2024 sounds like a good and solid number to me. We left 2023 with so much to worry about, but I hope that we might move toward a better year.
I haven’t had much time to think about goals or resolutions. As we edged toward the end of the year and I briefly considered the year ahead, I thought about putting one foot in front of the other. Back to work on January 2nd and start putting away the Christmas decorations. Write those New Year cards that never get written before the holidays.
I have a few easy goals. Easy is good. Being kind to myself seems like a solid approach to setting goals for this year.
My overall goals include the following:
- Exercise fell by the wayside in the final months of the year. I’d like to get back to that. I always feel better when I exercise. I love the fresh air and spotting wildlife and neighborhood decorations is a walking bonus. Getting back outside is my first goal.
- Year after year, in my New Year cards to the same friends, I’ve vowed that this is the year that we’d get together. I hope that I actually make that happen this year. It would be wonderful to see their smiling faces and hear stories of their families, pets, travels, and whatever else they feel like sharing.
- Purge more stuff. Hopefully letting go of more than what comes into our house over the next year.
A blocked kitchen sink drain, resulting in a Christmas Eve emergency plumber visit, will get me started with this goal. All of the things that were emptied out of the cabinet under the sink are piled in our three season porch. Not all of it is going back under the cabinet. I plan to do a thorough cleaning under the sink and to cull large collections of water bottles and Tupperware containers.
I have a few more specific goals.
- Buy heirloom seeds for the garden. I want to spend part of the winter perusing seed catalogs and purchasing a few seeds, so that I plant a heritage garden this year. If I have good results, perhaps I can dry some seeds from the produce I grow and have seeds for next year.
- Finish knitting a scarf that I’ve been working on all year. I’m 3/4 of the way done, so it is an achievable task. Maybe I can even wear it before warm weather arrives.
- Read.
- Tom gave me Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver for my birthday in the summer and I am looking forward to reading it in 2024. (Bookshop.org)
- The Cook by Maylis de Kerangal, a Christmas gift from Louis that I can’t wait to start on. (Bookshop.org)
- Jorja gave Tom Stanley Tucci’s Taste:My Life Through Food and I will borrow it as soon as I can. (Bookshop.org)
- What Makes Me Happy Now — The Guardian series in which writers consider what happiness means to them after the reckoning of the past few years. These essays might be perfect to consume and reflect on this year.
There will be the usual work, blog, garden, and cooking projects to fill the days. Hopefully, there will be lots of time with family and friends and travel on the horizon.
What are your goals for 2024? If you feel like sharing, please add a comment with your plans for the year.
About the photo: An early evening view of Plum Island Sound from the Parker River Wildlife Refuge in Newbury, MA.