At last the chaos of the festive season is over. The decorations are neatly packed in boxes for another year, the leftover turkey is (finally) finished – though there are still enough mince pies to last another month or two – and you can actually walk through Tesco’s at a reasonable pace. Ahhh. I got some lovely presents this Christmas, including the ‘Never Not Knitting’ page-a-day calendar, the Yarn Harlot’s ‘Free Range Knitter’, and a stitch dictionary (a knitter’s dream, surely). I’ve never had a page-a-day calendar before. There’s something both satisfying and terrifying about ripping away days and throwing them in the recycling bin. I also borrowed ‘Twilight’ from my cousins and spent boxing day reading it when I probably should have been interacting with my extended family. Oops.

I’m very excited because I have about 5 pages of new year’s resolutions (so far).* It’s a list I can turn to if I ever feel like I’m stagnating. All the items are easy and fun to accomplish, and I can take some sort of action towards them immediately, even if it’s just a bit of googling, but each one is part of the “grand plan”. I encourage you to give this a go. Don’t just make resolutions like, “Eat less” or “work less”, make your resolutions compelling and simple so you can’t wait to fulfill them!

Last year I also tried the idea of having a word that I could mull & ponder & use, which was ‘enthusiast’ (not ‘enthusiastic’ or ‘enthusiasm’). I found it very helpful, so I’ve decided to pick one for 2010. My guiding phrase for this year is ‘travelling light’, which I feel is a great metaphor that I can apply to any area I need: travel, photography, eating & drinking, dressing, living, working, etc. It also happens to be the name of one of my favourite JJ Cale songs (’Travelin’ Light’ to be precise).

To top it all off, here’s a PDF I cobbled together for myself. It’s 4 little cards that you can use to write notes in, things you want to think about every day; maybe the values you want to live by, your new year’s resolutions, actions you want to remember to take every day to Raise Your Standards. I’m sorry the picture isn’t terribly suitable. I wanted to represent a “standard-bearer”, but I wasn’t prepared to spend 40 hours trying to draw one. Just imagine yourself lifting your standard high above your head for all to see, as you march forward to conquer. :)

*I posted a few of them on 43Things.

Have you read?

1. Printable Knitting Calendar
2. The Charity Knitting Challenge