Belatedly, resolutions
As ever, a quick look back to last year's:
1. Exercise and fitness
This one was going really well for most of the year, despite the fact that my Pilates teacher took most of the year off. I joined the gym at work, and actually went; in fact, for most of the summer I was in the gym four or five times a week. Late summer that changed, with work getting busy, then going on holiday, then moving into a new post at work and that being busy. Since late September I've been to the gym a handful of times, and my weight/fitness has suffered accordingly.
2. Work-Life balance
Ahahahahahahahahahaha. I don't know why I'm laughing, this has sucked. For large chunks of the year I was routinely working long hours, my flexi credit at work was at ridiculous proportions (and extra hours spent on union work, where the bulk of the effort went, weren't even counted for that), and for the first time ever I found myself having to take annual leave in order not to lose it (we have to take a minimum of 20 days per year, and I was at 18 days with a month to go to the end of my leave year). Time at home has been in short supply, quality time at home even more rare.
3. Blog what I intend to
Another strike out, i think. I'm on Twitter much more, because it's quicker and easier when I'm not feeling inclined to interact with the world at large, but there's been loads of stuff I've wanted to blog about and just never managed to find the energy or motivation.
4. Be a better photographer
Well, I didn't take any courses, I only managed to get to a couple of the photography group meetings, and I have a slew of photos from Portugal, London and Dublin that I haven't put online yet. But... I think I'm improving nonetheless. My sense of composition is getting better, I've got a clearer idea of what I'm trying to achieve with my photography, and I'm developing my own style a bit more.
So, after that curate's egg of a year, what next?
Well, this is going to look a bit familiar...
1. Exercise and fitness
Yep, I need to get back into good habits, and get myself back to the gym, eating sensibly, and generally looking after myself a bit better. This was really working last year; I was losing weight, toning up, looking better and improving my fitness. It's difficult though - I never once got an endorphin buzz from exercise, I never walked out of the gym feeling better than when I walked in. This is all about long-term goals, not short-term gains. But it's necessary, for my health and my self-image (I've been feeling "fat" recently, which never used to happen until I started thinking about fitness and exercise, and it's a state of mind I loathe. Need to stop).
2. Work-life balance
Given how rubbish this has been for the last few years when I've been trying to keep it under control, I dread to think how bad things would have gotten had I not been fussed. This year I need to get a grip. Key things are to be better organised at work, overcome the bad habit of procrastinating (which means that I tend to get to fairly late in the day then realise I still have hours of work that would be better done that day than the next), and try to get to work earlier (flexi time is great, but t a bitch for enabling bad habits). The actual workload does not look like it's going to reduce any time soon, so this is all about finding the coping strategies, putting them in place, and sticking with them.
3. Be a better photographer
As I mentioned, I'm not doing badly on this so far, but I lack the technical knowledge that I often need to create the images I want. I'm really aiming to change that this year, and to that end, have already been perusing some courses that DH could pay for as a belated Christmas pressie :-)
4. Reduce our carbon footprint by 10%
I'm really keen to do this; in particular, I'm keen to see what we can do without moving back to the stone age. I don't want to use public transport to get to work (two buses and four times the journey time plus far less flexibility on when I travel = not for me unless I have to), I don't want to give up our gadgets and TV, I don't want to spend a fortune, and I don't want to start knitting our own yoghurt by candlelight. So what can we do? This is a key question that I think the Climate Change campaigners often avoid - how do we make meaningful changes to our carbon footprints without moving to pre-industrial lifestyles? If we don't have cogent and compelling answers, then people won't makes the necessary changes. So this is less about what we do, and more about how we do it, for me (for example, I'm in Birmingham as often as I ever was, but far more likely to use the train to get there these days than perhaps a year or two ago). I've signed up at 1010uk.org, and I'm really hoping to make good progress on this over the year.
1. Exercise and fitness
This one was going really well for most of the year, despite the fact that my Pilates teacher took most of the year off. I joined the gym at work, and actually went; in fact, for most of the summer I was in the gym four or five times a week. Late summer that changed, with work getting busy, then going on holiday, then moving into a new post at work and that being busy. Since late September I've been to the gym a handful of times, and my weight/fitness has suffered accordingly.
2. Work-Life balance
Ahahahahahahahahahaha. I don't know why I'm laughing, this has sucked. For large chunks of the year I was routinely working long hours, my flexi credit at work was at ridiculous proportions (and extra hours spent on union work, where the bulk of the effort went, weren't even counted for that), and for the first time ever I found myself having to take annual leave in order not to lose it (we have to take a minimum of 20 days per year, and I was at 18 days with a month to go to the end of my leave year). Time at home has been in short supply, quality time at home even more rare.
3. Blog what I intend to
Another strike out, i think. I'm on Twitter much more, because it's quicker and easier when I'm not feeling inclined to interact with the world at large, but there's been loads of stuff I've wanted to blog about and just never managed to find the energy or motivation.
4. Be a better photographer
Well, I didn't take any courses, I only managed to get to a couple of the photography group meetings, and I have a slew of photos from Portugal, London and Dublin that I haven't put online yet. But... I think I'm improving nonetheless. My sense of composition is getting better, I've got a clearer idea of what I'm trying to achieve with my photography, and I'm developing my own style a bit more.
So, after that curate's egg of a year, what next?
Well, this is going to look a bit familiar...
1. Exercise and fitness
Yep, I need to get back into good habits, and get myself back to the gym, eating sensibly, and generally looking after myself a bit better. This was really working last year; I was losing weight, toning up, looking better and improving my fitness. It's difficult though - I never once got an endorphin buzz from exercise, I never walked out of the gym feeling better than when I walked in. This is all about long-term goals, not short-term gains. But it's necessary, for my health and my self-image (I've been feeling "fat" recently, which never used to happen until I started thinking about fitness and exercise, and it's a state of mind I loathe. Need to stop).
2. Work-life balance
Given how rubbish this has been for the last few years when I've been trying to keep it under control, I dread to think how bad things would have gotten had I not been fussed. This year I need to get a grip. Key things are to be better organised at work, overcome the bad habit of procrastinating (which means that I tend to get to fairly late in the day then realise I still have hours of work that would be better done that day than the next), and try to get to work earlier (flexi time is great, but t a bitch for enabling bad habits). The actual workload does not look like it's going to reduce any time soon, so this is all about finding the coping strategies, putting them in place, and sticking with them.
3. Be a better photographer
As I mentioned, I'm not doing badly on this so far, but I lack the technical knowledge that I often need to create the images I want. I'm really aiming to change that this year, and to that end, have already been perusing some courses that DH could pay for as a belated Christmas pressie :-)
4. Reduce our carbon footprint by 10%
I'm really keen to do this; in particular, I'm keen to see what we can do without moving back to the stone age. I don't want to use public transport to get to work (two buses and four times the journey time plus far less flexibility on when I travel = not for me unless I have to), I don't want to give up our gadgets and TV, I don't want to spend a fortune, and I don't want to start knitting our own yoghurt by candlelight. So what can we do? This is a key question that I think the Climate Change campaigners often avoid - how do we make meaningful changes to our carbon footprints without moving to pre-industrial lifestyles? If we don't have cogent and compelling answers, then people won't makes the necessary changes. So this is less about what we do, and more about how we do it, for me (for example, I'm in Birmingham as often as I ever was, but far more likely to use the train to get there these days than perhaps a year or two ago). I've signed up at 1010uk.org, and I'm really hoping to make good progress on this over the year.