Mission 2022

In 2022, I’m combining lessons from the heart with some –cough cough – goals.

But I don’t like the word goals, so it’s a quest, a journey, a mission: that for which I am destined.

So how was March?

March’s Tarot Card

I did a tarot spread for the full year and March’s card was Deep Freeze which reminded me to not push or force anything forward. I was admonished to rest, hibernate, and wait for the flow of life to happen.

Talk about accurate!

Life carried on, of course; I worked Monday-Friday 9a-5p at my technology job. I cooked, I read, I did laundry – all of those things that you do to keep life moving – not necessarily moving forward.

It was too cold, too wet, too grey and cloudy.

And I lost Ivan, my 18-year-old cat. He’d been in my life for 18 years. The day he passed I sat and felt that grief. Mixed in with grief was a sense of release; I’d been anticipating the time when I would be “cat free” again. It’s been 20+ years and now I have to figure out how life will be different.

You can’t rush that kind of transition. Other kinds of transitions happened easily for me in March; it really wasn’t hard to let go of tea and sugar. I’m still amazed at both of these and darned proud.

You can’t rush the kind of transitions I’m thinking about for this blog, either. So I’m honing away at the ideas and we’ll see what develops as the year moves forward.

And it will move forward.

The snowdrops are blooming and I can see daffodil and tulips starting to poke up in my front yard. Spring and all that lovely green is on the way here in mid-Michigan!

Write 250 Words A Day, 5 Days A Week

Yeah, this is NOT happening the way I envisioned.

I mean, I write 250 words a day, 5 days a week for WORK – not on creative writing. That’s what I was picturing…

Writing for this blog definitely counts, and that’s OK with me.

Revamp WordStorm Casserole Poetry Book

Not gonna happen. My thought here was to revamp the book, and add it to different websites, lower the price. I *thought* I’d be ready to do that in March or April.

Nope, no way. It’s still something I want to do, but there’s no hurry.

Post Twice A Month On This Website

Yes! I did publish two posts in March! There was the March Mission Update and Transitions.

DeGoogle, deApple, deMicrosoft – embrace Linux!

Why? Because Google, Apple, and Microsoft all track your every move online and that’s wrong.

In March I continued to use my Linux machine most of the time for personal use: checking personal email, watching YouTube videos, checking social media. I used it to watch Star Trek: Discovery and now Picard on Amazon Prime. I don’t think I turned my Windows machine for anything in March.

Have Fun

March was not a month for ‘fun.’ It was cold and wet and Ivan and ick.

• I listened to a couple presentations during the online genealogy conference RootsTech at the very beginning of the month.
• I walked with a friend once a week
• I had a couple massages.
• I used that Buy Nothing app to let go of some accumulated cat paraphernalia
• I bought myself new rugs, new bed sheets and duvet cover.

Big Secret Goal #1

I worked on this a bit in March. Baby steps count as progress!

Big Secret Goal #2

This goal involves hiring pros. Finally heard from the pros. They’d lost my initial inquiry and are now working on a proposal and estimate. Sigh.

What I’m Reading

On GoodReads, I have a 2022 Reading Challenge goal of at least 50 books. I’ve read 15 books so far this year; that’s 30% towards my goal. Since the last update I’ve read:

• The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen
• Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
• The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
• A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear

How About You?

How was your March? What big dreams and projects are you working on for this year?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years, it’s how to focus in on what’s really important. And, as I’ve moved through perimenopause into true menopause (hurrah!) I’ve learned how to engage the heart and flow.

Flowing with the energy of the heart is very different than the traditional way we’re taught to work. I’ve learned to let go of that need to do everything in THIS order and by THIS time, on a deadline, with SMART goals. It’s a very feminine way of working versus the masculine push through the accomplish that goal kind of method.

Instead, things flow. Things ’emerge.’

I recently finished a permaculture certification course. It took me waaaay out of my comfort box, and taught me about emergence. Things –tasks, projects, everything– emerges instead of being pushed and forced. You are a vehicle by which the emerging thing is encouraged and nurtured and birthed.

You don’t force things to happen. For example, I didn’t do anything to force menopause to happen; instead, it happened to me, and flowed through me, and left me the same and utterly changed.

So in 2022, I’m going to try to combine those lessons from the heart with some –cough cough – goals. But I don’t like the word goals, so it’s a quest, a journey, a mission: that for which I am destined.

The plan is to check in here every month and give you an idea of how it’s going. I’m definitely known to get waaaaaaaay off track, so this should be interesting for everyone.

• Write 250 words a day, five days a week. The year end goal is 60,000 words.
• Revamp WordStorm Casserole poetry book and make it accessible on other platforms.
• Post twice a month here… Year-end goal is 24 posts. And that monthly mission check in is 12 of those posts!
• DeGoogle, deApple, and deMicrosoft. This year I’m planning to embrace Linux. Boy, I’ve got a long way to go with this one.
• Have fun – try new Earl Grey Creme teas, visit new places, try new recipes.
• Big Secret Goal #1. And man, if I want to make this big secret goal work, I sure had better write more than 250 words a day. Hint Hint.
• Big Secret Goal #2. I didn’t spend a whole year contemplating permaculture for nothing, you know.