or: What I’m Doing With My New Year Wishes
Happy New Year!
As is usual for this time of year, I’ve been reflecting on my last year, what’s gone according to plan (including what I may need to do differently if I’m in a similar situation in the future) and considering what I will do more or less of this year to see the results I’d like to see.
It turns out I’ve had a huge 2016 with quite a bit of change including moving to Japan, moving back to Hong Kong, two new jobs and my fur kid dying. I’ve also had a trip to Australia, Bangkok and a few to HK while also exploring Japan, making some new friends and learning a language. I’ve been writing each day and blogging each Sunday.
Thanks for continuing to read my ramblings. Here’s another one…
2016 has been a rollercoaster and I’ve learnt bucketloads as a result e.g. how to better work in a culture totally different to any others I’ve worked and writing and running in the morning before work is not a match made in heaven for me and I need to come up with a better approach for this year (doing either in the evening doesn’t seem to be a good fit – I’ve tested this in 2015).
It’s another year where I”m humbled to know how many fantastic people are in my life and have been there in my moments of “Hmmm I need to decide between x and y, this is what I’m thinking. Have I missed anything?” type of conversations. Thanks! Also, thank goodness for Skype and WhatsApp for when we’re not all in the same country!
This then had me thinking about the passive nature of New Year’s wishes. You know the kind, “Happy New Year, I wish you happiness, health and success in 2017” etc. Wishing is great and I like the sentiment however, a wish is unlikely to come true if no action is taken on the wishee’s part. Good new word there.
This is not to discount larger factors beyond individual control. In spite of these larger factors, the wishee must take control in order to make these wishes come true. As my Mum quoted throughout my childhood, “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.” This took me a while to understand in my child head yet it makes perfect sense. Mum will be happy to know I paid attention. As a piece of useless trivia, this proverb comes from a 16th century English nursery rhyme. It is unlikely any trivia competition will ask this so save it for a dinner party.
Ok, this is starting to sound like a red wine and cheese conversation and probably better for a longer post or a chat in person.
In the meantime, below are some actions I’m going to take this year to make the wish of “happiness, health and success” come true for me.
Happiness – for me, this is about my connection with the world around me, how I engage with and in it and what I can do to make the world a better place. Happiness is a mix of so many things for me (e.g. family, friends, travel, writing, reading, leisure, health etc), that I’ll just give a sample of what I’m going to be doing this year to make this part of the wish come true.
I’m going to visit as many of my Facebook friends in person as possible as well as those that aren’t on Facebook. I’ll be writing about this for sure. First stop is South Africa.
I’m going to have some adventures and travel to places I haven’t been to for a long time, some new places and do some volunteer conservation diving in Madagascar. I’m going to look into some other volunteer activities too.
I will read (this doesn’t need a specific target since reading is an addition for me!), I’ll do quite a bit of writing too (am thinking about a specific target for this one) and photography.
There will be more nature in my future. Walking, running, swimming, diving, sitting, reading and writing in it. There’ll also be winery visits since it’s good to drink in nature too. There will definitely be picnics. There’ll be sunrise and sunset watching, animal observing and staring at the the stars and the clouds. Ahh the serenity…
I also want to learn quite a few new things. That list is growing every day and will be culled to something a bit more realistic. The culling is tough.
There will be some fantastic breakfasts, great cups of coffee and some fun and interesting dinners (both food and people related). I will try more new foods and drinks and invent at least two new cocktails.
I’ve just realised all these things are activities that I am able to be totally absorbed in and time stops. It’s a good reminder that these tend to be the things where I may forget to eat while I’m doing them, unless they are things that involve eating of course! My happiness may have a detrimental impact to my health which is definitely not the intention!
Health – I’m going to face my fear of the doctor and get myself checked out properly. My doctor fear is close to my fear of live poultry. I don’t need my fears to compete for which is worse – neither fear is rational and they both impact my behaviours. Going to third world countries can be a double-whammy as usually there’s injections required and many places tend to have free range chickens and roosters. I will be confronting both these fears this year.
I’m also going to exercise more regularly and am working out how I can best do this when I’m traveling to as that’s when I tend to find a billion other things to do. I’ll hit 10,000 steps and have 7.5 hours sleep (that seems to be the right number for me) at least six days per week. I’ll also make more of an effort to eat since I have a knack for missing lunch or dinner if I’m focused on something. Breakfast is never missed though sometimes delayed to brunch.
Success – This is closely linked to happiness for me as that’s my measure of success. If more of my year is spent feeling happy than not, it’s a successful year. If it’s been a particularly traumatic year, retaining the belief and having steps in place for it to be better shortly is my indicator of a successful year.
The elements of success not contained in happiness are more around employability, retirement preparation, financial goals and the like.
With that in mind, I’m going to study a few things both online and in person that will help me with my career and areas of interest and will put what I learn into practice. I’ll also read some biographies and autobiographies as it’s useful to see how other people think and what they did to get to where they are in life. I do this every year so it’s nothing new. I enjoy it and it impacts my happiness.
I’m also going to reduce my spending further, donate more of my stuff and automate any payments that haven’t been automated yet. This all ties to happiness too as it makes my life more simple. I also like living in a smaller place partly because it’s cheaper but also because it’s easier in terms of cleaning and general maintenance. I know not everyone likes to live this way. It works for me.
I’ll also be starting a business which at the moment I’m both excited and nervous about. To not have a regular salary is going to be a bit different for me but I’m looking forward to the opportunity of helping more people and seeing what I can do in this area.
This is quite a deep topic and I definitely haven’t done it justice. That would need a much longer post and quite a few caveats!
It is more to encourage and remind me to think about what I have control over and to exercise it. The flip side is to just wish that something is going to happen, not make any changes or be inactive rather than proactive and expect the situation to change.
That is not me at all.
The world favours action.
Take it.
* Thanks to Jon Butcher for the title to this post. Watch and listen to the acoustic version – it’s great!