find out causes of things. He has me come in every 3 months for a shot of Ajovy and OMG! Rather than being hit by a migraine at least once a week, I have had TWO in 9 months. We are now working on examining some odd bloodwork numbers. But I am glad I finally asked for a referral. Additionally, I asked for a different anti-depressant and that change has removed my hand tremor and intermittent body shakes – turns out it was a mild case of serotonin syndrome that no one ever addressed, just claiming ‘that’s a standard side effect’.

Hobbies and Activities (not exercise or SCA related): I am still hoping to break my tendency to sit in my chair in front of the TV playing stupid games on my phone. Therefore, my goal is to do more of the following:

1. Reading: I really like doing reading challenges and have picked many for 2024 to do. I am upping my goal to 80 books this year (it’s been 75 in the past) as for the last several years I have gone past 75. Though it would be nice to hit 100 sometime.
*Finished 95! I DNF’d 10. I also finished 20 short stories.
2. Photos: Going to try again. But ONLY if it makes me happy.
Yeah, that just did not happen. I think I took only 30 photos for photo-a-day challenges all year. It stopped being fun and was too much a self-imposed obligation, so I stopped.

3. Creativity: I am recommitting to do something creative every month. I am running an advent ornament exchange this year and I have plans for my contribution. But I want to do something creative at least once a month – painting, embroidery, crochet, something.
*I did some creative stuff this year. I got my ornaments done, did a SCA artisan gift exchange and did a small handful of mini art pieces in a tiny art journal. But I am also counting the fact that I have submitted art to a gallery 9 of the 12 months. I have even sold 2 pieces.

SCA:

1. Attend some more events. I miss people, but finances and political things may prevent this from happing. We shall see how 2024 goes.
2. Tackle the backlog scroll list.
3. Scroll Cases – I have too much cardboard in my garage that needs to be converted into cases
4. Do what I can to help my students achieve their SCA goals and dreams.

* yeah – no. I think I attended maybe 4 events including Pennsic. And Pennsic was a bust for me, having no joy and ended up leaving early as I just ran out of all cope I might have had.. I got none of my backlogs done other than give one back for someone else to do. Scroll cases did not happen other than the accumulation of even more cardboard in my garage. Maybe the only thing I did was encourage my one student to go Pennsic Mayoral Intern (which she got)

House: There are things I want to do to reclaim my space – declutter, paint some of the rooms, recover chairs for the kitchen and dining room, etc. I do think it will help my mental space to get my physical space in order.

*Thanks to needing to replace the furnace this year, I was able to clean out a swath of stuff in the basement with the help of friends. But that was all I got done.

Ashley Boxes: They make me and others happy. I have already started getting items.

*I put out a call on Facebook for nominations as I had been so self-focused this year that I did not spend as much time watching for friends who needed a boost (and had not already received a box in past years). Two people received boxes, and one posted their journey on FB – she appeared to really like what she received.

Social time: I would like to either change one of the monthly family Zoom gatherings to in-person dining out OR add a monthly family food night to the calendar. I’m also thinking at least once a quarter hosing physical game day at the Doma. Others enjoy it too. Hosting people to the Doma also helps me keep it cleaner and less cluttered.

*Did not change any of the zooms to in-person. In fact ended up not doing all the family zooms scheduled. But I hosted guests for the Solar Eclipse in April (even if Mother Nature kept us from seeing the corona), a straighten and re-sort the Pennsic trailer day, and a couple chosen family food and fun days at the Doma. One of the hits to my feeling connected to the world is that I fell to a hacking scam and lost my Facebook account in July. Thanks to my sister, I did not lose all of my photos, but I have lost all the memories from FB. I felt suddenly very alone for a little while.

2025 To-Do List

My words for 2025 are “Patience and Perseverance”. This comes from a quote by Abigail Adams: “Great difficulties may be surmounted by patience and perseverance.”

Health: Re-committing (again) to getting healthy with the new year. Going to try to get some more exercise in, not eat out as much and lose weight. On top of that, I commit to continuing to do what I have to do with my medical providers to take care of me.

Finance: I want to do better about not spending for spending sake. Actually work to build a savings. To that end, I will be putting away any cash that comes my way into a savings envelope system. I also want to stop eating out just because I don’t feel like cooking or “don’t want what I brought for lunch”. I’ve seen a couple influencers on TikTok doing “eat my pantry” challenges and think that I want to do a modified version of it. Rather than go for as long as I can without grocery shopping, I want to commit to at least two weeks a month eating what I have in the house (pantry or freezer). This may mean bringing back “prep for the week Sundays”. But this means shopping for me will be more reduced and mindful.

Hobbies and Activities (not exercise or SCA related): I am still hoping to stop my tendency to sit in my chair in front of the TV doom-scrolling or playing stupid games on my phone. Therefore, my goal is to do more of the following:

1. Reading: I really like doing reading challenges and have picked 5 to do in 2025 with the plan to complete at least 2. I am keeping my goal to 80 books this year as it’s a realistic goal for me, but I still have dreams of breaking 100 some year.
2. Creativity: I have come to realize I NEED to be creative in some way. I also have a LOT of crafting and art supplies that I have bought in past years with grand ideas and no follow-through. So, I am going to focus on doing something creative at least once a month – painting, embroidery, crochet, something. I am running an advent ornament exchange again this year and I have ideas for my contribution.

SCA:

1. Attend some more events. I miss people, but finances and political things may prevent this from happing. We shall see how 2025 goes.
2. Tackle the backlog scroll list. I have one that I MUST get done by May.
3. Scroll Cases – I have too much cardboard in my garage that needs to be converted into cases. If I can at least get the boxes cut down to size I can always see if there is anyone I can pass them to for making the final case.
4. Do what I can to help my students achieve their SCA goals and dreams.

House: There are things I want to do to reclaim my space. I am going to try to hold myself to go through the MOUNTAINS of clothes I have and weed out what stays, what gets donated and what just goes away. I’d like to work on maybe painting the upstairs hallway and get the high-boy dresser out of the basement to get the dead console tv out of the family room and away. Additionally, the box hoard in the garage needs to be addressed.

Ashley Boxes: They make me and others happy. Hopefully I can be more aware of who needs a boost.

Social time: I want to continue to have people over for chosen family time. Game time, food time, asking for help to clean the basement/garage. Maybe grab a friend and wander the zoo or the Falls.