I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. – Neil Gaiman
When I look back on my goals for 2016, I had some winners and I also had some losers:
My goal to stitch daily fell by the wayside and a large part of why it did was because I did not give myself permission to make mistakes. I wanted my stitching to be perfect without acknowledging that this is a new craft and as with all new things – there is a learning curve, and making mistakes is part of that process. It is certainly true that I am my own worst enemy with my inner drive for perfection – and if it can’t be perfect, then I won’t do it. But, this year I am going to work on that and give myself permission to make mistakes, to learn, to make new things, to push myself, and GROW! I will also move beyond my desire to only present what is perfect and share the process – mistakes and all.
Thanks to Honoré, I spent some time at the end of 2016 rethinking my daily schedule/routine. I have reworked it allowing for a few moments each day to learn something new about stitching and to implement what I have learned. As the year progresses, I will have a collage of stitches that will reflect a daily snapshot similar to Bonnie Sennott’s journey and by this time next year, I will have completed a grand stitching journey where, I am hoping, there is visible growth and immense pride in my mistakes and accomplishments!
Organization also got left behind in the dust of “doing other things” – I blocked out Marie Kondo’s calls to focus and I am paying for that in spades as 2017 starts. Again, Neil Gaiman gives a gentle invitation to live, to push myself, and to change myself – and this is an invite I am going to embrace wholeheartedly!
2017 will be my year for being more organized in so many things. But, one main organization task will be to give some semblance of order to my digital and physical photos. This is something I have procrastinated about far too long and I am ready to get to work on this!
I want to continue in my desire to weigh less and to move more! I did well in 2016, but I still have a long journey to go – and after basking in Holiday Cheer for a good portion of December – this month I will focus on getting back on track.
I also want to use more of my handspun yarn, so this will mean doing more intentional spinning. I look forward to spending time sampling and planning for projects rather than just spinning with no plan in mind!
Finally, I set a challenging reading goal for this year and I look forward to working through my “want to read list” as I hope to exceed my goal!
Here is to a year of pushing myself, changing myself, changing my world, and doing things!
Happy New Year, everyone!
Great post Kat! I would have to look way back to see what goals I set last year. At some point, 2016 became a giant wave that just tumbled and tossed us about. I do hope to be more present this year. I have a stitching project on my list too. I am amazed at how much we hold in common.
Happy new year!
I had a teacher who said we should work towards perfection, meaning we are not (and will never be) perfect, but we can always be moving forward. My year is starting with a fairly clean house and much of my junk put away. I’m feeling good about my new beginnings. Here’s to a fun year of working towards what we feel we need to accomplish!
Yay Kat! Your 2017 self-challenges are clearly within your grasp and I’m here to cheer you along the way – with a whole lot of cheers snuck in for me, too!
I am so tempted to add – well, consider – the Stitch Journal, project…what fun…but I think I’ll postpone that and reconsider in the summer quarter…gotta see where I am with my big project…
Congrats on 2016’s successes and rock on this year!
Cheers~
Growing and changing, learning new things, making mistakes and enjoying the accomplishments we make, that’s the dream! We can do it!
I read your post outloud to my daughter, who chuckled because she thinks (rightly!) that I need to be more organized and lose weight. Let’s cheer each other on.
And thanks for introducing me to Honore. Boy, that woman can draw and paint!
I think your goals are very reasonable. I always think you need something to strive for, but that is within the realm of your own possibility.
Happy New Year!
Oooh, looking forward to all that stitching!! It’s lovely so far. 😉