02 Nov

where to begin?

The problem with having a lot of projects I want to do is working out which to start with. I can’t do all of them, obviously, so how do I choose? Seriously, how? And what happens to allt he ones I’m not choosing? They’re all important too. Won’t they feel neglected? If I can only do one then I’d better start with something I have to do. Something with a deadline, like finishing our tax returns. Except I don’t really want to do that one, so I need something else as well. Something that’s a treat. But which? And so it goes round and round until I’m paralyzed and anxious. Or, I get obsessed on whatever I choose, and everything else around me goes to hell.

After a lot of scribbling about this in my journal I realised I need to take a step back and look at my goals. What exactly are my goals, anyway? What do I want to achieve, how does the ideal look in my head? Brooke at Brooke: Not on a Diet recently posted about working out the best version of herself, so it was on my mind. More scribbling later I worked out that my goals could be roughly divided into three areas:

Things for my physical and mental health
Things about being organised and effective
Things about creativity and enrichment

And I quickly divided up my goals into those categories.

Me (physical, mental health and happiness)

  • Project Trophy Wife (this is a catch-all for things that make me feel attractive)
  • Up and Moving course
  • meditation and yoga
  • Investigate alternative therapies
  • losing weight, getting fit etc

Being effective

  • catch up all paperwork
  • decluttering and organising house
  • those damn tax returns
  • Aus money sorting
  • running house effectively
  • getting structure in day

Being creative and enriched (I sound like a yogurt)

  • writing – here, journal, fiction
  • sewing and craft
  • reading
  • cooking and baking
  • learning languages
  • taking courses
  • appreciating Singapore

Et cetera. Again, not an exhaustive or even very well expressed list. Have you tried doing this? It’s bloody hard! But I felt really excited once I’d done it, because it makes sense and I can choose something from each area to work on at a time.

For this month, I’m going to work on setting up the basics. This will give me a good foundation for the other work, and also allow me to procrastinate on actually doing any of them:

  • find a structure to my days that works
  • keep up with the basics of running the house and life
  • practice basic self-care: sleep better, drink water, stretch daily, try to be aware of emotions instead of eating them
  • write in my journal (I process thoughts a lot better when I pin them down on a page instead of letting them swirl in my head)
  • be mindful about how I’m spending time (do something fun instead of losing hours on phone)

That doesn’t sound like much, does it? There are whole hours in the day that are unaccounted for. That’s fine, I need to give myself a break while sorting out these basic habits. I’m sure I’ll find a way to fill them. If all else fails I can always work on the fucking tax.

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