I must change.
I must remove all the excess.
I must get rid of all the clutter.
I must eat healthier food.
I must exercise.
I must read more, for pleasure and professionally.
I must watch less TV.
I must be more active in my own life.
Reflecting on the first week of 2012, my general opinion is that it has been a good year, so far!
I have continued to work on many aspects of my resolutions. My home office is now clutter free and tidy. Six boxes of books were collected by Lifeline on Thursday. The back garden has been pruned, and mulched. We have finally eaten all the leftovers and oversupplies from Christmas (such an effort!). Despite this, I have tried to make healthier decisions regarding food choices, never easy for me at the best of times. I have tidied both spare bedrooms (daughters now vacant rooms) and put away the Christmas decorations. I know, I was going to guilt the children into doing it, but Mummy threw herself on the Christmas bonfire and did the chore. All stacked neatly back in the cupboard under the stairs, awaiting the elves next Christmas!
Not to be too perfectly wonderful, but I am, I have also been shopping for work clothes and managed to pick up three dresses for the some total of sixty-eight dollars (AUS), all on sale. I look absolutely fabulous in them too! Add to that, a bit of socialising with family (Mother, Sister and BIL) and the week has been rather productive and amazingly stress free. Happy New Year indeed!
I can not describe the sense of freedom and satisfaction that I experience every time I walk through the upstairs and bask in the order and clean lines of my office, and especially my desk. It is priceless and it cost me nothing, except my own time and effort! I know life is going to function a lot better for me now, as I go back to work and dive deep into a new job.
clutter stifles my elegant life!
Procrastination was banished this week, replaced by planning and effort and I have accomplished success on the home front, and an overwhelming sense of achievement. I have one more week before I return to work, so this week I want to go through my closet and toss anything I didn’t wear during 2011, as well as tackle our bedroom is general. Then onto the front garden, which should not be quite as heavy a job as the back as there are no palm trees in the front garden. Our front garden is more pine trees, box hedges and orange jasmine (Murraya paniculata), so one or two afternoons should bowl it over.
Then of course, there is the maintenance to perform before going back to work. Maintenance on me, hard as it is to believe! One day to the doctor for a regular check-up, and then a trip to the hairdresser for the usual hair highlights and waxing! Oh, and restock all the foods I like for my “school” lunches. I may need a lie down after all that!
So, what have I learnt this first week of 2012? Well, for a start, that being more active in my own life takes planning and effort, but the payback is instant and energising. There are unexpected bonuses along the way, such as not putting weight on over Christmas and New Year, as working in my garden (exercising, dare I say it!) balanced the scales for me. Works for me!
Also, making the decision to part with things I thought I could never live without, in this instance, some books, has made me feel proud of myself, given me uncluttered room to shelve my chosen books with more respect, decreased my stress as I declutter my life and home, and allowed me to help others by donating my things to charity. I look at things so differently now; things in my house, but also when I am shopping. I am very much needs rather than wants now, and I feel so much freer.
So, onward, ever onward, to week 2, 2012!
Week 1 Lessons:
1. Procrastination has no benefits. Never did, never will.
2. Cull books that I won’t read again, or won’t read in the next few months. Recognise that books are not an emotional prop, or a trophy.
3. Buy classic clothes in solid colours. Change with accessories of the season or the current trend eg. scarves. I am a great lover of pearls and brooches, and find that these can change the look of an outfit just by going sophisticated or casual with accessories. This marks my elegant individualism too!
4. Donating to charity helps me to help myself. It’s almost a guilty pleasure.
5. Leading by quiet example can motivate the entire family. It works more effectively and faster than nagging. Yeah!
Woody Guthie's New Year's Resolutions 1942
