January 1, 2020…is anyone NOT feeling the significance of this day and having a nagging urge to resolve something? Every year this date marks the beginning of eating plans, cessation of unseemly and unhealthy habits, and overall hopeful dreams for the next 364 days; most of these are short-lived. And yet, we do it every year. The beginning of a new decade intensifies the feeling in many of us, especially when we contemplate the relatively few decades we likely have remaining on this earth.
As a somewhat new retiree, who is now joined in that designation by my husband, the seemingly open-endedness of the possibilities can make for some interesting scenarios. Rather than planning for my second semester of teaching, I’m investigating part-time employment and/or volunteer opportunities that fit with my delight in education, while honing my skills as a canner, chicken keeper, and lover of needle arts. My husband, rather than scheduling his imminent business trips and managing software solutions for billion dollar problems, is contemplating how to maximize our maple syrup production and initiate our beekeeping endeavor, while pursuing his personal studies in the area of science and faith. All in all…some rather pleasant tasks.
There is much to balance if we wish to be successful, with a significant lack of outside accountability. Yes, we are accountable to each other, but we also feel quite forgiving of inactivity due to our friendship and long-term history…almost 48 years.
We recently visited with a financial guy with the firm that manages our investments. FYI…this activity made me feel ancient. “Brett” is so very young, first off, younger than our youngest child. And somewhere along in the conversation he made an offhand comment about us entering our last active decade…you know, traveling, working part-time, continuing to live on our farm unassisted. Yikes! I admit that he is probably correct in his assessment, but stating it in those terms gave me a sense of urgency in making this decade really count for something. How do I want this to play out if I can have my wishes?
We left our meeting with “homework” to complete before our next meeting in seven weeks. There are some pretty heavy financial decisions we need to make, and, honestly, we just can’t make those on our own. So we need to find a Certified Public Accountant to guide us through the process. Maybe we are unusual, but we have never had regular contact with a CPA; we do our own taxes and have always made our own decisions regarding investments and large purchases. Also on the agenda is completing an online budget, and although I feel a bit queasy about the prospect, I know I’ll feel better once that is done. Finally, I need to reach out to the company that has managed my little windfall from my unused sick leave while I was employed as a teacher. After the holidays are ended and all of our family guests have bid us farewell, we are getting down to business.
About a week ago I was mulling over changes on the horizon for me personally regarding my health and my employment direction, and I realized I need my goals to be as specific as possible and that those goals need some short-term benchmarks, if you will. Foremost, though, I need a written plan that I can reference often to keep me on the straight and narrow. I pulled together some resources that I had saved and set about to create a calendar for my management of our home and property. The standard calendars available online just did not cut it for me. I spent several hours creating the following.
I’m pretty happy with the result, knowing that as the year unfolds, I can easily revise it.
But that is not the whole of my responsibilities on our little homestead. There are critters to be fed, watered, and kept healthy, along with foodstuffs and other growing things that have to be planted, cultivated, and harvested. Having clean bathrooms is important, but there is a lot more involved here.
So I came up with this:
Since this one is really my own brain child, I’m really unsure if I’ve covered my bases. Again…I’m planning on ongoing revisions throughout the year, and, hopefully, I’ll have a comprehensive document by this time next year.
I realize more each year that time is truly marching on at a brisk clip, more of a jog really. If I want to have time for my personal growth goals in my mental, physical, and spiritual areas, I need to be accountable to myself. I think I’m off to a pretty good start…at least so far this year.
Resolutions are indeed a good idea. We need to regroup and reevaluate. I, for one, am always appreciative of a good do-over. Let’s move into the next decade with hope and a good portion of flexibility. Enjoy your New Year’s Day corned beef or sauerkraut or black-eyed peas and get this party going.
