Misleading title because its actually the same ole me and today I’m on the grumpier side because of sleep deprivation but in an attempt to work on my goals/resolutions/life improvements I wanted to show up here for myself. I love the beginning of the year because I like to review the prior year and get some clarity on what I want for myself and my family in the upcoming year. Welp its off to a rocky start with covid & croup over the holidays and then some sleep regression stuff with 1 kid who shall not be named but the show must go on. So here’s my current resolution wishlist for the year:

• Less phone time(!!!): Every single day I fall victim to the mindless scrolling on my phone and I absolutely loathe the way it makes me feel. I’m still trying to figure out how to reduce the usage- perhaps I need to just delete certain apps off my phone for part of the day? If you have any tips on this, please send them my way. I long to give my kids the tech-free childhood I had and I hate that they constantly see me with my phone in hand. SOS
• Stop caring about what other people think: I tend to get caught up in rehashing conversations had, social blunders I feel I may have made, etc and I think reminding myself that NOBODY CARES and they’re too busy focusing on themselves helps keep me in check. Also will this matter in 1 day/week/year? No? Then let’s move on.
• Be my authentic self no matter the occasion/environment: Being yourself is important, especially if you want to attract friends who love you for you. But also, I want my kids to be confident and I think a good way to show/model confidence is by being true to yourself regardless of the setting.
• Minimize food waste: I love to cook and while I enjoy making new recipes multiple times a week, I’d like to be better at having a “let’s see what we can make from the contents in the fridge” night or two. I’m often having to toss out food and think I could improve upon getting creative with what I have both in the fridge & freezer.
• Letting my kids be themselves: I’d like to be better at honoring their little personalities more than (at times) being at odds with them. More celebrating our differences and less nitpicking 🙂
• Become a writer(!): this last one feels lofty but I’d love to develop a writing side hustle, even if it pays peanuts. I’ve loved writing for as long as I can remember and I’d love to be able to do it while I’m primarily at home right now with the kids. They say if you want something, put it into the universe right? Okay universe, there it is.

That’s more or less the current list and I’m sure I’ll be modifying it in the weeks to come. I’d love to hear from my one reader (LOL), what are your resolutions?

We have 3 more nights left in our place before we move about 10 miles down the road and I’m not feeling very prepared. So naturally I’m hopping on here to chat about it while the sweat on my husband’s brow continues to accumulate. (You’re doing great sweetie!) Part of the reason I’m feeling ill-prepared is my lack of focus. Not too long ago, I had 9 months where I reminded people that I was a dingbat due to pregnancy brain. What is my excuse now? I’ll head to the kitchen intending to pack up some dishes and 20 minutes later I’m knuckles deep in a new cookie recipe I had to try at that very moment. I miss my old organized, on-top-of-things self but at least this version of me will be able to instruct my new neighbors on how to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie, right? I must be going now as I have another box to pack up that my engineer husband will likely “audit”. And by that I mean, I’ll be packing up my box, minding my own business and I begin hearing some heavy breathing over my shoulder. I pause, see my husband eyeing my work and then he’ll give it the shake test, making sure the contents of said box are secure. This is the audit. Okay now I really need to go but below is a picture of the cutest moving helper in town!

*Note: post not sponsored by U-haul but I wish it was cause I love me some freebies.

In order to get my creative juices flowing and maybe add some inspiration to my life, I started reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic. This is my second time reading it and I know it’s one of those staple books I’ll keep on hand forever because it has so much good info/advice/tips inside. I specifically wanted to start writing again because it brings me joy and I think blogs are fun, however there are SO many times I’ve set out to create a blog and commit to regular posts but end up writing about one post every 6 months to a year.

So this is typically my cycle: You know what? I’m going to start a blog › Tells friends about said future blog (like get ready to read it friends, it will be super interesting + engaging) › Start looking at other blogs for inspiration. Wow these blogs are good. Great content, visually pleasing. Umm why am I creating a blog again? › Creates blog that feels lackluster and plain but oh well it’s going to have incredible content › “Content” is composed of 2 posts over the span of 1 year (LOL!)

Anyway, to bring it back to the book, Gilbert makes some great points about creative living and discovering what hidden treasures lie within us. This entails following our curiosity which can result in Big Magic. Some of my favorite highlights:

• Originality: yes everything has pretty much been done before but it hasn’t been done by YOU! You have a unique/authentic take/voice on whatever you’d like to share so add your hat to the game (is that the saying?)
• Rejection: she is so candid about acquiring rejection letters from various publications yet she persisted in her writing because she loved it and couldn’t imagine not living a creative life. AKA let rejection be a learning process. Learn from it, grow from it.
• Perfectionism: Gilbert mentions how many perfectionists think their end product is going to be crappy so they just scrap plans of even creating the product in the first place. Perfectionism is such a road block for many of us and it could really suck the fun out of the creative process.
• Nobody cares: Possibly my favorite point, Gilbert talks about the fact that so many people are so consumed with their own lives, they don’t really care or think about you. So if you want to create, do so fearlessly because nobody is watching and nobody cares!

So what was my point again? Ah yes, going to try to take Gilbert’s advice and allow curiosity to be my guide in this little writing journey of mine instead of letting fear or perfectionism or comparison to get in the way. Nobody’s reading this anyway, right?