New Year Themes

Rather than setting up resolutions for the new year, one thing I've tried to do in the past is set up a theme for the year. While I have set up some specific goals for this year, I also wanted to continue with the theme as well.

This last year has felt somewhat crazy for me. In addition to my dissertation work, I started teaching, and also had a few other important things come into my life (this project is perhaps the biggest one.) These things are all hugely important to me, and I love them, but it's a lot to manage, and I find myself oscillating a lot - between extreme rest and extreme productivity, from one idea to another, and from incredible calm to great turmoil. And so, while things are getting done over here, they're getting done in ways that perhaps aren't as efficient or as healthy for me as they could be.

With all of this is mind, this year's theme is going to be sustainability, which I think is applicable in a few different ways. I'm still musing through this, though, and will likely have more to say (and more to say in a way that's more coherent) as I go.

In terms of work, I'm hoping focusing on sustainability will help me to balance teaching and research so that I don't get burnt out, and become more effective at both. I want to ensure that I schedule time for both so that I'm working regularly but not crazily. This balance will also mean that I can work more efficiently and more regularly on other projects, rather than the fits and starts that I'm prone to now. To this end, I'm going to try to schedule my life just a bit more, and follow a regular enough routine to make it possible to maintain my work in a way that doesn't so drastically affect my life.

I want to balance sustainability at work with sustainability in my personal life. In part, this means taking more regular time for me, rather than lapsing into two days of TV watching as I occasionally do when I'm burned out. Included in this time for me is the desire to make my health and emotional well-being more sustainable. By setting up a stronger work schedule so I have less excessively busy periods, and less times when I have no energy, I'm hoping I will have more time to exercise regularly and to take more time for me in things that ground me, like yoga and meditation. I'd also like to make sure that I work harder on the relationships in my life, which feel more important than ever.

Finally, I'm hoping that these more individual expressions of sustainability allow me more time and energy to work on sustainability within the world at large. I have many projects that I want to work on, and I'd feel better if I felt capable of putting more regular efforts into them. A garden, solar energy, and possibly setting up a tiny house can all require a lot of those who choose to use them, and I'm hoping that by making my own life more sustainable, I can do things that are more sustainable for the planet as well.