2/17/23

This Year Will Be Different

 




2023

This is the year that things will be different.  This is the year I do less.  The year where I will not rush.  I will not run to yoga  I will not brush my teeth as quickly as possible while also trying to complete 20 squats or clean the sink. No more multitasking, unless the hair dryer falls off the shelf like it did last week during a vigorous tooth washing session and I needed to catch it.

 I will leave 10 minutes earlier for everything, including events where I’m not even required to be on time, like taking a walk in the neighborhood or picking up more toothpaste from the drug store.   I will take deeper breaths while working, inhaling to the count of the number of emails in my inbox.  And I will unsubscribe from at least one email list daily, starting with Booking Buddy  because the sales are never as good as they say, and Poshmark clothing, because there are way too many buttons on their shirts, and Pennsylvania democrats because I already made the phone calls for John Fetterman and he won. I’m also going to unsubscribe from Julie and Hannah, the dynamic duo  that initially sounded like unstoppable essential oil evangelists who might help reduce stress levels, but whose emails google keeps telling me I haven’t opened in 6 months. Do I want to stay unsubscribed?  Thank you, Google for helping me stick to the New Year’s plan.

This is the year that I will say “no” more often, or at the very least, think about saying no more often, unless it seems like it’s a really cool opportunity, which sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t and in any case, it seems appropriate to think about it for a little bit and just see what the words “Thank you for thinking of me but I can’t fit it into my schedule” feel like when I say them out loud.  I will also stop booking meetings so close together, allowing for time to sip tea quietly on the couch, or have a long leisurely teeth brushing session with possible extra flossing as I inhale deeply wishing I hadn’t unsubscribed from Julie and Hannah’s essential oil list which might be nice to smell while I’m inhaling so deeply over the sink that I’m not cleaning.

I will be less busy.  I’m not sure what this actually means, but it seems like a good idea.  I hear other people say it and they smile when they do, with those two creases between their eyebrows diminishing as the utter this phrase.  I will also work on my inter-eyebrow creases by making more appointments at the spa, which I will amble to and leave 10 minutes early to get to, even if it means waiting in the reception area reading a magazine about the travel I may have missed because I no longer know about which airlines fly where and when.

2023 is going to be full of space. Open space, that is.  The kind that you just sit and bask in or wallow in depending on how you feel about having extra time with nothing to do.  I know this will be good for me.  I can think  more about how I can fill the space in the future with meaningful activities that I may not be aware of right now, but which will become more apparent as I unsubscribe from the chatter and allow for the worthwhile emails to rise to the top of my inbox and make the necessary phone calls and/or web clicks that will take me to sites that might just change my outlook on life, or at the very least, help me learn some new vocabulary words or better understand the economy. 

I will have more time!  Time to nap and read the entire New Yorker article, order an appetizer AND an entree and write for more than the 15 minutes right before my writing group meets, and go to the bank in person  to deposit checks so I can converse with the teller,  ask them about their day instead of taking a photo of the check on our wooden dining room table and virtually depositing it with zero words coming out of my mouth, or eye contact beyond looking at the grooves of wood in the table which are lovely but don’t help me remember that I’m alive.

 Oh, how different it will all be. I can’t wait. I know I’ll be more fulfilled, less stressed, more relaxed. I can do all those things I’ve been putting off: finally cleaning out the basement, putting those extra glasses in the “Buy Nothing” group on Facebook applying hand lotion every day instead of just once in a while when I remember.  And when it’s over?  I’ll look back and reflect.  This was the year, I changed, became the better version of myself.  I can’t wait.