New Year Resolutions

I have to admit, I'm not really one for resolutions, at least not in the traditional sense. Using the new year as an excuse to start exercising, write every day, keep my apartment, and just generally turn over a new leaf doesn't really work for me. It's nice as inspiration and all that, but I just do that whenever I need to. Why wait for January first when there's a whole string of Mondays throughout the year that are just as good symbolic starting points?

But, with that said, I'm thinking that this year I might try to set up some goals to work towards that are more specific than I'd normally go for. They'll probably change over time, but right now, this is what I'm thinking of.


1. Come close to finishing my dissertaton - I feel like this needs to be done so I can really become sustainable - it take a lot of time and effort, but even more than that it leaves me feeling like I'm too much in limbo to do set up the life that I want here and now.

2. Set up a garden on the patio - I have many of the materials that I think I need, I just have to actually do this. Happily, I can start on this now, since it's time to buy seeds, and I finally have some catalogues to work from.

3. Join the local food co-op - it's not too far, and it will serve as a good way to start to get involved in local food issues.

4. Reduce costs - find ways to cut down on spending even more, so I have money for my own projects, as well as more to donate to charities that really need it right now.

5. Further reduce waste I've done almost everything that can be done fairly easily, so I suspect it's time to dig deeper, and start getting into deeper ways of reducing energy (and possibly living expenses too.)

6. Seriously declutter my home - this will serve to make it more functional as it is right now as well as a way to make it more of what I need it to be for TEOTWAWKI and a way to make it easier to move if I have to get myself elsewhere for any reason. I suspect this is going to be the toughest one for me though, as I try to stockpile things I need while trying to not pick up too much.

7. In general, devote time regularly to projects to finish them. Too often I have great ideas that flounder halfway through, and I'd like to be better about getting done things ranging from my dissertation to setting up a garden.

That seems like a good list for now and, in the spirit of motivation and getting started, I'm off to turn on some music and get myself tidying around here.