Here we are. The final day of January. I decided to do . . . An Assessment. Y’know. Just to kind of wrap up the month and take stock of what I’ve done. Or not done. (And, yes. I do realize that all I post here anymore are photos of the sky. It’s the best I’ve got right now.) (And to be fair, this is a DIFFERENT sunset than the one I posted yesterday.)
So. On with that Assessment.
January.
- I thought I was being pretty . . . chill . . . about, y’know . . . everything. I’ve been focusing on . . . looking for joy. Noticing beauty emergencies. Being Kind to others (and myself). Finding flow in my art projects. Taking the time to meditate. Feeding the birds. And yet . . . I’ve also noticed a constant tightness in my neck, shoulders, and jaw. So I know I’m doing a lot of fooling myself here. But I’ll keep at it anyway.
- I thought about doing Dry January. I did not do Dry January.
- I thought about doing a thorough cleaning of my refrigerator. I thought about reorganizing my pantry. I did neither. But I did convince Tom that getting a quote for refacing our kitchen cabinets would be a good idea.
- I kept up with the laundry.
- I’m particularly proud of my Wordle streak. And especially impressed with my now months-long NYT Crossword streak.
- I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction books. And really liking them. Pretty sure it’s my mood/current state of mind.
- Tom and I have set a timer for Thursday nights at 9:00, which is when the new episode of The Pitt drops every week. (It is a highlight of our week.)
- I bought some Valentine candies for my cute little Valentine candy dish, hoping to inspire myself to finally put away the last of my Christmas décor and get out my heart-themed trinkets. But y’know what? Those candies taste(d) great right out of the bag. (And I still need to put away the last of my Christmas décor.)
- I’m drinking more water.
- We got a humidifier for our bedroom. Who knew it could make such a difference?
- I played pickleball for the first time. I liked it, and I didn’t do too badly. I hope my friends invite me to play with them again (no promises were made) because I had to buy a pair of court shoes, y’know. And it would be a shame to just wear them that one time.
- I had my 6-month dental checkup/cleaning and got the All Clear! No cavities or leaky-crowns for this gal!
- Surprisingly, I’m sleeping pretty well. I wake up feeling tense and cranky every morning, though. So I know I’m not having peace-filled slumber, even though I can’t remember my dreams or what I was “mulling over” as I slept.
- I’m going to celebrate the end of January today by going to Costco (which I hate doing). So not much of a celebration. And it’s raining. On top of the remaining snow. (Which is my most-hated winter weather condition.) It all seems . . . apt.
- But, hey! Tomorrow is February. Maybe I’ll even welcome it by cleaning my bathrooms. . .
How about you?
Was your January as exciting as mine?
Enjoy this last day of January, my friends.
(Maybe buy yourself some heart-shaped chocolate-covered sea-salt caramels to celebrate the arrival of February. They look great in a heart-shaped candy dish. Or not.)
I have also tried to convince myself that I am winning the avoidance game I am playing with myself… my neck, shoulders, and stomach are telling me I am not winning at all. No Dry January here either. Sigh. I am likewise ignoring that refrigerator that is in desperate need of a good clean out.
May February’s shortness feel short! I am so over days that feel like a year! Happy Weekend!
I may need to find a good massage place or some sort of neck massager; the constant tightness in my shoulders often ends up as a headache. I’m tired of waking up with tense shoulders and going to bed with a headache. You are brave going to Costco. I also dislike it but I feel bad that we bought a membership for hearing aids and never use it. I gave my heart-shaped candy dish away and now I just dump candy into a nice cut-glass bowl from my grandmother. I was leaving it empty but I had to buy peppermint patties and peanut butter cups during confirmation hearings. I loved Noah Wyle on ER and may have to find a way to watch The Pitt.
SAME! Refrigerator, pantry, no dry January, dental check-up, crossword/spelling bee, laundry, etc. I have found that doing laundry gives me a sense of accomplishment more than most other household chores over the years. As to the tightness in the neck/shoulders, I highly recommend doing daily neck stretches/exercises. They do help in lieu of a daily massage. I think we need to be kind to ourselves these days. It is impossible to avoid all the dark messaging we receive from simply being a part of the world. I think you are doing as well as can be expected, and better than me. I have not meditated consistently or been crafting at all. I am in the midst of getting my floors refinished, which is very stressful, but at least it is preoccupying. Thanks for being here, Kym.
My massage therapist has told me for years that I hold all of my stress in my neck and shoulders and boy have I felt how true that is lately. I would never even contemplate dry January but I do weekly dry Monday and dry Tuesday and sometimes even dry Wednesday so there’s that. I read 6 books. I hauled out my Daytripper cardigan and assessed where I am and what I need to do to finish. I made candy salad. I drank a lot of water. I kept up with my journaling. And now I’m thinking I might turn this into a blog post for Monday. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you for your very real list! And maybe a reminder, once again, to drop my shoulders.
I hadn’t heard about the Pitt, but I was (am) a big ER fan, so thank you for telling us about it. The problem will be Chuck — he WILL watch Call the Midwife with me, but he paces in the living room during the childbirth scenes.
I’m feeling all of this, Kym. Things are just hard right now, no matter what we do to try to focus on joy and beauty and gratitude and all of that. I think there are times in life when we can thrive and times we just survive, and I’m pretty sure right now is one of the latter type. And if we need a drink and some chocolate to get through the day, so be it. (I’ve weirdly been sleeping really well this past week and have been just exhausted at the end of the day. So yay for being too tired to be anxious?)
It is so hard for me to get going–there is much knitting and reading and not leaving the couch. But we do love The Pitt!!!!
I did dry January with the exception of 1/18…Nugent Christmas. There was no way I was missing out on my nephew’s old fashioned. I had big plans too…emptied one cabinet. Oh well. 🙂 I played Bunco today…not impressed…I’ll stick with mahjong. Bring on February and another delicious old fashioned!
Udder broke my wordle streak. and it was ok. I’m really enjoying the crosswords right now – yesterday’s was very fun! I’m not quite ready to look back on January … but I’m looking forward to starting a new month tomorrow!
Let’s see. It’s so hard. I’ve tried to focus on the people I love, poetry, kind words and inspiring messages. But to constantly look away feels not very honest. I finished my handspun sweater, a joy, and made a start on my slow-stitch journal. We’ve mostly recovered from Covid and I scrubbed the bathrooms. Some days I’ve forced myself to put two feet on the floor and do something. Once I dusted in the living room. So not very exciting here either.