I hope you had a good one, however you chose to spend it (I did some knitting, drank some wine & watched The Crown before going to bed around 11pm and sleeping right through. We like to par-tay in this house, obviously...).
I'm still trying to find my energy for the new year though I have to be honest. I feel... bitty. Like there are too many bits and pieces to do and like I'm doing a little bit of all of them and not a lot else.
I went back and read my first post for 2016 a few days before the 1st and had completely forgotten that I had a word for the year. That word was Focus, and although I promptly forgot my word a few months into the year, it did actually put me on the right track to get s**t done. And, yes, although I forgot about my word for the year, as I was reading back, I found that I still really loved the concept of it and so started to think about a word for 2017.
I ran through a few words but kept coming back to the feeling that I still wasn't done with 'Focus' yet. Focus all on it's own however, just seems a bit too broad for what I feel like I need for 2017. This year, I need more defined, intentional focus. Not just random pick-a-project focus, which is what I feel like 2016 was. Yes, I got stuff done, but it was bitty. You know?
As I look back on 2016, I realise that I didn't set myself up to work smarter during my work time - there was an overall plan, but there wasn't much of a daily To-Do list. Also, when a project was complete, instead of tidying up to give myself a fresh space to work in, I'd plow on and find myself lifting up piles of fabric for my scissors, or spending ten minutes moving bits around so that I had a large enough space on my desk to draft. This year, my goal is to take at least one of my work sessions every fortnight-ish to clean and plan the next week or so, to hopefully gain back some much needed productive time. To focus intentionally.
With that in mind, January is turning into a busy month for us. David and I are pretty 50/50 when it comes to looking after Oscar, we're fortunate enough to be in that situation (for the time being), and it's been to the benefit of all of us. This month and on into February though, is going to be a bit of a different situation with David being pretty much completely inundated with work. It means I'll be on almost full time Oscar-watch while also trying to squeeze in some work of my own (Auden Cardigan tutorials are going live, The Gable Dress Expansion Pack release will be here at the end of the month and getting The Juniper Cardigan ready for testing, are all things vying for my attention this month). My mum is visiting for a week in the middle somewhere and the garden appears to have entered into it's post-Christmas-New Year explosion. It's always a few days after Christmas when the flowers bloom, the veges pop and we can't keep up with it all.
I also have lots of personal projects on the go that I desperately want to either finish or make a start on, many of which I talked about in my last podcast for 2016.
So, it's all go round these parts. Not to mention that 2017 is shaping up to be interesting in many other ways than just my small part of it.
I'll leave you with these words that I read a few days ago by Neil Gaiman, no one could have said it better...
Be kind to yourself in the year ahead.
Remember to forgive yourself, and to forgive others. It's too easy to be outraged these days, so much harder to change things, to reach out, to understand.
Try to make your time matter: minutes and hours and days and weeks can blow away like dead leaves, with nothing to show but time you spent not quite ever doing things, or time you spent waiting to begin.
Meet new people and talk to them. Make new things and show them to people who might enjoy them.
Hug too much, Smile too much. And, when you can, love.
xx
J
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