We’re almost at the end of the first month of 2019 (WHAT!!!). All of the carefully thought out goals, ambitions and resolutions are well underway. As part of this year’s first N-N-1, we’re checking in with our favourite bloggers from around the world to see how they’re faring.

READ: The N-N-1 Collaboration

Sparking Joy – A Splash Of My Life

One fine day in the first week of January 2019, a little Japanese doll-like lady with a quiet demeanor and a calm force, came into my life. Marie Kondo in her Netflix special ‘Tidying Up’. Within the next few days, I had watched every possible #KonMarimethod video on YouTube and had printed out a checklist on how to follow her de-cluttering method. Last weekend, the closet and the dressers looked like a hurricane passed through them. But by Sunday evening, things that ‘sparked joy’ were hung in the right place and stashed with a higher level of organization. There were two bags of clothes to be trashed and three to be donated. Time to move to the next categories!

I may not have fancy resolutions, but now I know how to fold my clothes like Sushi. 

A Solution Filtered Through – Colonialist’s Blog

When comes the New Year is when I
Get energy renewed;
With launching into DIY
Ambition am imbued

This year I sought a filter that
On pool replaces one
That just a lot of use is, fat,
To get sand-filt’ring done.

The two-bag jobs expensive are,
And, new, beyond my means,
So, looked at ads both near and far
On internet-type scenes.

And on the nineteenth jumped for joy —
Just what I wanted traced!
But, oh, how it did me annoy,
That it had gone in haste.

I asked that I be notified
If that deal should fall through …
Next day, such duly was apprised,
And hope flared up anew!

The distance there was quite a way,
But I drove there at speed;
To dig it out took half a day,
But I got what I need!

This filter and all twiddly-bits
Have safely been brought back,
So now I start on fitting fits —
Filtration I won’t lack!

TBR 2019 – Classical Gasbag

Even I, a person who tries to lower expectations, think this is a ho-hum picture. But it is the physical embodiment of my goal for 2019. Goal because no one keeps their New Year’s resolutions. Goals, however, are achievable.

What is this goal? This bookcase holds most of my To-Be-Read (TBR) books. They are books that I’ve picked up over the past few years, along with a few that were gifts, and some that I want to re-read. I have felt constrained and unable to make a serious dent in the TBR accumulation, rightly or wrongly by my annual reading challenge. But this year I am concentrating on this bookcase. Oh yes. I said that it holds most of my TBR. I have another shelf worth of books that I will also be drawing from, but this is the main source.

Wow! Long explanation. The goal is to read at least 1 ½ shelves worth of my TBR.

When Cindy read the description of this N-N-1, she immediately asked me if my goal was a specific goal that she had in mind for me. No. That isn’t the way personal goals work. But, honey, I’m working on that one too.

Speaking My Truth – The View From A Drawbridge

This was a very special day for me. I got to participate in the annual Seattle Womxn’s March for the first time, and although it was not as big as it was the day after Trump’s inauguration, it was still impressive to me. 10,000 people, speaking their truths about women’s rights, creates powerful energy. But for me, quite often, it’s the little things that matter most. Like this 4 year old girl who made her very own sign, and was proudly carrying it. Start them off early, Mom. There will always be work to do and marches to march.

Enjoying A Memory As It Is Being Created – This Labyrinth I Roam

I have lived a very unstable life, moving four countries in four years. Part of that is a severe case of wanderlust, but mostly it has been us trying to make a relationship work in different countries because our home countries haven’t allowed us to be together without a marriage certificate or a job that pays CEO level salaries. What happened, in the process, was that every adventure was severely tainted by behind-the-scenes stress and worry. What this meant was that I didn’t enjoy a memory as I was making it. It’s only in retrospect that I saw what a wonderful time it was, what an opportunity, what an adventure!

And so, my 2019 resolution was born. I had to face the fact that my life was never going to be normal. However, what I did have control over was how I experienced my day-to-day. 2019 is going to be the year I live more mindfully – even when my day is filled with stress about making a paycheck last the month, even when I worry about visas and border control and jobs, I will enjoy the sound of my niece’s laughter, I will enjoy the crisp winter air, I will let my soul swim with the geese as I take a walk in the park. And so far, I have managed to do just that.

Mecca Of Bountiful Ideas – Wild Rivers Runs South

Too much time on the Little Elbow River,
Not enough time on the dusty backroads
Of my home state.

Too much time tending bar.
Not enough exploring new taverns
In Nebraska hamlets.

Too many days of wordless thoughts
Have dried my creative juices
Into crusty, scabby flakes of stammers
In my once lubricious brain.

When spring arrives, I’ll flee the confines
Of this once and future, but not present
Mecca of bountiful ideas.
That feels like a bumpety-bump great idea.

Keep a lookout for more N-N-1 announcements so you can participate the next time, and join our global collective in capturing memories at a set date and time. You could even host this event on your own blogs. Feel free to write to me at labyrinthiroam@gmail.com if you have ideas, if you want to host the next one, if you just want to say hi!

Until next time!