looking to 2024
as 2023 ticks down to an end, i look to 2024 and the things i’d like to achieve in it. and by writing things down, my hope is that come this time next year i may look back and re-assess, and even do so throughout 2024.
some weeks ago i found myself in a fit of discontent. i hadn’t slept well; i decided to begin working about an hour before my day typically starts. fortunately i have the flexibility to end early when such days happen. i reached for a blank composition book. i often stock up around august when school supplies begin hitting the store shelves, and scribble in them throughout the year. usually i go for spiral, but this time i wanted something bound. i am enjoying the change.
i began to write. and in the space of 5 minutes or so, i had over 30 ideas of things i might like to do in the coming year. day to day, i create “today-i-may” lists, a name i started using as “to-do” felt too absolute, and disappointing when i didn’t finish everything on it - this journal entry became a “this-year-i-may” list.
here are some of those thoughts. again - this happened in a fit of near-mania in the space of 5 minutes or so: they are not specific, realistic, well thought out or fully-formed. it is a lofty list and a shotgun-approach to new year’s resolutions. maybe some inspiration if you are still mulling things over and want to set goals for the next year.
- draw every day
- quit my job
- take a new class
- move away
- read classic literature
- buy land
- get a piercing
- build a community
- change my style
- make tools
- drive the Pacific Coast Highway
- start running
- stop going out to eat
- write a book
- make a film
- play pond hockey
- plan to stop working at 35
- read 1+ books/month
- make pottery
- make woodblock prints
- get rid of half of my things
- paint my nails
- change my name
- drive coast to coast (US)
- go camping
- go to another country
- expand/curate my digital library
- archive my data
- journal every day
- complete 1 small artwork/month
- learn an instrument
of course, it’d be near-impossible to do all of these in just one year. some of them conflict: buying land and moving away, doing both together seems nonsensical or irresponsible, depending on order of operations. and to that point, changing your name and then going to another country would require a new passport. some thoughts in this list are purely escapism.
but, i plan to do some of these. at least try them. a lot of them are “just try this new thing”, which is perhaps telling. i need some enrichment for my enclosure. i am a tiger at the zoo in need of a pumpkin full of ice cubes.
since scrawling out that first page in the composition book, i’ve written daily, and journaling daily is certainly one goal i am more serious about than others. i likely won’t be changing my name any time soon. i don’t even have any ideas for that.
as an aside: some feel that setting goals on the new year is arbitrary and, well, they’re right - but not all social constructs are useless. there’s good delineation between start and end times, with places to measure progress (eg. start/end of month) in between.
what sorts of things would you like to do this new year?
–hermit