Spring Resolutions

My Spring Resolutions

It’s becoming clearer to me every year that we’ve been doing resolutions all wrong. Because of the arbitrary way the Gregorian calendar organizes the months of the year, we always try to make our resolutions for growth and change in the dead of winter when our bodies are screaming at us to preserve fat and sleep as much as possible. By February, most of us are disgusted with ourselves for not living up to our own standards, and by spring we’re too discouraged to try to fix it.

Somehow our Western mindset of “humans are separate from nature” has made us ignore the natural rhythms of our bodies. We, like pretty much every other form of life on Earth, were designed to change and grow when the days are getting longer, not when they’re at their shortest. So, with that in mind, I’ve decided that I’m going to make Spring Resolutions this year, with the goal of improving my health, settling into a productive routine, and basically getting my life back on track.

Exercise

First things first: I need to start exercising again. Ironically, I fell out of the habit during the Olympics, being so busy watching other people be active that I forgot to be active myself. 🤣 Well, no more!

Now, when I say “exercise,” I’m not talking about “working out.” I’m living with chronic pain, and I have certain exercises that I’m supposed to do to help manage it. But I would like to add more to what I was already doing and hopefully build up some strength.

Sleep

I’ve always had trouble with both falling asleep and staying asleep, but seriously… staying up until 4am does not help me with either. 😅 I need to regulate my sleeping somehow. I’ve tried it all before, but I need to try it all again! I’ll start with giving myself a set time to get up, and see what happens from there.

Eating

You might wonder why I didn’t call this section “diet.” Well, I’ve been (fairly successfully) managing an eating disorder for a long time now by keeping to a vegan, organic, sugar-free, processed-food-free diet, and that’s been keeping me alive and functional at a healthy-enough weight for a long time. What I need to work on is my attitude towards eating. I don’t enjoy eating, I don’t like the feeling of having food in my stomach, but I have a stable routine around eating 5 small meals a day.

The problem is, I rush through eating, trying to get it over with, and end up with awful indigestion. That’s what I need to change. Somehow I need to slow down, chew for longer, maybe even take breaks mid-meal, I’m not sure. I just need to figure something out and get myself feeling better.

Be creative every day

Between reading and watching TV and YouTube, too much of my day is spent consuming other people’s creativity. I need to get back into embracing my own. I have lots of creative hobbies that I’ve been neglecting, like crochet, diamond painting, paint-by-numbers, plastic canvas, miniatures kits, writing just for the fun of it… I need to revive them all.

The one creative thing I’ve been pretty consistent with is playing violin, since I’m currently taking violin lessons (and I’m in my 40s, so let this be your sign that it’s never too late to take up your dream hobby!). But I’ve been neglecting my piano for years, so I’d also like to get back into playing that. There are so many ways to be creative. I want to do them all!

Cleaning

This is one that I don’t even want to put on here. I HATE cleaning. But I have a lovely new apartment that needs some TLC, so I do need to focus more on being a dutiful housekeeper. Bleh.

Reading

You might be thinking, “I’ve seen your blog/Goodreads. You couldn’t possibly read more than you already do.” True, too true. 🤣 My resolution definitely isn’t to read more, it’s actually to slow down and read less. I’m pretty sure I said this at New Year’s, too, but so far I haven’t been firm with myself about it. There are so many new books coming out that I want to read!! But I really really do need to slow down and be more discerning with what I pick up. And get back into classics!

I want to dive back into the reading projects I started last year – reading and analyzing the ancient classics, reading from the Diplomatica “Great Reads from Around the World” list, working through the “Top 100 Canadian Books of All Time” list. This is the type of reading that makes me the happiest. Why do I sacrifice all of that to pounce on a new release as soon as it appears at my library? Maybe that was fine for Winter Faye. But Spring Faye is going to get herself back on track.

How about you?

What do you think? Will you be making any Spring Resolutions this year? Join me! Shake off those winter blues and bloom!