Personal observations, photos and other detritus of my life.
The blog has a brand-new theme. Simple, minimalist, focusing on content over clutter. My goals for my blog are also my goals for my life. I hope you like it.
To help you find good stuff to read, I’ve added a page of my favorite essays and tags to the sidebar. If you have the time, stay and browse a while.
I occasionally get books from publishers and authors to review. I have added a virtual library of the most interesting of these books and my reviews of them to the sidebar. Check it out.
“Happy Birthday” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So, I have a birthday coming up. It’s not a big birthday; the number doesn’t end in a 0 or a 5. But it is a milestone for me. I have been thinking about this particular birthday, and what I realize is that I don’t have the luxury of using “being young” as an excuse anymore. As in: “I have plenty of time; I’m still young.” (Not that I think I’m old either — there is a middle ground.)
I have been thinking about how I want the year ahead to go and I how want my life ahead to go. And I realized that there are some changes I’d like to make. My priorities have definitely shifted over the years, but now I want to be more mindful how about I spend my days. I want to spend more time doing those things that are important to me, and spend less time just wasting time.
I also want to take care of myself better, mentally and physically. That probably entails spending less time on the computer. I have a four-year-old, which means the free hours in my day are already limited, and I want to be conscious about how I use them.
My posting to this blog is already pretty irregular, despite all my best efforts. With these changes coming up, I could go one of two ways. I could post here even less regularly, as I get involved in other long-term projects and get off the computer more. Or I could actually end up posting more, as I document what I’m doing and share my thoughts. I do know this about myself: When I am learning or trying something new, I really need to document it, and a blog is still the best tool I’ve found for doing that.
If I do end up posting more, I will likely be thinking and writing about subjects like simplifying, getting organized and finding balance. I might post more about writing itself, as well as my thoughts about what I’m reading and how it is impacting me (rather than straight-up book reviews, which I post erratically over here).
We’ll see how it goes. It’s very likely that things will get more interesting around here, and if so, I will take that as a sign that the changes I am trying to make are good ones and that they’re working. I hope that if I do post something that catches your interest and you’d like to hear more about it, you will leave a comment to tell me so. That may inspire me to write about subjects I had never even considered tackling.
Also, thanks for reading.
Recently, I’ve been trying to simplify my life in areas where I can, in an attempt to minimize anxiety and stress while encouraging clarity and creativity. One simplification project has been to minimize my wardrobe. I’ve been working on this for at least 6 months. I now have it down to a core wardrobe of 15 pieces that I change out twice per year, when the weather changes, plus a set of 15 investment pieces that I use all year long. I am easily meeting the Project 33 requirements of wearing only 33 pieces for 3 months (although I don’t count jewelry toward the total because all my jewelry are either gifts or sentimental).
The nice thing about having fewer clothes is that you can buy a higher quality of clothing, so it looks better and will actually last longer, saving money in the long run. But you have to make sure that everything goes together and that you really like everything you own or it gets tiresome. The key is to wear mostly a limited set of neutral colors, with a small number of accent colors that you really love; I selected colors from my jewelry. It also helps to reserve a few pieces outside the core wardrobe just for fun or special occasions.
Read more about getting started | Project 333.
I’m thinking about joining Amazon Prime. I usually have to think about things for a long time before I do them, especially if any amount of money is involved. I got a Kindle for Christmas, and I think it would be nice to have access to their lending library. I also want to check out their movie streaming options. You get the first month free, so I don’t know why I’m thinking about this for so long. Maybe because I know that once you’re in, you can never go back.
People who join Amazon Prime say that they stop having to think about shopping. Whatever they want, they just go find it on Amazon and order it. That’s because shipping costs are no longer a factor, and you’ll get your stuff in two days. Without worrying about shipping, it doesn’t seem that big a deal to order something that only costs $5, especially if the alternative is an annoying trip to a big-box store or searching for just that one thing you need.
It seems that Amazon is on the track to dominate many major industries, including book publishing and selling, perhaps even all of retail. Like Google, they are positioning themselves to take over the world. When Amazon and Google become huge and there is literally nothing left, what will happen next? I see three possible futures:
a) Corporate war to end all wars (the apocalyptic scenario)
b) Hostile takeover (the depressing dystopia scenario)
c) Corporate merger (the blissful utopia scenario)
Anyway, I thought this piece on Amazon Prime was a fun read: The Cult of Amazon Prime.
Anybody got any goals for the New Year? Here are some of mine:
The problem that we’re wrestling with, as a culture, is that the old ways don’t work anymore. Capitalism doesn’t work anymore, not in the old, unfettered, limitless growth way we think of it. Many jobs, many industries are going away. We need to rewrite the rules, rebuild the systems. But we seem stymied, for some reason I can’t fathom. We can’t seem to think outside the box we’ve put ourselves in. I believe in human creativity, ingenuity, innovation, but for now it seems to have fled. So we indulge in doom and gloom, in bemoaning our past and fearing our future, without realizing that now we have the opportunity to build something great. It’s in our hands. Ours alone.
I have suffered from insomnia for the last year, and I mean suffered. When I can’t sleep, I literally feel like a zombie. I’m just shuffling through the day, hoping to make it through, but not having a positive impact on anyone around me, not really enjoying being alive. From sleep flows everything.
I’ve had to rethink my daily priorities as a result, because above all, I want to be enjoying my life. I want to be truly engaging with it and with everyone I meet. I don’t think just getting by day to day is cutting it anymore.
So here are my personal priorities in order of importance:
Well, I’m sure there are some items between numbers 4 and 5.
I did leave family off this list, even though they are often my number-one priority. That’s because this list reflects me taking care of myself, which I have to do in order to be able to take care of my family. It’s now become a cliche, but it’s true that you have to put the oxygen mask yourself before you can put it on your loved one.
I’ve been reading a book called The Happiness Project for my book club, and while at first I was skeptical, I have been inspired by some of the ideas in the book. Striving for personal happiness is a laudable goal. The author of the book set a goal to write a novel in a month, not for possible publication, but just for herself, just to do it. I think I’m going to emulate her. I know next month is National Novel Writing Month, but I’m not sure how I’m going to take care of a toddler and write a novel at the same time, especially a toddler who no longer naps. I may have to put this project on hold until the new year, when he goes to preschool. But I do want to see if I can do it.
Over the years, I’ve lost the ability to be creative just for the joy of it, to write just for fun. When we’re kids, we’re all kinds of creative all day long, and not because we expect to get paid or get famous. We just love to do it. I want to recapture that feeling.
Hello, nice to meet you!
I did not expect to see an octopus in the mountains!
