Happy New Year!

How was your Christmas? 

I have to say it wasn't that much different to normal here to be honest, apart from not being able to go out to see Christmas lights and do some actual physical 'browsing round the shops' shopping due to being in COVID Tier 4. Everything was ordered online and the same people as usual were sat around the Christmas table. 

But as ever, there's a part of me glad that it is over because I can get on to my favourite time of year - New Year - where plans are being made and goals set. I love a challenge. 

Part of my New Year goals last year was to start incorporating some of the things I used to do as a child/teenager into my life. This was an important one for me, because I had stopped almost everything by the time I left home due to an immature and over-bearing parent either getting involved and taking over, criticising me endlessly until it was ruined for me, or just plain flat out stopping me.

Art is a big one, specifically painting, drawing and murals. I actually started dipping my toe in the water with this back in June 2019 by using adult painting by numbers kits, which have come on in incredible leaps and bounds since I last did one as a teenager. They are amazing and helped me loosen my fingers and learn how to use brushes again. This year, my goal is to do one piece of creative art a month, in any media, just to create an outlet for self-expression.

Also, two of my favourite periods of time in art history are the Renaissance (13th - 16th century; Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Da Vinci) and the Pre-Raphaelites (1850s onwards; Waterhouse, Millais and Rossetti) so I'm re-acquainting myself with those time periods. COVID has, for now, put paid to visiting galleries in the flesh so I'm doing it online and I'm looking for an interesting free course on art history of that period.

The Gothic; architecture, literature and films/shows, particular the Victorian era, is another interest. I've always been a Goth at heart and was during my teenage years in the late 1980's. I find beauty and humour in dark things. I stopped being a Goth when I was persuaded in my early twenties that being a grown up meant looking like one :( It doesn't. I'm back to exploring the look and musical loves of my inner Goth, although I suspect I will always be 'Goth-lite' :)  I like a bit of steampunk too. This year's challenge is to dress more 'me' and edit my surroundings to reflect my real tastes. 

Jigsaw puzzles. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a nerd! I was doing these on the quiet in my 20's because I enjoyed the methodical nature and pattern searching involved in it. I say on the quiet because they were not really a 'fashionable' thing to admit when all your mates were out on the town. "I'd rather stay in and do a puzzle," would have lost me friends, but then later I parted ways from them anyway so I should have got rid of the them sooner and spent less time hiding my true self :) I have a stack of puzzles to make my way through this year.

Reading. I've been indulging myself and buying all sorts of interesting books from car boot sales and charity shops over the last couple of years. There are two bookcases next to my bed, with a combination of ones waiting to be read and some frequently reread or reached for. I love having a wide variety of books, fiction and non-fiction, so whatever I'm in the mood for I have something to interest me. Also my Kindle is stuffed with interesting reads and I have found the Libby app, which connects me to to my local library's online resources so I can read digital books. Not all libraries have a Libby account though. I have a goal this year to read a book a week and selected those in the picture above to read by the end of December.

Finally exercise. I go for a walk/run for 1hr 10mins a day (that picture at the top of the post is one of the fields on my route - the daffodils are coming up already 😊). I seem to hit that magical dopamine/endorphin surge about 40-45 minutes into the walk/run, although that could be the pleasure of knowing I don't have that long to go!  I've found I start thinking negative thoughts and ruminating if I don't have anything to properly occupy my brain and mindfulness doesn't cut it so I take my phone and listen to music or podcasts. I want to be running 5k by the end of March. I did try back in December and got about two weeks in to the Couch to 5k programme but have had some hiccups along the way; shin splints, irritated Achilles, painful knee, but I know these are all due to being overweight, years of inactivity and very weak tight muscles pulling my skeleton out of alignment. I have embraced foam rollers, trigger point massages, gua sha massage implements, yoga and callisthenics to strengthen and mobilise my muscles and tendons. I’m sore or in pain every day but it is a 'grateful' pain as my body uncurls and complains after years of inactivity. 

I've also decided to start doing monthly activity challenges. This month it is 300 abdominal crunchies, or variations of, every day. I actually started this on 28th December so have been doing it for 14 days. It really has made a difference to my core, which was very weak from decades of sitting at a desk and causing me back and hip problems. I realised that it would take me a long time to build up my core doing it 'the normal' way of exercising, that is a few small sets three times a week, so decided to hit it hard for one month. When I started I did them in sets of 15, resting in between as it hurt like hell, sometimes stopping and picking it back up later. Last night it took me 20 minutes to do all 300, in sets of 50, and towards the end I realised I wasn't feeling it much anymore. I'm pretty shocked at how quickly my body has adapted. Tonight I will have to up the ante and find a variation I can feel.

So that's me, that's my goals for the coming year.

What about yours?