Reflecting, Re-evaluating, but No Resolutions

Happy New Year! I actually do not love this time of year.  I used to think “fresh start!” and “make lists of what to do better!”  But honestly, January 1st has become a time when we all seem to beat ourselves up for not being thin enough, organized enough, pretty enough, a better parent or spouse, and/or as fabulous as all those people we follow on social media. I could go on and on but I won’t.  You and I are enough.  We don’t need a cleanse or a detox or punishment because we were bad or ate our weight in panettone the last week in December (I am speaking for myself.) I hope you enjoyed all the delicious food and laying around on your vacations, because I did!

Resolutions for most, including myself, tend to be unrealistic and again, make us feel as though we’re slackers and not good enough.  And then when we can’t follow through with said resolutions, we feel even worse. So, I will not be making any resolutions thank you.  Instead, I prefer to reflect on the past year very simply.  What was good and what worked? Let’s do more of that.  What wasn’t good and what didn’t work?  Let’s re-evaluate!  I am an accidental entrepreneur who never sought to have her own business, but here I am and I like to approach my business successes and failures the same way.  A failure needs to be re-evaluated and may just need some tweaking. Some thoughts:

• Looking back on 2023, I see that with respect to some areas that didn’t work out, I didn’t take my own advice which is “make it easy to do what you want to do.”  You want to eat more vegetables?  Make it easy to eat vegetables.  Have them cut in the fridge.  Keep frozen vegetables on hand.  Find ways to add more vegetables to recipes, etc

• I do know that systems and routines help me achieve things. For example, I played a good amount of pickleball in 2023 because I set up regular weekly games. I will continue this.  BTW, Hubs got me the Think Royln pickleball bag and I love it. I also changed paddles to this one and I like it better than my old paddle.

  

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• I don’t love drinking water. There’s something in my DNA that makes me not want to drink plain water, but I know I need to.  So I piggybacked on a daily habit I always do (making matcha) and filled up a 32 ounce water bottle while my matcha was in the works.  If the water is on my desk, I will drink it. Imagine that.  In case you didn’t know, Pique is my hands down favorite matcha. It’s the best.

• On the other hand, I did not meditate regularly because I didn’t have a system.  I have apps galore, but I didn’t make it easy for me to meditate. This year, I will put a reminder in my phone every day and I will try for 5 minutes in the morning because waiting until the afternoon hasn’t worked well for me (I tend to fall asleep and I am already into my work day with too many things yet to do.)

  

• I entertain a fair amount at home, but I would entertain even more if I accepted my friends’ offers to bring something.  I have a weird discomfort with that even though I tell everyone else they don’t have to make everything themselves LOL. Note to self: invite people over and let them bring something. I also have been coveting all the tabletop from The ARK Elements and have not bought anything because the pieces are pretty pricey.  The owner of Marie Daage in Paris told me Parisians build their tabletop collections slowly, over time. Ok. Time to stop coveting and start building. I’ll start with 4 plates a year until I have enough for hosting a dinner because I can’t stop thinking about them

  

• I added strength training to my exercise routine and that was a good thing.  Will do more of this in 2024, I hope.  I found videos on Youtube that I like and I have some weights and a yoga mat.

  

  

• Well, I am getting older (not complaining) and I have new aches and pains (complaining.)  Something I don’t do is STRETCHING.  Every time I go to The Golden Door, I am reminded about the importance of stretching.  It is also where I learned about foam rolling.  I need to make stretching and foam rolling a daily practice.

  

  • Things I use every day should not be in bad condition.  It’s bad feng shui.  I get a daily dose of pleasure from good socks, undergarments and pajamas. 

    Thank you for being here and supporting my work.  I do put a lot of time into creating recipes, keeping my website up and running, creating content for social media and answering everyone’s questions in DM’s, on Facebook and in my emails.  I also enjoy putting together this newsletter and try to provide you with interesting and valuable tips and resources.  I have always provided this newsletter for free, but going forward I am offering an option to upgrade to a paid subscription which will provide access to more: more recipes, ideas, suggestions, strategies, finds and the like.  The newsletter will still have a free portion, of course.  If you find my newsletter valuable, I would be honored for you to be a paid subscriber.  Thank you!

    xx, Pamela

    Even More Musings …