2014: Do ALL THE THINGS!

I had a tough time sleeping last night. So obviously, I planned a cross-country road trip for me and Addison to take in 2015.

Because that’s what I do. But Neal says I’m not allowed to talk about it. Because that’s what he does. (I guess one day I’ll just say, Hey, we’ll be back in a month; work hard!)

I also started thinking about the last few years of one-word themes. That tradition has been just the thing for me; I never could get anywhere with a bunch of detailed resolutions. I haven’t given nearly as much Thanks this year as I intended to, but at least a few people got some strange and random expressions of gratitude from me, so, you know, that’s good.

As we near the end of 2013, high on my priority list is to write that accounting of how my 2012 one-word theme, Stronger, went. I could look at it as being a year behind schedule, but actually, I think this year was as much about getting stronger as it was about thanks. Maybe giving thanks also makes us stronger. Deep, right?

As much as I’ve loved the yearly themes, I realized that I need to do something different for 2014. I have all these disparate ideas and interests, loose ends and goals left up in the air. I want to give each some time to either be realized or discarded. Enter my monthly themes.

• January: Organize (Or die!, says Neal)
• February: Cook (Ack! Did I actually just write that? I think I will devote the shortest month of the year to trying to develop a meal plan that works for us.)
• March: Research (I’ve got a vision of a paper I want to submit to a conference in May; deadlines help.)
• April: Quilt (When I was sick, but not too sick, I quilted for fun and relaxation — between the intensity of March and May, I need a low-key April.)
• May: Write (Remember that whole impression I got, “Write your spiritual history” about 18 months ago? Yeah, I didn’t do that. I didn’t exactly ignore it, but it’s complicated, you know. But after many unexpected requests over that period of time, I know I need to make this a priority in May.)
• June: Garden (I’m on the fence about this one. I don’t do sunlight very well. Or digging. Or leaving my house. But if I can teach Addison to upkeep a garden, that would be lovely.)
• July: Travel (I’ve been saving for two years to get over to my family reunion in Hawaii and as of yesterday, the ticket is purchased. Too bad there wasn’t enough money for Addison and Neal — better luck next time!)
• August: Play (This is my break from classes and I want to make the most of it by spending as little time on the computer as possible.)
• September: Learn (I have this idea that I should learn something new next year. I was thinking about physics (technically not new since I took it in high school, but all I did was make trouble. Sorry about that, Mr. F) or zoology or astronomy since Addison asks me questions about those all the time. How should I know how the mechanism on the soap dispenser works? — that would be in the physics category, right?)
• October: Create (Remember that one time I quit my job to do conceptual art? Well, I kind of got stymied with that on account of the fact that to realize my vision I needed a couple of large, empty, white rooms. I still don’t have any empty white rooms, but next year I think I’ll try to create something out of the bits of art I’ve lugged all over the country for the last 8 years.)
• November: Plan (I’m still a little vague on this one. I was just thinking that I wanted to do some financial planning sometime next year — who wouldn’t, right?)
• December: Read (It’s cold on our mountain right now; our heater, though working, is somewhat temperamental so it’s also cold in our house. All I want to do is curl up and read the three books I have checked out from the library. It seems like a safe bet that that’s what I’ll want to next December as well.)

Sounds like a pretty full year, but I’m excited! I usually am about middle-of-the-night ideas. What do you think? Doable? Crazy?

Have you formulated any resolutions for 2014 yet?