3.24.2011

Soliciting Ideas for April


I'm looking for an April goal. Now soliciting any and all ideas. To refresh, here is what I'm talking about when I say "goal". Here, here, and here are my goals for January, February, and March.

A few ideas:
One bag of trash for the entire month. (Apparently there is a Charlottesvillian who only goes through less than a bag a year!)
No shows for a month.
Read (fill in the blank) number of books.
Run three times a week.
No-spend month.

I'm kind of drawing a blank and feeling a little uninspired. Calling all blurkers- come out and give me a suggestion. I loved my goal for January. February was a great goal to get me moving and out of my winter stupor. March has been a struggle, which is great to realize. More on that later.

What is inspiring is this picture, which also came up when I googled "person thinking" images. Courtesy of tovadarling. Ha.


March's goal of limiting my internet use has been difficult and that is great to realize. Like the other two goals, when I started out I think I envisioned it being pretty simple to stick with. Not so. I am more aware of how often I flee to my laptop to just zone out and relax once the kids are (finally) napping. I'm embarrassed to note how poorly I've kept this goal. And that's good for me to know.

Here I thought I would wile the hours away, contemplating life, writing poetry, doing yoga, or arranging flowers in a vase whilst enjoying the late afternoon sun. Such lovely things would I do, instead of losing brain cells by looking at other people's vacation pictures from 2003 on facebook. I would journal! I would pray! I would make complicated dinners! I would do sit-ups!

Sigh.

8 comments:

  1. Run! I'm officially Becoming A Runner in April, and I'll need moral support. We can complain in surround sound!

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  2. How about you do something with your hands every day? Write a letter (or journal), paint something, repair something, cook something unexpected.

    Do a craft of some kind with the kiddos (or maybe just kiddo) everyday...or once a week.

    Give the husband 1 hour of uninterrupted time every day. (Next month, ask for the same for yourself.)

    P.S. I hate that last suggestion (except the part in parentheses).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read that article on the "no trash" girl a while back and, I don't know, I couldn't really take her seriously because if she was really committed to the environment, she would've taken a vow of celibacy and knocked down her trash consumption by a large percentage.

    So, that's out.

    I took a writing class in college where we had to sit down and do stream of consciousness journal writing for 10 minutes every day. Might make for some interesting blog posts. Most of my journal entries that semester consisted of the phrases "now what should I write" or "blank, blank, blank" but by the end of the class I was hooked and journaled the years following.

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  4. 1. some kind of daily photo for a month? pick a theme - maybe a color that appears in all photos.
    2. try a gluten free diet. or non-processed foods. or no refined sugar...
    3. cook a new recipe x days per week.
    4. i think no spend is tough. friends of my parents are doing a round of only using cash. i think seeing the dollars may be interesting - it's a lot easier to ring up $200 at Target when it's just a little plastic card handed over rather than a stack of bills. and it's probably easier to say no to purchases if you have to go to an atm first. definitely cuts out internet shopping.

    will keep thinking...

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  5. 10 to 15 minutes of writing a day. Doesn't matter what. Well, maybe it does: you cannot write OMG, OMG, OMG! for 15 minutes. But, I think you're a good writer, Kak; so go for it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmm... two votes for daily writing exercises... interesting.

    kim- we do a cash system now and it is pretty effective in keeping me aware of how much money we're spending every month. for example, we will be eating beans and rice for the rest of the month because i have already spent all of our grocery cash that i had set aside. gah.

    a few votes for diet changes, as well. erin (via facebook) voted no sugar for a month. she did not, however, offer to join me in the challenge. ahem.

    one vote (via facebook) for planting or doing a garden activity.

    one totally useless "i thought of something you should do but forgot what it was" via facebook. thanks, allison. haha.

    interestingly, one vote AGAINST a no-spend month, via email. hoping to get more thoughts on that later.

    lots of good ideas! i'm not sure which one will stick...

    ReplyDelete
  7. here's another one via email:

    April goal idea: Write and (snail) mail one thank you / appreciation / encouragement note every day. (Email doesn't count.)

    I think this is small enough to be achievable but might have a huge impact.

    Alternative idea: be incredibly square and old fashioned and memorize Scripture. This would be awesome.

    Alternative idea #2: Plan and execute one gardening project each week. April is the perfect month.

    Alternative idea #3: Find a goal that centers around some aspect of interaction with the hubs and/or the kids.

    Just a (few) thought(s) that came to mind.

    G'luck! You are inspiring me. And cracking me up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. No sugar for a month would be terrible for the rest of us. I say write. There, I said it again: write. And just think, you can also read some memoirs of writers -- you know, Paris Review interviews and what not. Perfect your craft, yo.

    ReplyDelete

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