Planner Prompt 2024 Week 8: Reflect on How You Want to Live Each Day

 This is the week that we journal our intentions for the year ahead.

I'm caught up to the weekly prompts. I've blogged more than once in a month. Or year. As intended. Now I just have to maintain that.

How do I want to live each day?

If I'm going to be honest, like my cousin. Let's call her Pippi.

Now, I don't mean that I want to be Pippi, or live exactly like Pippi, but she is an inspiration for sure.

She gets a lot done. Like, a LOT. I know that she's genius level at everything that she does, and she always has been, and there have been times in my youth where I've felt less than when I'm with her, but it's never been because of anything she's said or done. She's never judged me.

I've judged me. I've compared me. I'm the only one who's found myself lacking.

What is it that I judge about myself?

There are so many things that I want to do, but don't. And I can fall into pits of self-loathing about it. 

I think, am I just lazy? Mentally unable to do? Am I really that exhausted, or am I just grasping onto excuses?

I want to write. Get into better shape. Eat better. Crochet. Go hiking more. Go camping more. Garden. Be efficient. Keep a cleaner house. Prepare for my work weeks better. Meal plan more. Be more crafty. Paint my house. Organize my house.

Etc., etc.

That's a lot. And it's so overwhelming that I just don't do it.

So how does Pippi do it all?

She just does it.

I had the opportunity to stay with her last year for a week. 

And she is busy, but not frantic or stressed about it.

She's actually very relaxed. All her movements, in everything she does, is relaxed and calm. But she just does it. And gets it done.

And the secret? 

She doesn't watch a lot of TV, and she's not on social media a lot.

The big take-away: 

Stop procrastinating.

If I want to live my life every day, I need to stay off social media (not usually an issue at all, but sometimes I get stuck in Reelsville and can't get out). Mostly, I need to watch less TV. That is my biggest time killer.

I don't feel the need to knock projects out every day, but I do think that I can pick one small thing, whether it's a task on it's own, or a small part of a bigger project.

I want to enjoy more life, live more life, and relax about it.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 7: What Does My Body Need This Week?

 Sleep.

"Ask yourself: what does my mind and body need this week? Use your Daily Self-Care Planner (the heart symbol on your weekly spread) to schedule activities and rituals that address those needs."

I went to CrossFit a couple times, and worked out or read on my lunch hour. 

I mostly want more sleep, though.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 6: Build a Habit

 Commit to building one small habit that will support your goals and intentions this year.

This week (which was Feb 5-11) Saint Belford prompted us to use the Habit Curator and daily habit tracker to assist in this goal.

It was supposed to be a small habit, which for me would have been walking the dog every day, or doing yoga every day. 

My dog actually helps with the walking habit. She works me hard when I get home from work. Stares at me imploringly. Gets excited when I so much as look at the stairs to the front door. Gives me her toys. Playing with her in the back yard, or getting the kiddos to walk her is not nearly good enough.

I would love to make blogging every day, or a few times a week, even, a habit, but we can all see how that one's going.

What I do feel like I'm nailing down is the #800g Challenge, which is not necessarily a small habit, and takes up a lot of the Personal Planner / Tracker section. 

Baby steps. One habit at a time.

And that is the point.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 5: Sign up for a trial class or activity

 This week's Curation Weekly Self-Care prompt is to sign up for a trial class or activity that you've always wanted to try.

There are no creative writing classes, nor any groups, in my area. 

Pottery would be cool, but I can't afford it, or the classes are all full. 

I also did the opposite: I unsigned up from my CrossFit gym, mostly due to cost. So, maybe down the road I can afford to try the pottery.

I also want to learn how to knit, and I think the library has a free group. 

This one feels like a later thing, for sure, so I'm taking the pressure off myself, and that is also self-care.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 4 - Start a Jar of Awesome

 Start a Jar of Awesome. Write down one daily awesome thing that happens on a slip of paper, fold it up, and deposit it into your jar of awesome.

Again, I am a little bit behind my weeks.

