Welcoming 2011

“The season is upon us now, a time for gifts and giving.
 As the year draws to its close, I think about my living.”

-  "A Baby Just Like You," John Denver

As we are only a little over two weeks away from the end of 2010, I thought this a good time to reflect on the past year. My first thought was to look at my resolutions for 2010 and give an update as to where I stand with them.

Here’s a quick list of what they were:

1. Be healthier

2. Face some of my (ridiculous) fears

3. Be more spiritual

4. Get in touch with my faith

5. Be more careful with my finances

Well, looking at this list, I can’t say I’ve accomplished any. I’ve started working on some of them, not by choice, but because I’ve been forced to due to circumstances beyond my control. However, since they are things that I’ve been wanting to work on, it’s good that I was finally forced to start the process.

I haven’t really become “more healthy,” though I have been exercising more because the endorphins help me to feel better both physically and emotionally. I have also lost weight due to not eating from anxiety, which is not how I would recommend going about it. But since I’ve lost the weight, I don’t intend to make up for the not eating and pack it on again. I am simply starting from this point to try and lose more the appropriate way.

Facing some of my fears, well this is a big one. I have been forced to do this and I’m working on it. It’s part of my “Me” project. This will be a work in progress for many months to come, I think. But that’s okay. At least I’ve started the process.

Becoming more spiritual and getting in touch with my faith is something I’ve also started. Again, it will probably take me a while to reach the point where I’m satisfied with my progress, but I feel confident that I will get there.

Being more careful with my finances – ha! Yeah, that didn’t happen in any way shape or form, and you can blame that on the Malden. This is not to say that I have put myself into debt but I certainly didn’t rein it in. However, 2011 will be different, no matter what new binders Filofax comes out with. I’ve made a pledge not to buy a binder in all of 2011. If I come across a binder I do want, I can always ask for it for my birthday or wait until 2012. At the very least, it will force me to decide if it’s something I really want before I allow myself to make the purchase. Once the holidays are done, I can really start this project.

I haven’t come up with any new resolutions for 2011. I don’t think I will. I have plenty to work on without adding more to-dos to my list and more stress to get it all done. So I’ll just continue to work on my 2010 resolutions that I didn’t start until recently.

As far as my Filo and system go, I have plans for that too. I’m going to keep my general set-up – monthly pages for long-term planning, week on two pages lined for weekly planning and to-dos, and daily sheets for each individual day for additional information that the weekly pages don’t allow for. However, rather than continuing with the Day Planner sheets, I thought I’d give the day on two pages inserts a try. I absolutely love the way they look in Jotje’s system. One of the biggest downfalls of the Day Planner sheets is that there’s only 20 sheets in a pack, so to use them every day for an entire year, you’re looking at a lot of packs. I do buy 5 – 10 of them at a time when I order directly from Filofax. But when I’m in NYC and I head to a retailer, they often don’t carry that many, so I am unable to buy the amount I need and I usually end up cleaning out their stock. The day on two pages might be more than I need, but now I can start writing down more details of my day. Plus, I can keep those details on an open spread, unlike the Day Planner sheets where some of information had to be kept on the back of the sheet, which is okay, but it’s a lot of turning the page back and forth. I also love the layout of the to-do/notes page of the day on two pages spread. One thing I am concerned about with the day on two pages, however, is the daily layout. I have tried the regular day per page layout and I didn’t really care for it. But I’m willing to overlook that and try again for the sake of the lovely to-do/notes layout that drew me to this format to begin with. The two pages per day pack should arrive today and I will put those into my Malden on the first of the year. (Watch for a post soon after.)

I’m also going to update my “Me” binder. I have quite a few notes waiting to be typed up, printed out, and inserted into this binder. One thing I want to change is renaming my “Project Me” tab to the “Happiness Project,” borrowed from the bestselling book. I have yet to read this book, so I don’t know the details of what’s discussed here. It’s on book my list, however and hopefully the first one I will read in 2011 to kick off this project. “Project Me” was mainly created to keep notes on how to combat anxiety and depression, and these things will still be included in this section. But I want to take the focus away from preventing the “bad” and put it on highlighting the “good.” I’ve started to collect articles and tips on how to be happier in life. (For the record, I’m not unhappy, but sometimes we lose sight of what’s really important in life and let our fears take over and control out lives.) In the end I may make two sections of this – an anti-anxiety/depression section (name to be decided upon later) and the “Happiness Project.” I’ll have to see how much of either I have before deciding on that. I may add inspirational quotes to this section as well or make a separate section altogether for this purpose. If I add this section and separate the “Happiness Project” and anti-anxiety section, I will then have to make one “Exercise” section and put “Running,” “Resistance” and “Yoga” under the one tab. That would be okay since each of those sections is relatively small.

As for my pocket Kendal, I think I’ve finally come up with a good use for it. I’m going to keep medical and writing notes in here. These are details that I would add to my daily sheets, but for easy reference, I will transfer certain information to the pocket Kendal. I have 2011 monthly sheets and weekly sheets all ready to go thanks to Oni. This way, I can see the information I need to at a quick glance, rather than having to sift through tons of information that would no doubt be included on the daily sheets. (Watch for a future post on this as well.)

Finally, I want to start getting my Reference/Media Filo up and running. I’ll be using my personal brown Classic for this purpose. In addition to the sections already decided upon, I want to include a quotes section. I have two Microsoft Word files for quotes – general quotes and quotes from books I’ve read. From those lists I will transfer my favorites to the binder. (Again, watch for an individual post on the specifics of this binder once it’s completed.)

So many exciting Filo projects waiting for me in 2011!

Without realizing it, this was a good day to write – December 20 is the day I started Well Planned Life. As of today, not counting this post, I have 62 entries. That’s an average of one post a week. Not bad. I have enjoyed writing, more than I thought I would. Of course I love writing about my Filo adventures, but I also enjoy writing about my other passions in life, and more than that, I love learning about what you all enjoy in life as well. I hope you have enjoyed reading.

To all of my readers: have a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!