Back in January I made these New Year’s Resolutions. There weren’t many – only three – but as the longest day has been and gone and the mid-point of the year is here today, I think now would be a good time to check in on my progress. Which vows will I need to renew? What midyear resolutions should I be re-resolving?
Now this one is going well.
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Around this time last year I wrote this post about New Year’s Resolutions, and what I was hoping to achieve throughout 2015. Without even looking at those resolutions I can already say I’m really happy with the past year and what I’ve accomplished. I’ve done things that, if not life-changing, are certainly milestones for me in my life. Let’s take a look at my resolutions of yesteryear…
This morning at the unsocial hour of 3:47 am, the Sun, Earth and Moon were arranged in perfection alignment. The Sun’s rays, distorted and coloured by the Earth’s atmosphere, beamed upon the Moon – itself orbiting close to Earth as the Autumn Equinox approaches – and turned it a glowing red. This is a fairly rare astronomical happenstance – it last happened in 1982 and won’t happen again until 2048. It’s called the Super Blood Moon.
I hauled myself up at half three in the morning to have a look at it, and I’m glad I did. Here’s three lessons I learned from seeing the Super Blood Moon:
Actually, I’ve suspected this one for a while and based my writing schedule around it. If I didn’t have to sleep I wouldn’t – you don’t even realise when you’re asleep that you are asleep. So there’s very little to take from it besides the obvious physical and mental recharge. As soon as you’re awake you can appreciate the sleep you’ve had – or, in this morning’s case, didn’t have. Which is endlessly preferable to not being able to appreciate either.
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Wake up.
But it’s four in the morning.
We’ve got a train to catch.
…Bruges!
Bruges is a beautiful city and one which I loved visiting. Let me take you on a tour of the city in this autobiographical Bruges Travel Guide.
It’s even light on our way down to the station, despite the hour. Spirits are high. There’s a bit of a cock-up when we arrive in London; the underground trains are delayed and diverted. But, having arrived on the first train of the morning, we’ve got plenty of time to get to the Eurostar at St Pancras International, and to admire the fantastic architecture of the Grand Midland Hotel.
Not sure what to expect from the Eurostar? It’s like catching a train at an airport. Take your reference number and feed to the machine that spits out your ticket, and then join the queue. Head through two sets of passport control and a metal detector then wait in the boarding lounge for your gate, I mean platform, to flash up on the monitor. The Eurostar is like a normal train but it has a bit more leg room and you don’t have to fight for a seat. By the time you’re leaving London’s most beautiful rail station behind you’re already hitting the kind of speeds that can cross three countries in two hours.
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I had a wonderful Christmas time. A minor mishap when I forgot everyone’s gifts notwithstanding, everything went as smoothly as a sleigh ride. Presents were opened and well-received, Christmas dinner was delicious, and much merriment was had over a few games of Articulate. My favourite present? Maybe my set of four antique canopic jars; not something you see every day, but something very much suited to my macabre tastes. Anyway. Christmas is passed, but not forgotten, and it’s time to look ahead to the New Year. To plan those New Year’s Resolutions.
I have made New Year’s resolutions before; everyone has. Have you ever stuck to them? I’m not sure if I have, technically. How long do you need to stick with a resolution for it to count? I remember resolving to do thirty press-ups a day in one of my teenage years. That one had failed by the third of January.
I think the missing element back then was real motivation. When I was in my teens, and indeed, through my years at university, I didn’t have to actively keep fit or make time for any new hobbies. I kept in reasonable shape simply by going out for bike rides and by walking to and from the university campus each day, and I could indulge all my hobbies because being a student, whether at college or university, is a pretty flexible occupation. There’s homework and coursework but it’s to be done in your own time. You can get it all out the way to make room for more enjoyable pursuits or you can decide to take a longer break from work, returning to it once you’re in the right frame of mind. Such flexibility is a double-edged sword, to be sure, and led to a few last-minute reports or concept models. But it’s an arrangement that if treated sensibly allows you to learn good time management and how to achieve a balance between work and leisure.
Now that I’m employed in a Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-five job, I’m finding it more difficult to maintain my previous levels of fitness and dedication to my hobbies. The motivation is there, now, for me to work for that formerly easy compromise between work and play. The incentive to keep (or should that be ‘to get’) fit is there too; an office job is by its very nature sedentary, and writing isn’t the most physical of activities. After some time off to recharge over the Christmas break, I feel I can work on integrating the things I find most enjoyable back into my daily routine. I can make time for my hobbies and fitness just as I make time for my job.
The key to achieving my resolutions is to set a number of clear, quantifiable goals. These goals should build on how I already organise my recreational time. By setting resolutions that are themselves building blocks to further targets, I should be able keep pushing myself to achieve more. If nothing else, posting my resolutions on my blog for anyone to see should also be an encouragement. Giving up isn’t an option when you’re being watched!
I’ve always enjoyed writing and I know that consistent practice is essential to keep things moving. But, as with many activities, it can be hard to muster the enthusiasm to start writing, particularly after a day of work. I resolve to post on my blog at least once a week. One or more posts, usually between 500 and 1000 words, is an achievable target, and one that should keep me writing consistently. It should also ensure that I find it easier to sit down and immediately start hammering out words when I write creatively. This is my sixth post on liamsdesk and I’ve already noticed an improvement in my writing speed and an increased ease with which I can now slip into a writing frame of mind.
Blogging is fun, cathartic and good practice at using words, but it’s different to producing definable, contained stories. I want to keep my creative writing alive in tandem with my blogging; to dedicate an evening or afternoon at least once a week to getting a good chunk of writing down. I find that my writing productivity increases within the course of one session. In three consecutive hours of writing I’ll produce twice as much as I would in three one-hour sessions.
I go for the odd run, perhaps once a week. I’ve always found it difficult to pump myself up for a morning run – it’s not as enjoyable when the world is still dark and cold, or with the shadow of a working day looming – and I always put off running till a weekend afternoon. I’d like to start jogging in the mornings – short routes to begin with, once or twice a week before work. Once I’m acclimatised to early exertion it’ll be easier to maintain a fitness routine throughout my week.
There we go: a trio of New Year’s Resolutions that I should be able to accommodate, with a little effort, into my current weekly routine. I don’t plan on reinventing my lifestyle in anyway, just on applying a little discipline and organisation to what I do already.
If I make to February then I’ve already beaten my personal best.
