If you’ve met me in real life, you may be wondering why I haven’t posted anything about New Year’s resolutions yet. My first response to any problem or project is a list, and I usually have a dozen on the go at once. I have lists of books I want to read, places I want to visit, things I need to do before next Wednesday and ideas for a house I might have when I’m retired. Last year I said:
My life is quite flexible and interesting (rather than predictable and comfortable) and I like it that way. It stays that way in part because I keep making goals to change things, try things and visit new places
and finished optimistically with:
Taking the time to write these lists and this post remind me that there are a lot of things I’m looking forward to doing in 2012. All in, I think it’s going to be a really good year. I hope it rocks for you, too.
As usual, I’ve been terrible at predicting at the start of the year where I’d be when I ended it, so a lot of the goals went by the wayside. And this year has had its good moments, but also a lot of sadness.
The net result is that this year, I’m thinking small. I still want to try new things, go new places, but I’m not ready to commit to a big project. I don’t expect to go round the world, run a marathon or write a novel this year. I could really use your help finding things to do. Suggest something you enjoy, or you think I might enjoy, and help me expand my list.
I’m particularly interested in:
- Swiss things and things in Switzerland (books, films, food, museums, mountains…)
- things you’d like to read a blog post about (could be anything!)
- books (always, any genre)
- places to visit (ideally in Europe, due to cost)
- cool things I can do as a one-off (go to a zumba class, bake a cake, ride a horse…)
- knitting patterns and challenges
Any suggestions? You could change my life, you know!
Learn to play an instrument, maybe? Or if you can already play one, learn another? Depending on what floats your boat, getting started can be really expensive (think piano) or pretty cheap (think woodwind). Not sure if this counts as a “big project” in your book, but I’m just throwing it out there
Ooooh, that sounds sort of tempting and also a really bad idea – the only thing I have going for me, musically, is an adequate sense of rhythm. Otherwise I’m hopeless. But maybe that’s the point? I’ll mull it over.
When encouraging people to be more active (part of my job) we ask them to think back to childhood and remember what they enjoyed as a child, then try to apply that to exercise they can do now. Swimming, skating, biking, hiking.
So you might ask yourself about a childhood dream or longing. When I grow up, I’m going to go (someplace), have (something), do (something). Just an idea.
Good blog. I’ll be back to read your post on ebooks as second rate books. I really like the name of your blog.
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn! Thanks for the tip – it’s actually really apt right now, as I’m back in my hometown so I can actually do some of the smaller ones – eat at (posh restaurant) or visit (town three stops past the furthest we ever went on the train) even if ‘travel round the world’ is out of my reach right now.
I am miles behind, here – sorry!
Knitting challenge – have you knit any of Ysolda’s patterns? She often has some interesting construction that makes you stop and wonder! So does Marianne Isager. Just for starters…
Not sure how well you know the “rest” of Switzerland – I know I didn’t see much outside the Suisse Romande as long as I was there and it’s next to impossible to get old friends to cross the Röstigraben, but lots and lots to see up in the north and east. Sometimes on a small scale but worthwhile. I just bought a book of 22 short hikes (1-3 hrs) to mediaeval castles, so looking forward to trying some of those – we’re not usually hikers more than dog-walking…!!