A Year From Today

I’ve seen plenty of quotes on the internet along these lines but lately there’s a thought, a question that has really resonated with me of late:

In a years time, what will I regret having not started today?

What do I want to be different a year from today?

Tomorrow is 1st May. What – realistically – would I want to be different on the 1st May 2017?

There wouldn’t be anything earth shattering. We’re settled with where we live, our home, local schools and so on so no big moves or anything like that. The changes I’d like to see relate to more mundane, day to day, very ordinary things! I’ve really given this a lot of thought and have tried not to tackle too many different things to give myself the best chance of success. Here’s what I’ve decided on:

1. Save money. Ah, it sounds so simple. However, Husband is currently working very hard to get a company off the ground and his earnings vary from month to month. Even on the best months this figure is low so it is hard to cover basics, never mind save. However we desperately need the security of savings plus I don’t want the kids childhoods to go by with no holidays and limited experiences so I’d like to save for that too.

2. Lose the weight. Wow does this blog reveal how long I’ve been trying to do this. I need to lose about 20 pounds to get back to my happy place. But frankly 10-14 would do!

3. Sort out my front garden. My back garden also needs some work and we really must get on with some of our interior work. But seriously, the front garden is in an embarrassing state. It is very unsafe for kids (it’s a sharp slope dropping down to a very busy main road and we can’t put a fence on the boundary) so I struggle to find time to go out there (when my littlest in napping I have to work so it is almost impossible). Plus I have chronic back problems and am having long term physio which also complicates things. But! It must happen. I am determined that this time next year it will not look so dreadful.

4. Writing project. A determined effort must be made. I’ve dithered around with this in one way or another for, oh let’s see, almost twenty years. Yes, years not months. Time to stop messing around and give it a year of attention. I plan to start out with the intention of writing 500 words a day, 6 days a week. I reserve the right to change this to whatever works but this is a starting point! If I can’t do anything with it after a years effort then I am officially freeing myself from it!

And that’s it. Obviously there are loads of other things I want to get done as well. But these four things have got to be uppermost in my mind. Those random little pockets of time that get lost in aimless screen time or whatever? This is how they are now going to be spent.

It’s been a good exercise, thinking about 1st May 2017. What would you regret then that you hadn’t started today?