We also donated our Memory Jar because we never used it. Wonderful idea. Collected more dust than memories, unfortunately.

For this week I will write down one awesome thing every day. 

Or at least that was the plan.

I did write down a few awesome things, and I do find that the Gratitude Reflection part of the Curation is awesomeness in itself. The memory bank is good, and I reflect in my head quite a bit. 

But I think that I will endeavor to write down an awesome thing in the daily part of the planner each day, whether it's an awesome thing, or a gratitude.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 3 - Create a Physical Vision Board of your 2024 Goals and Intentions

 They must still have newspapers in Australia.

This week's task (I know, I'm late. I was sick) is to use cutouts from magazines and newspapers to create a physical vision board of my goals and intentions for the year.

I do love this section of the Planner.

You get to jot down your desires, changes you want to make, how you want to live and feel every day, achievements you want to make, and whatever else you want to manifest for the year.

On the next page you group them into four categories (of your choosing).

My categories this year are:

Family and Friends. I want more (board) game nights, impromptu outings (bowling, beaches, hikes), and weekend camping trips. I want to write actual letters to friends, and make photo books of our adventures and life. I want to make my dog's life less boring (for her).

Health and Fitness. I'm all in for the #800g Challenge this year. Lazy Macros are next. I want to keep going with the CrossFit, swim more, hike more, and do more yoga (you do not get bendier with age if you don't try).

Home Life. Gardening - I have some hardscaping projects to do so that I can grow more vegetables. I have to somehow convince my husband that the deck is the best place for growing food. So maybe we build a ground-level patio for the table?

I want to paint the walls inside my house. Light-sucking mushroom is not a happy colour. While I'm at it, a good Spring Clean and Purge would be nice.

Writing. I want to read more I want to find a creative writing group. I want to write more. Even if it is just this blog. Building habits.

The goal is a novel.

The Vision Board:

I don't have the money to purchase magazines for the sole purpose of cutting them up, and I'm pretty sure the library would complain if theirs were missing pictures. And do we even have a newspaper anymore?

So I made a Pinterest board with pictures representing all of the above. Then I tried to organize it and managed to delete a bunch of it. 

That, my friends, is as artistically creative as I get.

Planner Prompt 2024 Week 2 - Pick a New Self-Care Activity to Try This Week

When you go to saintbelford.com.au/selfcare to pick a new self-care activity to try, you land on a very lengthy PDF full of suggestions for your Mind, Body, & Soul, complete with links to their resources. 
I picked Practice Saying No to Things that Don't Serve You.

I'm not sure how old this PDF is, but the links for this topic land on the main pages of the sites and I couldn't find the specific blog posts / podcasts.

What I did find, though, was a podcast on Spotify: Lori Wheeler's Positivity Xperience, and the July/23 episode Unlocking Happiness: Prioritize Saying No to Others and YES to You!

I come from a very society-minded background, and serving others and being mindful of the community is a big deal on Mom's side of the family, so even though I like doing things for myself despite all that, at first I found Lori to be swinging a bit to the selfish side of things, even in other podcasts. She does eventually say that she's not saying to be selfish, but that you need to take care of yourself so that you are able to take care of others. I know at least two people who are taking care of others who are not a beneficial relationship partner, without taking care of themselves. Their lives are somewhat to completely bound to this person, and they're getting nothing but duty out of it. Duty with no reward.

One of the risks of telling people no, especially if you never do, is that they get very put out and offended that they are no longer your #1 priority. Even though Mom says that she expects to go in to a home at some point, she may also be expecting daily visits.

I love spending time with Mom, and I love my alone time, and I love my family time. So finding a balance for all of that is key. Me first, without being a selfish twat.

Overall I found the podcast affirming how I've been feeling lately. I have been wanting to let go of a couple current responsibilities to make room for new things (like blogging more than once a year), so that's in the works.

This coming week's self-care tip is: Use magazine and newspaper cutouts to create a physical vision board of your 2024 goals and intentions.