So……it’s 2019.
I love years that end in ‘9’, because i graduated from high school in 1989. We did a lot of cheers that ended it the word ‘nine’….so they all apply to any year ending in ‘9’.
You may have stayed up until midnight last night, so you brought in the New Year a few hours before I did. I mean, I was awake at midnight, since that’s when I transferred from laying on the floor in the living room to going upstairs to my bed. My kind husband woke me up as the ball was dropping, and I think I woke up with about 8 seconds to go, counted down, we kissed, then we headed upstairs.
For me, 2019, as in any year, is more in the middle of my year. As a child of teachers, I very much think in academic years. My year starts over in late August. My birthday is also in September, so it helps with a clear start. Being born in a year that ends in ‘0’ (shout out to all of my fellow friends who have their birth year end in ‘0’,) makes it so much easier to remember how old we were in any year.
So this is the start of the calendar year. I’ve lived in the not for profit world for a long time, so we talk a lot about the fiscal year, which starts on July 1. So we have the calendar year, (January 1), the academic year (sort of a fluid date in mid to late august), and the fiscal year.
For me, a big change in the coming week will be to lose most of the chaos I’ve been surrounded by since the first week of December. The children (now 21 years of age) go back to a school where bars are a walking distance away from their apartment. They will take with them their very energetic puppy, who sometimes accidentally jumps on my head when I’m laying down, which can hurt.
I’m the type who craves chaos, so it is an adjustment when our house consists of mostly me, and my husband who travels.
I’ve definitely found some perks to my lack of chaos life, so since I’m about to go back to it, I’ll list some here:
- I use very few dishes. Those that I do use, I put directly into the dishwasher
- I have changed my diet to begin eating things that are ‘anti-inflammatory’. This is much easier to do when I fix my own meals/order meals for one at restaurants.
- I really enjoy talking with my kids on the phone and through text. When they are at school, we communicate in short little bursts that give me info from them about their lives. I love feeling connected to them in that way.
- Matt and I enjoy each other’s company. We were in the same friend group in college, and started dating after hanging out with each other for several months. We enjoy processing reality shows, making snide comments about people on the news, and traveling together.
A couple of small goals
I plan to move my body a little more in 2019 than I did in 2018. I had several injurties in 2018, so I’m hoping to prevent those a little better than I did last year, and to strengthen my aging ligaments that are uncooperative at times.
I also plan to purge, purge, purge. I may even start today.
I also continuously work on increasing kindness and decreasing my judgement of others. I’m a fairly kind, non-judgemental person, but I can always improve on that. I’ll be working on that as i get frustrated with others who judge, which is my hardest group to avoid judging.
FInal Thoughts
I hope you enjoy your first day of 2019. If not, I hope you are able to find something you enjoy on January 2nd. There’s a lot less pressure on that day, and I know someone whose birthday is that day, which makes every day better, right??
Happy 2019!