Resolutions?????

Hi everyone. 

Do you make resolutions for the new year? I don't like to because I never seem to be able to keep them, and I feel like they are just setting myself up for failure. But I do like to make general goals for the year. 

In 2023 I was working on my third and the start of my fourth year of retirement.  I think I am getting the art of a good retirement (my style) down. It was tough retiring in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic and before vaccinations.  At that time I had lots of thoughts of what I wanted to get involved in, but with Covid, I really couldn't do much.

 I love doing things at home, but I didn't (and don't) want my retired life to just be about home. And if you've retired from working all your adult life, you also know  how retirement is a process. And as great as it is, it does require some adjustments too. I'll venture a guess those adjustments were trickier back in 2020 and 2021 they they would be for someone retiring today. (But of course, everyone's retirement is their own journey, so who am I to say?)

 By 2023 I was ready to start finding some NEW things.  I picked the word Venture. Venture implies a bit of risk, and life still felt a bit risky last year. Especially early in the year.  

Every January I draw a page with some of the "plans" or parts of my "goals" on it. Obviously I don't know everything a year will bring, so when I drew this page in January of 2023 there were a lot of things in my year that I didn't know about. Those include the job at the lake I had last summer, Miss Maddie's  accident, much of the travel I would do (both far and local), the people I would get to spend time with, the art I would make, the new people I would meet, as well as all of the adventures with family and friends. ETC.  There was a lot of "venturing" out of the comfort of my home last year, so I definitely feel like I picked a good word.

I haven't shared this page even though I drew it a year ago. Did I succeed in accomplishing everything on my page? No. Did it help focus me? Yes. Could I have added other things to this page during the course of 2023? Also yes. 

This is my page for my It's On The Calendar challenge at Art Journal Journey. I am also linking up to More Than Words. where their January challenge is Open the Door.

In 2024, I'm really ready to continue getting into new things. And I want to be more spontaneous about those new things. My big picture is changing. It doesn't feel so risky for me (personally) to have the type of retirement I planned on having back in 2019 or 2020.  Now that both my immune suppressed husband and I have had covid, and now that we have both managed to get through it,  I feel a little more free of the idea that I might bring home a disease that would  strike him down. 

This year I chose a short phrase rather than a word, mainly because I couldn't come up with 1 word to describe exactly what I want my focus for 2024 to be.  Endeavor seemed too planned, as did undertake. Pursue, strive, and  attempt were also not spontaneous enough. 

So here's my phrase:  GO FOR IT.

I'm working on my drawing for this year too, but as you can tell it isn't finished. It would probably have been if I hadn't come down with covid. 😏

As you can see, my first added pictures have to do with getting my bees to survive the winter, to knit and sew more, to sell some art and not focus on it only as a hobby, to have a functioning greenhouse, and continue to exercise but this year in more focused ways. 

And I'm going for it all and a few other things also. 

Thanks for visiting.