I've spent a lot of time in the past analyzing the concept of new year's resolutions. I'm not going to do that this time around - I'll just tell you where I landed. This year, I decided to stick with the idea of "intentions" rather than firm resolutions/goals... but rather than stating specific intentions (which, really, is like goal-setting without being SMART and none of the follow-through) I decided to go with words. Two words, actually (well, three, if you're being persnickity): efficiency and problem-solving.
Basically, I'm trying to keep these words in mind every time I feel challenged, frustrated, bored, dissatisfied in every day life. And you know what? So far, it's working out pretty awesome and the Mister is totally on board. We've tackled a bunch of sources of day-to-day stress and focused on behaving a little more like grown-ups. I'm not sure this is the place to report in detail, but needless to say I'm feeling a bit more in control of my time and hopefully the trickle-down effect will be more sewing/knitting in 2013.
(There actually was quite a bit of sewing/knitting that just didn't make the blog at all towards the end of 2012... so I'll try to be better about documenting the coming year. I miss that.)
So, for now, just a quick update on what I'm working on:
Noro striped scarf. Originally this was meant to be a pattern-less project I could just tote to knit group and not worry about making mistakes or losing my place, but recently I've become a little obsessed with it and I'm dying to wear it. I'm making it nice and long so I can wrap it twice around my neck. I've run out of Cascade with about 8 inches to go, so it's off to the yarn store with me today. Last night I actually wore it all evening watching movies with the knitting needle still holding the stitches on one end! Like I said: can't wait.
Hope everything is good with you and yours this gorgeous new year.
I can see why you are eager to wear that scarf. I love the rows of white between the varigated colours, it sort of spreads them out nicely.
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of intentions vs resolutions. Goals seem to leave me looking at what I didn't accomplish rather than what I did.
Yeah, I know what you mean about goals --> failure.
DeleteI think what I'm finding about the intentions is that, because it's so vague, I can't exactly succeed or fail... it's more just a tool about how to approach things and it's leading to other successes because of that... but, while I'm sure I could "fail" at it, it would be pretty hard to measure. Yet somehow it feels easy to measure the success. Maybe that's why I'm liking it so much, haha.
The colors in this scarf are so beautiful! It's going to be lovely!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're well! I like the idea of approaching the new year with intentions rather than goals. It sounds really healthy to work on a new mindset and approach to life, and really doable (since you've boiled your ideas down to three words). Happy New Year!
Thanks! The funny thing is that after I took the above photo the blue never showed up in the skein again! It still turned out pretty though.
DeleteHappy New Year!
Pretty scarf! I didn't make any resolutions this year because I remember reading your posts in the past and totally agreeing with you about how they just don't work for me... But I like the intentions idea :)
ReplyDeleteSo far I think the key to the intention thing is to keep it really simple/vague so that you can keep it always in mind... as opposed to a detailed list of vague goals that's easy to forget about.
DeleteBeautiful scarf! I like your intentions...much more down to earth than resolutions... and stress free I suppose. Looking forward to see a fantastic year for you! xx
ReplyDeleteI think it just depends on the year... this year, I knew I needed something broad in scope but fluid in nature, if that makes sense. We just need to claw our way out of this feeling of powerlessness we've gotten mired in!
DeleteIt sounds like your approach is already working out! There seems to be a lot of bloggers (maybe it's in the scrapbooking genre especially) that have been working with "one little word" for the year, and I find it interesting to read about what that word does for them when they carry it with them in their daily-life. My favorite is Elise Blaha, so I'd encourage you to check out her experiences. With that said, I'm trying to focus on exactly "intentions" this year - so I guess that's my unofficial word-of-the-year! I think it's a great way to keep yourself aware. Looking forward to hearing more later in the year how it's working out!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think I stole the idea from them actually. There is a lovely local blogger than I follow who I think, now that you mention it, posted her "one little word" before I posted this. So I bet I took some heavy inspiration, there :D
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