I have been struggling to write an end of year, new year type of post, thinking about goals and resolutions. Resolutions is something I almost never do, new years resolutions seem naively aspirational and all too often doomed to failure but I do have some things I aspire to achieving in the coming year. I think I prefer to describe things as a plan rather than resolutions, plans tend to get acted on with a bit more dedication.
- Write letters – stop being the quite, complicit Australian but rather let politicians and corporations know that I oppose the continuing exploitation of our environment and the failure to support sustainability. In this I have been inspired by Emily who writes Grandmother’s questions, a wonderful blog that reminds us we can and all should be doing our best to make a difference. It is not enough to be informed and to care, we must actually do more to bring about change. So number one goal for 2020, write those letters! To that end I have downloaded some tools to help get me started, starting with the Climate council’s Climate Action Toolkit and accessing the Australian Conservation Foundation.
- Continue my personal efforts to improve on my own environmental impact. I want to buy less, repair more, starting with little things like taking the time to mend socks.
- On a more personal level I want to get up even earlier every day so I can not only continue to get my hour of reading and reflection before work but make sure I have enough time to take Ada for a decent walk, I really didn’t mean to get quite so athletic and active a dog but now that we have her, needs must and it is helping keep us fit and active. Right now she needs two good walks a day and a lot ball throwing or playing tug to wear her out. This is actually a real challenge, it seems harder and harder to drag myself out of bed in the morning, apparently I am not a morning person after all.
- Read, read and read. I have had a look around for reading challenges to join but so far nothing has really caught my eye, so I may just stick with the good old goodreads challenge and aim to read at least 32 books for the year, any more than that is a bonus but 32 is always my starting goal.
So how does everyone else feel about new years resolutions? Is there something you really want to set as a goal for the year?
Do you do reading challenges over the year? Do you know of any good reading challenges? I am always looking for challenges that take me down new reading paths.
May 2020 bring everyone much happiness and success.
Gum trees and Galaxies 
They all sound like great ideas that I could adopt too. 👏
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Glenys I have made the goals fairly achievable simply because I know me and how easy it is for me to get caught up in just meeting the needs of everyday existence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you about New Year resolutions. They are generally doomed to fail once we get past the initial adrenalin rush. I’ve seen a few different reading challenges around the blogging world – Australian Women Writers, a Non-Fiction challenge, a Classics challenge…but I am unwilling to commit myself to anything more than the Goodreads and Book Bingo challenge. Reading should be fun and too many challenges might create too much pressure. Perhaps you could create a new reading challenge. What about a Climate Change Reading challenge?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Karen you have mentioned some of the very challenges I have considered and maybe a climate change or even just an environmental reading challenge would be a good idea. I used to enjoy reading challenges but I then I do seem to already have so many things I wan to read it is hard to fit in anything extra and it does take the fun out of it. Anyway happy reading.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think 2020 is the International year of plant health or something like that, so an environmental challenge could be quite appropriate. I am planning to incorporate some personal challenges within my Goodreads challenge, such as more non fiction or translated texts. I see that some people do quite a few challenges all at the same time and I do wonder how they keep track of it all. Have a Happy New Year.
LikeLike