New Year, New Me?
Not quite. I do love a resolution but I tend to be my most motivated to improve myself or change what's not working in September.. perhaps I'm still stuck in the academic calendar but my start feels freshest when the kids go back to school. The weather tends to still be at least mild and we're ready for a change of seasons.. in January it's FREEZING! (who wants to pop out for a run with the icy roads and bitter wind? Not me!) and Spring feels like an eternity away. I do try to re-evaluate my blogging goals at this time of year, however.I've never quite managed to carve out any consistent structure for my internet job when it comes to my working week, in January I always think 'this is the year' but so far.. no luck. This year it's even trickier as we just moved in to a new house with my PARENTS and their dog. So my distractions (and the noise levels) have doubled. I'm yet to sit down and film a stack of videos as I would have done by now if we were back in the old place after Christmas and I think I'm putting it off, assuming it will be too challenging so my main goal right now is to find a new routine and just GET ON WITH IT. I'm listening to 'Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight (also wrote the great 'Life Changing Magic Of Not Giving A F*ck') and it's excellent for those perpetually disorganised folk like me who need a digital kick up the arse for the New Year.I have LOVED audiobooks this past year and although I've dabbled with self help I ultimately found the best advice and life coaching often comes in the form of a memoir. People sharing their life (or often half life) stories, how they grew to be the person interesting enough to be writing a book about themselves can be very inspirational. Amy Poehler and Tiny Fey were obvious favourites but if you're looking for a long haul 'read' I'd highly recommend Nick Offerman's 'Paddle Your Own Canoe' for some timeless life lessons and stories from an incredibly humble man who happens to be famous - and married to Megan Mullally. A hybrid I enjoyed recently that would be very appropriate for right now would be 'The Year Of Yes' by Shonda Rhimes. She challenged herself to say yes to more (all, really) opportunities that came her way and shared how it may or may not have changed her life.All in all I don't have a set list of to do's right now.. I will work on one because I think it's good to have some goals to remind yourself of throughout the year but for now I just want to get back on the horse and find the most productive way of working in my new situation without running myself (or my blog) in to the ground. I tend to flit between YouTube/Blogging year by year and I definitely feel more enthusiasm for my blog at this moment so we shall see where that takes me but the beauty of internetting for a living is that the work can alter to fit my mood/interests.One thing I do try to reinforce at New Year is that if I'm not enjoying something anymore, I don't have to keep doing it. That may sound too black and white in a grey world, I mean I hate the school run but I have to keep taking the kids, right? But I CAN change my morning routine to make the whole process a little easier. If you're unhappy in a situation that you COULD change with a little risk/work, why wouldn't you take that leap? As they say, life is short..I hope you're all enjoying your (for most) last day off and aren't too horrified at the thought of returning to work tomorrow, Oh and.. Happy New Year! - albeit a little late