For every page there is a turn . . .

I've had this blog for the past 8 years and been fairly diligent with it. It started out as a class assignment and I just kept it going for no particular reason than my own amusement. I know no one reads this and I'm perfectly happy with that. It's just a spot to occasionally put down my thoughts without worrying about who might find this. If someone does stumble along this, well, there isn't really anything all that interesting on here. I think it might be time to move on though. Having this blog prevents me from journaling in an old fashioned notebook and I miss using a pen to do so. It's definitely more convenient to type out my words as there are times when my hand can't keep up with my brain but it's slightly less satisfying and I'm trying to move on from always convenient to more mindful. I still need to consider this some more though. For anyone, who does see this in the mean time, I hope you have a great day cause that's all I've got for now.

Stuff and nonsense

Despite the date being a day late, it is just after midnight for the date to change to the next day but I have not slept for the night so this post is not late! Also, for once, I have a topic that I want to discuss.

I’d like to say that I’m like any other person who likes their stuff but it’s not completely true. I do like stuff and I like collecting stuff but at the same time I could honestly leave behind like 75% of my possessions. I would feel sad about not having those items but for the most part, it wouldn’t take me long to simply move on without them. There are certain items that I would have a really hard time letting them go but the majority of it wouldn’t be a problem to me.

I know that stuff is simply stuff. It’s great to have while I’m here but I can’t take it with me in the end so I try not to get worked up over things too much. Most of it can be replaced. What I do have must have meaning for me. It has to have a memory or function, preferably both. I don’t want something just for it to sit in a dark box for me to never see it, so every few months, I purge things. If I don’t have use for it, I find a new home for it. Preferences change so things around me must be changed to reflect that.

My decorating style is a reflection of this as I lean towards simple, clean designs. I don’t like feeling cluttered. I like space and organization. Having too much stuff around makes me feel chaotic and out of control. To me, it feels like stuff and nonsense! That is all!

Madd for March

It's March! I can hardly believe it! This is just a few days late and going to be another update.

February blew by in a breeze. It's the shortest month of the year but I don't think any of us expected it to go by that fast. InCoWriMo is finished and I completed my version of it by writing at least 2 letters a week. In total it was 10 letters and I have already received 2 replies. Next year I'm doing it the right way and will write a letter everyday.

I came up with the idea of a reflection journal. My plan is that there will be an overall theme for the year that I want to focus on and then for each month there will be a theme that I need to work on as a person that will fit in the year's overall focus. I'm going to figure out at least 3 things on how to work on that subject and then journal a bit about why it's important for me to work on this particular topic., I'm going write a bit whether I feel if I fulfilled those 3 points too. I was kind of already doing this since the beginning of the year in my mind so I figured it was about time I simply put it down on paper. I'm just glad that I finally figured out a use for the Tototo notebook and pet set the hubby had given me so long ago.

I'm not sure if I'm going to have a big project for March yet. I still have a tiny bit of time to figure it out.

2018 so far . . .

Once again, I am a few days late with this post but at least it's better than a whole week late like last time though so I've made some progress, which is actually what this post is going to be about, so it all comes around full circle. 

It's been going well so far. Last month was a month of rest and reset. 2017 was a super busy year and I wore myself into the ground and I definitely needed some time to let my body basically heal up. This month has been a working progress on what I want to happen for 2018. I got my Chic Sparrow notebook and I absolutely love it. It's been a huge help with keeping me organized and focused with what needs to be done when I'm out of the house. 

I've been able to finish up a few small projects. I have also added new projects. I got a book about mindfulness and I have a goal to do at least 1 thing from that book a week. I have already finished reading 4 books and I've started reading my 5th book. I'm super excited and proud of myself that I'm already a fourth of a way through my goal for the year and it's only the 2nd month into this year. I'm really hoping that I won't lost momentum and will keep with it so that I might up my goal if I finish a decent amount of time before the year ends. I've already finished a small crochet project along with a large crochet project. I now have no excuses to not be working on my hubby's Mega Man blanket. I really hope that I can at least made good progress on it this and next month. I have even watched a few movies though I have not watched any new movies for my movie challenge. I've not been doing any learning last month or this month, which is really bad on my end but I'm hoping to change that next month. This month is a bit busy with InCoWriMo. This month I have been very excited to say that I have been taking some good Me Time with playing Mass Effect 3. I need to work on being social a bit more though as I have yet to contact any family for the past few weeks. 

There's still time though and with my planners and journals I definitely notice that I'm way more mindful of time and how I'm spending it. I don't feel as overwhelmed about things as I'm more aware of what needs to happen and how I need to make other things happen. I think I was feeling the same way back in 2017 after doing the planning and journaling for the last half of the year and just overestimated how much I thought I could handle. I'm super proud that I did everything but I'm not thrilled that it was at the cost of my health and how instead of jumping into the newness of 2018 I had to still rest up. It's a lesson learned, for now anyway until the next update. 

In case of writing to do . . .

Once again, I'm almost a week late with this blog post. On the plus side, I'm just about caught up on everything and doing my best to ensure that I'm not pushing myself too hard so there is progress.

I have added a new project to my never ending list to bust boredom and expand my horizons. I found InCoWriMo, which is International Correspondence Writing Month. They even have a list of addresses for people who are participating and I'm planning on joining in since back a few months ago I had expressed interest in doing something of this like. I unfortunately missed the actual start of this project but I don't want to miss out on all the fun so I'm putting my own twist on things. Instead of a handwritten letter everyday for the month of February, I'm simply going to do just a letter a week. It's a bit of a more doable goal for me. I have picked 3 international addresses to write and 1 here in the US. I'm hoping this will work out in the long run!

Mindful Time

Oh, I'm a week or so late with this one. I have been using that time as wisely as I am able to, trying to catch up with work. It has been marginally successful but obviously, I'm still not done. I will admit that playing catch up already in just the first few weeks into 2018 has me a bit worried and I'm hoping it won't be a trend that repeats itself too much or be a sign of bad foreshadowing for this year 2018. I'm determined to be positive for the time being though and I'm going with the idea that I'm simply finishing up 2017 karma. Moving into 2018, I have given myself a challenge for this entire year.

I had seen a review on youtube for A Book that Takes its Time, an Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness created by Flow magazine.

It's supposed to help me be present in the moment and get my creativity to flow and enjoy the little things in life. I thought it would be fun to give it a try and my goal is to read and do an activity from the book at least once a week. It has articles to read, recipes to try, journal cards and small notebooks to fill and other such different things to do.

I'll see how it works out and hopefully, I'll enjoy the journey of the book. It's a pretty trendy thing to do a word of the year and I'm thinking my word of the year might be mindfulness.

Out of 2017 and into the New Year

I was doing so good for a long while about keeping this updated within a day or two at most and this last month was just a fail on more levels than not posting to this blog. The end of year stress got to me.

I caught a stomach bug and I have seriously never been that sick in my entire life in just one night. I had to call out of work the next day, which almost turned into a really bad situation. It took a week to recover and then right on Christmas Day, I was sick again with a very bad cold, which took another week to recover. Having to work in a warehouse, in which the temperature inside is barely tolerable compared to the temperature outside does not help speed up recovery. Any progress on anything was completely halted as I barely had enough energy to enjoy the holiday.

It's 2018 now though so it's a good time to start anew. This month of January will be used as a catch up and recovery and refresh month. I need to get caught up with last month's stuff before I can move onto the current month stuff. I also need to take my time doing so to make sure my body is completely recovered so that it doesn't relapse twice again. The last step is just getting ready for this year and making sure plans are in place to continue to make progress on things around me and on myself.

So, here's to a new year and new beginnings and all that.