
Just like every other person on the planet, I spend most of January reviewing the past year and setting some goals for the next. It's always kind of annoying, but it's also refreshing and inspiring to think that there's a whole clean slate, even though we all know that's not the case.
So anyway, here are some things I plan to work on this year.
1. Write every day. I discovered this great website called 750words.com that is a place where I can write and still keep it to myself and get some awesome analysis of the work that I don't know how to explain. You just have to check it out.
2. Write write write. I know this sounds exactly like the first point, but this is writing for the public. Writing that people can read. I want to blog more, and write screenplays and write publishable prose. Like a novel. What those things are going to be about I don't know yet, but I'll get there. And just work towards something to get out for people to read.
3. Get into financial shape. I went to lots of years of school, which ended up being lots of loans and credit cards. Add to that the fact that I work at a non-profit organization, and there's not a whole lot coming in. I hope to be a little more responsible and aware of what's going on. Keeping my credit score up to date, cutting down on the impulse buying, and working to save money for the future without hurting the present too much. I've discovered a site called mint.com, and it's super great.
4. Cultivate a relationship with nature. I know this sounds like a hippie dippy, but I promise I'm still shaving and taking showers. But I have a big yard, and right now it's all weeds. I'd like to get those weeds under control and plant something useful instead. I've been working towards that, and have some nice things planted here and there, but it gets overshadowed by ugly weeds. I'd like to make the yard into a place I'd like to hang out and have a drink and take in some sun. I also want the things in my yard to be useful, and I'd love it if those things were edible. I plan to compost better and be active about having a garden that works naturally.
5. Allow for serendipity. In this day and age, we have so many ways to close people off from us. Phones, tablets, social networks and so on make it easy for us to not actually be in the place we are. To form a bubble around ourselves that can be nearly impenetrable to others. So, I plan to put it away. Make eye contact. Strike up conversations and see what comes of it. Because you never know.
Hope your 2014 ends up as great as mine.