New Year, New Focus

Happy new year, friends! We arrived back home midday yesterday, and I haven't been able to fully warm up since. I guess I got very used to the warmer temperatures of southwest Florida over the two weeks we were there. We had a nice New Year's celebration with my parents, my brother, and my sister-in-law. On New Year's Eve, we made a spread of appetizers/snacks and watched the Orange Bowl (well, the first half, anyway -- we were rooting for Michigan and were disgusted enough by the first half to turn it off after that). We all went to bed before midnight, though I was probably still awake because people were setting off fireworks and the noise was giving Rainbow trouble as she was trying to fall asleep. On New Year's Day, we slept in and then made a big brunch. I went for my first walk of the year and decided to make it extra long (7.5 miles). Dinner was fancy -- a whole beef tenderloin and lobster tails -- and we had prosecco to toast the new year.

Being in Florida again at the new year brought back some memories from when we were there last, when we started 2020 not knowing what was to come. On New Year's Day that year, I sat down with a new notebook and resolved to start writing in a journal regularly again. It was also the day I settled on a word for the year for the first time. I didn't write in that journal again until March, when things started getting scary, but at that point it turned into a regular practice for me. And now that we've started a new year, it's time for a new word! My One Little Word for 2022 is ...

Something I realized last year, especially through a lot of my reading, was that I was getting a lot of satisfaction from stretching myself and challenging myself. And I'm not talking about stretching physically, though I did that, too; I'm talking about making myself uncomfortable by examining my privilege, forcing myself to choose the perspectives of others who are noticeably different from me, and considering the ways I impact others and the world around me. I have always considered myself to be someone who loves to learn and who never stops learning, but I want to make that more of a concerted effort this year. I want to always have personal growth in mind when I choose what to read, what to make, what to cook, and how to spend my time this year. I want to work on being a better parent, a better partner, and a better citizen. Even with things that I've been doing well for a long time (like knitting), I want to challenge myself. I fully believe that one of the ways we stay mentally healthy as we get older is to learn new things, so I'm hoping that by putting an emphasis on this focus this year, it will become central to my life for years to come.

While I plan to try some new things in knitting, for January, I'm focusing on finishing up WIPs from 2021, specifically the two sweaters I have on the needles:

and my combo spin, which I'm hoping I can finish this week or next, as this is all I have left to spin to finish the singles:

I'm looking forward to hearing all about your word for the year, if you've picked one, and your crafting plans for 2022!