2022 The Year of Minimalism

And by minimalism do I mean I'm going to cull down my possessions to only 20. Nope. That is a massive goal I could, in no way, accomplish. 

However, I am going to embrace one of the basic philosophies of minimalism: Less, but better. 

There are a lot of people who take minimalism into more aspects of their lives besides just their possessions. They use it as a guide to the people they let in their lives or the level of information they allow themselves to ingest. They use it as a way to set reasonable progress for themselves. 

And the thing is, as I said in yesterday's post (and as anyone will notice as they look around the world), things are rather unstable right now. It just really is NOT the time for big anything. Big projects, big decisions, big spending, big changes.....no. Not until the world looks a little more level. 

So. Here are my minimalist goals. 

1. Use things I have. One of the reasons why things are so cluttered is that have a lot of things I'm just not using. One of my goals for 2022 is to give these things purpose. No buying new hobby supplies. No buying new storage containers. I have plenty of this stuff. We'll find new and better ways to use it.

2. Organize small areas at a time. I managed to organize about two shelves in the utility room this last month. I did it about ten minutes a time over a period of two weeks. It looks pretty good (except for my jacket) and I feel happy when I look at it. The other two shelves I can't work on because my roommate has one already organized and the other one is out of my reach.  I think this is a good pace though. Small organizing steps. 

3. Maintain good habits. Even if I don't build on them, at the very least, maintain the ones I began.

4. Go to therapy. I've started again and my therapist is very good. It's been three years and it's certainly time for me to start again. 

5. Do the things that bring me joy. Read, listen to music, talk to friends, pet the cats, that sort of thing.

I'll be honest here. I am scared of 2022. The last two years have been really chaotic and I think we'd all like for that to stop, please. I'd like a nice, simple year where things just run smoothly and people make progress. There is no way I can control that though. The best I can do is just my small bit of it.

Joyful Saviors

Oh, the world outside is frightful.....

2021, fam. It wasn't the best of years. The political landscape was insane. People are radicalized and just stupid. People are ignoring logic and reason and common sense. Hell, the crowd that always claims to have common sense is ignoring it. 

......but these things are so delightful!

However, I have managed to make it through the year mostly sane...ish....kinda. And here are some of the reasons why. 

My closest friends. The people I talk to on the daily are people I've known for years. We have conversations that have lasted for years. No matter how bad things get, we'll find ways to either process the situations or distract each other. People, you need friends like this in your life.

JRRT's works. My mom read Tolkien to me when I was very young and it's always been a part of my life, but this year I dove headfirst into the fandom and allowed myself to become outright Tolkientrash. This fandom is my favorite thing at the moment and I love it so much. No matter how bad things got, I could sit here and think about Sauron seducing kings to their ruin and feel better.

An Archive of Our Own. On a related note, I also dove headfirst into Tolkien fanfic. Some of the works on AO3 are amazing. I've read many book-length works that made me weep. I've read short pieces that delighted me. I've considered characters and situations from so many different perspectives. Ahh, it's been so much fun.

YouTube. Actually, YouTube keeps me sane every year, but this year especially. This is where I find music to meditate, it's where I've discovered new stuff that speaks to me, and it's my usual source for education. You can learn anything on YouTube.

Focus. So I've tried to change some stuff in my life this year. Okay, admittedly, I try to do this every year, but I've had some success this time. I'm getting better at mindfulness. It's not a lot. It's mostly some focused breathing and perhaps stretching for 15 minutes or working on leg rehab or just letting my mind empty for a bit. It's never a lot, but it's something. It's more than I was doing and it's helping me. 

Anyway, I've gotten past the point of hoping the world gets better. I'm not sure that's even possible anymore. Despite that, we can still find joy in things. As I've written time and time again, I truly believe that if people put effort into working on their happiness, everything would get better. 

For 2022, I hope that all of us find more joy. 

Oddities

In my various gifts for Christmas, I received some bags of used yarn from my stepmom. One bag also had some knitting needles and a small book in it as well. I've decided, as to not make Ye Elder God of Yarn Stash even larger, I'll be using the Stepmom Yarn before anything else. That way Yarn Stash officially stays the same size.

Some of this yarn is just going into the next rounds of the stash-busting blanket. Some of it is really nice though and I think I'll make it into some hats. I still need to do the hat with bells. 

Some of it though.........

Okay, admittedly, my yarn exposure is not massive. I've tended to purchase only what involved a project for someone else (usually baby blankets) and some various bits for myself, but given that I still basically suck at this, I never buy anything uncommon or expensive. And I do not think this stuff was expensive. It's just....strange. 

I made a trivet out of one ball of it. It's big enough to basically handle my teacup or any hot bowl I might need to handle. I tried to make a bracelet out of some of it but that turned out ugly so I may try to unwind that and....maybe another trivet?

The rest of it is in fall colors so I'm combining all of them to make a skinny fall scarf. So far it's pretty, if, yeah, still odd. The really good thing about this stuff is that it knits quickly so I should be finished with the scarf tomorrow. 

Treasure Chests

I read another version of Fingon saving Maedhros from the mountain again today. It was really good. Hell, it's always really good. I have read this story and versions of it over and over again for months now and I always love it. It always thrills and hurts and sometimes it makes me cry. The one I read today did. I even know exactly what is going to happen in them, but it's still just so amazing.

Some stories, some moments in books or songs or movies, or what have you, are treasure chests. No matter who opens it, they will always find wealth inside. Tolkien wrote tons of such moments, but I think Fingon's rescue of Maedhros is my favorite.

Betwixmus

A woman for The Guardian wrote an article about a tradition she and her single friends have between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve. They call it Betwixmas and it's basically Single People's Chistmas. 

It's the time when you don't really have to go to work (or no one cares if you show up) and you can hang out with your friends and not be bothered by family obligations or anything like that. I think it's a lovely tradition. 

Of course, every traditionalist in the comments had to trash this as hard as they could. They insulted the writer for being single and claimed there was no way she could be at peace about it. They insulted the idea of single people just wanting to live their lives and have fun. The ones who were married tried to argue their choices were far better and the ones who were still single and bitter about it (most often, men) ranted about how horrible it was that people could possibly CHOOSE this as a way of life. 

Once again, stop hating on other people's joy. Let people be joyful about whatever they want. It really isn't harming you. Your time would be better spent finding some joy for yourself. 

Cat Concerns

Tinkerbell has been living with us since 2012. She was several years old when she was rescued. I'm not sure how old she is, but it is considerable. Her face has a lot more white on it than it used to. 

I don't know how much longer we'll have her. I don't really want to think about it, but right now things are pretty depressing so my mind is going there. I hope our time with her is long, but that's less likely every year, isn't it? 

I'll end this now. I need to hold my cat.

Day After

Okay. So next year I am going to insist I do not have to spend my birthday with my family. I am going to make sure we see each other either before or after my birthday so I can do what I want to do on my birthday and not worry about other people. 

I think that's only fair.