Some Resolutions

Hello there, 2017!

2016 is done. Dead. Over. So... what next?

1. I am going to eat something green every day - that definitely fell by the wayside toward the end of last year - strangely enough, after the 2016 Elections here in the US.  
2. Do the Read Harder Challenge from Book Riot.  I did the 2016 one, and that was an excellent choice: it provided the motivation I needed to read books that I perceived to be worthy but not always as immediately appealing as something trashier and lighter. The challenge taught me also that these perceptions were not really accurate - so much of what I read was wonderful and easily digested, in part because I chose good books by authors who knew what they were doing.  I might post up the choices I made for 2016, because I was pretty pleased with myself, but that's for another time.
3. Cut down on screen time.  I am not quite sure how I'm going to do it, but some research (sadly, on a screen) will be needed!  But, basically, I spend too much time with my phone and it irritates me as well as people in my life.  I would like this to help with productivity, too.  This is where I'm starting: each year, NPR looks at different ways to disconnect, a little, and I will be looking into some of 2015's recommendations.  It is a little scary, but exciting, too.  I think smaller steps are needed, as I don't really know how to even start!  So I see the plan as this:
1. January: Working out (and being honest about) just how much time I spend doing what - on phone, on tv, and on computer.  
1. After two weeks, work out what is "essential" time, what is "fun" time, and what is "I'm doing this because I can't stop / I'm addicted / being lazy" time.  
2. Then make a plan to cut down on a small part at a time.  I think the Bored... and Brilliant? series at NPR will really help there.
2. February: Make my first cut!
3. March: Check in on how I'm doing; make a second cut, or alter the plan depending on the success thus far.
4. And then we'll see, I suppose, how it is going.
4. Walking!  There are two parts here:
1. Hit my 10,000 steps each day.  I'm going to work on making sure that if I do not have enough steps, going for a ten minute walk before bed, that sort of thing. What should help is...
2. Every hour I'm at work, having a five minute wander. I'm going to set my alarm to do this.  Obviously there is some leeway when I'm in meetings or teaching, but this is the aim.  At least while I'm teaching I stalk around the classroom, so I get some steps that way.
5. USE MY PLANNER.  I often end up feel harassed and all over the place. I have a new class to teach this year, as well as all the other work and personal obligations I have to address.  So actually using the planner will, I hope, help me feel a little more on top of thing.  That would be nice.  It's not going to be easy, and this planner is a little intense, so we'll see how I do.

I know I can do #2; #1 I've done before and is a small but useful thing to do; #4 I'm pretty sure of, too.  The main concern is #3, but I think having smaller chunks to break it down will help.  We'll see about #5 - I am not good about consistent planning and use of the planner, but I know it will help.  A concerted effort to use it should help me determine whether it's good for me.  

Par for the Course

Tonight, I am getting on a plane to head to warmer climes for a brief respite from the misery of the NY "spring" that we are enduring. There are several things about this trip noteworthy only for their utter typicality at my inability to have a holiday properly:

• My head is spinning from my blocked sinuses that have somehow, magically perhaps, been unblocked until the day I go on holiday.
• We are going to a warm, sunny place with a pool. That should be enough but, instead, we are going to a music festival which will involve late nights and far too expensive drinks. So when I get back on Sunday I will be just as exhausted as I am now.
• I have packed too many books in the vain hope that I will read them all but will instead read half of one, feel guilty and it will hurt my back to lug them all around.
  

BUT: I am not taking ANY work with me. Blackberry, yes. Papers, laptop - no. Just no. In that much I will break the cycle.

Adaptation

The last week has been a little hellish, workwise. I'm really not a morning person, and I've had to be here earlier almost every day, and have stayed late, too. The morning thing has been horrid - I have had to set the alarm 45 minutes earlier every day, and have left the house about 1 hour earlier every day.

This is not to say I've been getting up early, by any stretch of the imagination. The secretary who sits by me gets up around 5.15 to exercise before leaving the house at 7 - a time at which I've usually been asleep, although this week I've been indulging my final snooze for the morning. But for me, it's been really rather early and horrible. People always bisect the population into morning and evening, and I'm neither type. I'm sleepy in the mornings, and sleepy at night - it just depends on what I've been doing for the past few days as to whether I'm zonked by 7 or sprightly and up at 9 on the weekends. I don't need to sleep until 11, but I like sleeping until 9. My brain really cannot handle working past 11 at night, but it can sit up until 3 watching tv, playing guitar hero, reading, or being out and about dancing. It's all... contextual.

I've often read those articles that state that you should get up at the same time every day, and I've understood that they're probably a good idea. Nonetheless, I have always ignored them as being really not applicable or desirable for my lifestyle. This morning, however, I noticed that getting up that early was unpleasant but not as bad as usual. I'm still a bit sluggish and resentful, but it's not as bad. Usually I struggle to get myself to the pool before work, but this morning, I was there, swam, got breakfast and then to my desk by 9.30 without too much pain. That's not bad, for me.

Am I turning over a new leaf? Fat chance. But it really has been remarkable to feel a transformation this week. Me and the alarm clock shall venture forth into next week and see what happens.