new year, new energy

January 2023

Here we are, week 2. Are we still using all of our notebooks, just like we thought we would?

We’ve had a lot of illness in our house this fall/winter (the kids all had something- I think RSV- the week before Thanksgiving, and then all of us had Covid for Christmas, with the baby ending up with an ear infection at the end of it). I was very happy to send the big kids back to school last week and have slightly quieter days.

Goals and Plans for 2023

This is a year for gently nudging myself back toward Doing Things. I am tired of being in survival mode. This year I am using the Makse Life goal-setting system and so far I’m a fan! I bought the companion notebook set because Hobonichi is my ride-or-die. Each week I’ll be adding my weekly action items to my Hobonichi for easy reference, like on the right page in this spread:

Personal

• Monthly, weekly, and daily planning habit. My overarching goal for the year is to use my notebooks. Things are better when I am. Check out last month’s newsletter if you want a video walk-through of what I’m using this year.

• Complete One Little Word. My word this year is JOY.

• Get Messy. I had wanted to get back on the art journal train last year and like so many things, it didn’t happen. This year I gave myself some specific parameters to work within because limitations breed creativity and all that (also, I needed it to not be so dang open-ended). If my idea works out, you will hear all about it!

• Read at least 52 books. I had a decent reading year in 2022, but I want to make 2023 even better. I am less focused on writing this year (more on that some other time) and more on plowing through my TBR pile. I joined the Hardcore Literature Patreon and will (hopefully) be reading a lot of classics this year. I finished grad school in 2008 so it’s been… a while since anyone has asked me to think deeply and critically about anything. My oldest has started to ask really deep questions and I feel like I need to step it up intellectually. I’m also trying to keep up with three other book clubs that are part of various online memberships (one for writers, one for parenting neurodivergent children, and one for personal development). Plus whatever else catches my eye!

Fun & Recreation

• Not much in this category, which is possibly alarming? But most of my “fun” is my hobbies, which fit into other categories. I do want to take a family trip to the beach (hopefully over spring break), and would love to go to Marfa, which has been on my bucket list for a long time.

Work & Learning

• Spine Label. This month I launched a daily kidlit newsletter, with book recommendations for kids 0-10. I have a master’s degree in library science and worked in a public library for about 5 years before I had my first baby. Even back then I was wondering how I could be a work-from-home librarian and well, I think this is it. My kids are currently 9 months, 5, and 9 years old, so I feel pretty confident in my ability to rec books for these ages

• Annotate three memoirs. As I continue to wrestle with my own memoir (which I go back and forth on actually completing all the time; literally I reread my SFD last night and thought “I still feel like there’s something here, but I wish there wasn’t so I didn’t have to write it”), I’d like to do deep rereads on a few of my favorites with an eye towards detail and structure.

• Participate in Writerly Love, particularly book club. If you’re looking for a warm, supportive writing community, this is it. Later this month we’re doing a daily poetry quest, which I am super excited about.

Family & Relationships

• Regularly update daily journals for the kids

• Improve family dinner to the point where we are all eating the same foods and the table is set. Meal time is a battle. If you have young children, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. I desperately want it to be a fulfilling point in our day. I keep trying.

• Participate in Differently Wired Club (book club, journaling, and at least one coaching call). At least two of my kids are neurodivergent. I’m in the trenches, it’s freaking hard, I keep trying.

Health & Wellness

• Intentional movement 4x/week. Anything counts, from a ride to foam rolling. I have not been exercising much in the last few years and I feel it. Any time I do any yoga/ stretching/ foam rolling I can tell how crunched up I am. It’s not good. This year my goal is to do at least 10 minutes of intentional movement four times a week (more than that would be great, but I am also aiming to be realistic). I use the Peloton app and the Hardcore on the Floor monthly calendar. I like the Peloton instructors and the variety of classes (Ross Rayburn sleep meditations are my little going-to-bed treat). The calendar cuts down on decision fatigue.

• Daily Cycles journal

• Inner child work. Currently, that means working in my tarot and emotions journals (mentioned in my 2023 stack), and a reparenting workbook.

Spiritual & Personal Growth

• Participate in Club Makse

• Daily meditation

• Set intentions daily

• Practice gratitude daily

• Cultivate self-compassion

Financial

• Specific income goal that feels completely impossible right now

• Resell baby stuff on Kidizen

Physical Environment

• Room shuffle. To make our house work for our family of five, we’re adding an office to our backyard. My oldest will move into the former office and the baby will finally be moving into his own room! Getting all of this settled will likely take me an entire year (I don’t have a lot of patience for house projects, also, we have yet to break ground on the new office).

• Hang artwork. I kept putting this off because I thought we would be moving and we are clearly not (see above).

• Add plants. Again, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

• Sewing, knitting and wardrobe goals: knit 12 pairs of socks (I have a sock yarn subscription this year), sew more linen pants, knit another shawl, finish my Nurtured sweater, sew a quilt coat, and take a sewing with knits class.

I went through HB90 at the end of 2022 and so ~theoretically~ my goals are realistic, time-wise. Writing it all out does seem like a lot. Again though, mostly just want to use my notebooks.

---

Coming soon… I thought it would be fun to do a video sharing some old journals and talk about my influences and inspiration over the years (I’ve been journaling since 1995!). If you have any Q’s (practical, nosy, or otherwise), drop them below.