I AM CURRENTLY | January 2021
REMEMBERING how difficult it is to move when boxes are not packed and labelled properly. I’m doing my absolute best to be as careful and specific as possible so as not to misplace anything – especially now that our move is going to be split into 2 separate load delivery dates with a month of storage in between.
LISTENING to podcasts, finally. Almost all are new to me as from previous attempts I found I can’t do anything else when listening – it’s not like music which is something in the background. With podcasts I need to pay attention to so I’ve decided to listen while I do mindless chores – laundry, cleaning … and packing. There’ll be plenty listened to in the next couple of months starting with Armchair Expert, Free Cookies, and Revisionist History.
LEARNING how to use iMovie. This year, instead of a traditional vision/dream board, for a course I’m taking, I’ve curated a number of images and with Caden and Cole’s help, created a 2-minute reel of all the things I want to invite into and keep in my life over the course of the next year and beyond. All of the images represent goals that are in progress, short-term and long-term. It gave me a fabulous visual way to look at how I want my world to look. It’s even set to music! I feel very fancy and accomplished.
FINDING all of the bright sides to this better-late-than-never imposed lockdown is not as tough as you might think – though, it really is a continuation of my life since last March, but I feel safer that maybe others are heeding the new rule (please, let me live in my fantasy!) So much is getting done that I rarely have time to do when I’m living life, running errands around town and lunching with friends. As much as I miss doing those things, here we are in early January and I’m happy to be productive in other ways.
WEARING my Yule gift to myself: a Bleusalt wrap in a rich purple colour. It’s 3 yards (2.75M) of soft luxury that is perfect to keep me warm while writing in my office, or reading while on the family room couch. In these days of lockdown, it feels fancy over my loungewear – perfect for Zoom calls elevating my pajamas or yoga gear!
ENJOYING the digital purge – unsubscribing from newsletters that are no longer relevant or “influencers” who no longer hold any interest; cleaning up my email inbox, not by organizing but by liberally using my delete button. The delete button is getting a workout in my photos app, too. My Mac desktop is all cleaned up. I have to wrap my brain around the idea that I don’t have to save everything, indeed, with a good search feature, I don’t have to save anything! Yesterday, I turned my attention to our family Spotify account and kept all of Bill’s playlists except for the John Denver and Jim Croce songs, then felt terrible about deleting them.
EXPECTING the arrival of my new reformer Pilates machine by the end of the month. I’m excited to get started on my no-excuses focus on flexibility and strength for the year ahead.
QUESTIONING how best to keep track of my reading for 2021. A simple list in my gridded note pad? On an Excel spreadsheet? On some kind of app? Goodreads? I’m going to participate in Gretchen Rubin’s challenge to read for 21 minutes every day of the year. (As she says: “If you read for 21 minutes per day for 365 days, that’s 7,665 minutes or almost 128 hours of reading. You can read a lot of books in 128 hours!”) I really want to get back to reading novels, solid, well-written fiction. I have piles and piles of books just waiting to be picked up, not to mention my ever-filling Kindle! Maybe if I re-label it “research” it’ll magically become a priority!
MAKING packing and “chore” lists for leaving our current home to prepare for an orderly arrival at the new house. There are a lot of moving parts. We arrive a couple of days before the first wave of possessions. Time for a good scrub of the garage and all of the storage areas, as well as the coach house above the garage.
NOTICING that the root of my recent wave of grief stems from the truth that over the course of 38 years, I thought of Bill regularly, he lived in my heart since the day I met him in 1982. The idea that I can never talk to or touch him again is hitting me hard. He was a gift, one I know in my head I have to release to make room for whatever is next for me (while still holding him in the memory of my heart). I’ve learned, grief is simply love with nowhere to go. I can’t spend the next 38 years waiting for him because that’s simply not possible. Oh, what a mind-fuck this journey has been!
WORKING on my new year-long project of writing letters and mailing out birthday cards. It is possible I did not consider the ambitious nature of this undertaking when it first occurred to me. Nor did I realize a full 20% of my friends are late December/early January babies (all Capricorns!) I’m focusing on how fun it will be for me – and hopefully the recipients, too! Ooh, maybe I can come up with my own designed birthday cards? Hmm. It could prove an interesting creative outlet!
EATING strange combinations of food as we do what we can to empty out the big freezer in the garage. I’m not too concerned about the dry goods in the pantry, just the more perishable items in the fridge and freezer. Claire and Caden have already done their “shopping”. Am I worried about recording for my FitBit? Right now is about “suspended reality” and it has officially spread to all aspects of my existence. Cole is doing far better than I am. Likely we’ll be joining Noom when we get settled up north.
What about you? How are things in your world these days? What are you up to currently?