Tag: New Year

Normally this is the time of year I get all depressed and withdrawn. It’s when I go inward and think about all the things I failed at, all the things I didn’t accomplish, all the things I didn’t even try to accomplish. And while I am still a little down, or melancholy if you will, I am not as bad off as I thought I’d be.

Happy New Year, 2016

I find myself a little more hopeful this New Year than the last or previous New Years. I don’t know why and I am not going to question it, I’ll take it.

As a result of this little flame of hope, something has been gnawing at me for about two months now. I want to simplify my life. I want to whittle away some things and activities from my life.

I have been doing some soul searching lately and I have realized I don’t really even know who I am, what I like, my beliefs, my values. I mean sure, I have the basic mentally of wanting to do good things, walk the line, obey the rules, a belief in God and good and evil. I know right from wrong and all that jazz.

But what do I believe in? For myself? I cannot answer this question right off the top of my head. It’s been troubling me that I cannot answer it. That I don’t know. I feel like Julie Roberts in The Runaway Bride. Remember how she always conformed to the men she was going to marry before she backed out of them all? She didn’t really know herself. She simply lost herself in others. I think I’ve been doing this same thing all my life.

Now I am 49-years old, perhaps it is just my age finally catching up with me, making me mature and grow up a little and I can feel a shift in my being.

Basically, I want to simplify my life, eliminate the clutter so I can find myself.

Here is a list I am thinking about starting on in the New Year:

• Unsubscribe from a lot of email crap.
• Take the Facebook app off of my phone, spend less time on Facebook in general.
• Unfriend folks on Facebook that I don’t even know.
• Go through Twitter, unfollow the unnecessary.
• Curb my social media presence, including this blog; spend less time online and more time offline, connecting face-to-face with real people.
• But at the same time, choose wisely who I want to hang around with in real life.  Let go of toxic people. Simply lessen interaction with some folks.
• Read more books.
• Start to declutter the house, lots of projects there to keep me busy, focused, thinking, meditating.
• Write. Not blog. Write.
• Spend a lot less time looking at what others have and start looking at what I have.
• Practice some gratitude.
• Say No more, especially to myself and my crazy ideas. Stay focused.

This last one brings me to wanting to have an end goal for 2016, something to work towards so I can stay focused.

Something physical, 3 goals –

1. have the house decluttered, cleaned out, organized by the end of 2016
2. read 12 books for the year
3. be able to define my wants/desires/beliefs/values, clearly and confidently.

In the meantime, here are some rooms/things I can declutter around the house:

• Closets
• Laundry room
• Kitchen cabinets and drawers
• Bathroom closet and drawers
• Garage
• Car
• Drawers in the buffets.
• Bedroom; under bed, dresser drawers, side tables
• Get rid of clothes, shoes, fashion jewelry
• Kids rooms (God help me)

All of the above should really take me all of 2016 to complete.

That’s about it. It may seem like a lot, but really it is not. It’s simple and that is what I am striving for these days.

What about you? What are you contemplating for the New Year? And do you have any decluttering/organization tips for me?

Thanks for reading and show me Your Moxie!