Issue #40 Resolshuns
Follow Through
Resolushuns
(If you spell it wrong it’s like crossing your fingers – you can let yourself off the hook if you need to.)
‘Tis the season and all that jazz.
The start of a new year.
Of course, calendars are just a human construct – my dogs don’t know what year it is. Heck, they don’t even know the days of the week.
The sun comes up. The sun goes down. Bowls are filled with food and water. Walks are taken. The mail comes. The mailman runs away because barking has happened.
But we humans are obsessed with organizing things. And that includes organizing time.
For some reason, once every 365 days we decide we need to make changes to how we are filling that time.
Some of us try to make big alterations and some set more modest goals.
I say “try” because true change is hard.
Really, really hard.
Personally, I’m a success junkie.
So, this year I’m aiming at targets that are pretty easy to hit.
And, by listing them here ( misspelling or no) I’ll have to stick with them because of the “public declaration” rule. (Anything you say, or write, to other people becomes a little more set in concrete.)
#1 - Organize at least one thing every day during January.
My life is filled with things that need organizing.
Strike that.
My life is overflowing with things that need organizing.
Some of them are big – like the 12,483 photos on my phone – and some are small.
Last night I went with safety pins. Big ones, little ones, silver ones, gold ones etc.
That was pretty doable – only took about twenty minutes.
The great thing about this resolution is that, even if only thirty of the phone pics get sorted on a day, that still counts. It’s not about amount of organizing. It’s about the act of doing something.
#2 - Knit through as much of my stash yarn as possible over the course of the year.
At the beginning of Covid lockdown I was a knitting fiend. If you check out my personal Instagram and scroll back to 2020 you will see a LOT of cool stuff. Complicated patterns like cabled hats and mittens because, well, really, I had nothing much better to do.
Gradually my schedule has filled back up leaving a lot less time for things like knitting.
But I miss it. And I’ve got a bunch of lovely yarn calling, no screaming, my name in hopes of getting me to return to the needles.
That’s it.
Those are the goals.
You will notice that, not only is the list pretty tiny, the exercise bike is not even mentioned.
I have the bike.
I will ride the bike.
I’m just not going to set stupid expectations I know I won’t meet.
When I ride it, I ride it.
Happy New Year :-)
Copyright© 2023 Anne Morse Hambrock All rights reserved.
Organizing
One day at a time.
It’s the little things :-)
One More…
I lied.
There is a third resolution and it involves you, my readers.
I’m going to ask a little something of you.
I’m going to come right out and ask you to help me reach more folks with this newsletter.
There are a couple easy ways you can do this:
1 - You can forward a copy of any newsletter you particularly enjoyed to a friend. Follow up by asking them if they liked it too and, if so, point out the subscription link at the bottom of the letter where they can sign up.
2 - If you have a Substack of your own, you can add this publication to your recommendations.
Finding an audience on the internet has always been hard but these days it’s even harder. A friend once used this analogy. “You have made a terrific thing. Putting this terrific thing onto the internet is like pouring a glass of water into the ocean and expecting someone to know about it.”
I liked that example but I myself have a different way of looking at it.
Make a painting.
Now hold that painting up over your head so everyone can see it.
While standing by yourself in the middle of the Utah desert.
I used to try to use social media to increase my audience but the powers that control such platforms just keep changing the algorithms so that fewer and fewer of the folks who “follow you” or “like” your page see anything that you do.
I’m not trying to take over the world.
I’m just trying to spread a little cheer.
I don’t have any ads in my newsletters or on my website.
I don’t share my email list with ANYONE.
I don’t ask readers for money.
If you are just humoring me by reading these missives, well, that’s OK. Don’t worry about sharing.
But if you truly like them, please consider passing them along.
Finding the time and energy to write is a lot easier when I know people are enjoying it. It can be a real struggle when everything feels stagnant.
About The Free Thing
Substack really really really wants me to charge for my newsletters and I plan to really really really resist that. Please comment on this post if you feel Substack has harassed you into switching to a paid subscription. I need to know about any pressure you get like that because I have not enabled paid subscriptions.
Bonus Link
This video was made 10 years ago by Faculty, Staff and Students at Indian Trail Academy. It is a terrific version of Pharrell Williams “Happy” and shows ordinary people expressing pure joy. It’s a little long but there are so many great moments!
My cartooning friends who were part of the Kenosha Festival Of Cartooning will remember that we always did an assembly at this school and they treated cartoonists like rock stars!
Keep The Messages Coming!
A big “thank you” to all of you who have messaged me commented or hit “like” after reading my poems and commentary!
I appreciate the feedback and knowing how often I have struck a chord with your lives.
Archives
Remember, you can always hit the “archives” tab to see more or catch up on posts you may have missed.
