My New Year's Habits and Goals, 2020

"How do you eat a tree?" "One bite at a time."
I take inspiration from the beavers who are terraforming the landscape on Bangert Island.
They know how to break down a goal into bite-sized pieces!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind: between extended family and siblings visiting from all corners of the U.S., helping a friend clean and paint her new house, and generally celebrating Christmas for all its twelve days and beyond, I have been spending a lot of time away from home, and a lot of time with other people. It's been fun, but exhausting. Fortunately, the past couple days have given me a chance to slow down, get my bearings, and prepare for starting up my online teaching semester on Thursday.

The past few years I haven't been making resolutions but "intentions," but this year I realized that I had several specific habits and skills I wanted to cultivate. So, for the sake of accountability, here are my 2020 New Year's Habits and Goals, and how I'm working on them so far.

DAILY HABITS:

• Every time you think about it, do a plank. Many people are surprised to learn that I hate exercising. Sure, I will gladly hoe a field for eight hours straight or climb a 12,000-foot mountain carrying a 40-pound backpack… but standing in my house lifting weights or even doing stretches makes me want to cry. Since the only activities I consistently do are walking and biking (and a three-minute series of stretches that I have a remarkable ability to forget about), I have very weak core and arm strength. So I promised myself that every time I have a moment, I will do a plank (it's like a push-up but without the "push" and "up" parts— my arms aren't even strong enough to do a woman's push-up). It can be for five seconds or a minute, I just have to do it. (Yes, I did pause in writing this post to do a plank.) If I do that enough times, I will have something resembling core and arm strength, no crying required! 

So far I haven't been doing it as much as I should, but I'm going to post more reminders around the house to keep me on track.

• Check Facebook and Instagram just once a day. I had slipped back into the habit of checking both of these multiple times a day, but I've committed to spending time on them with intention, rather than scrolling through my feed whenever I need a mental break. Since I have a lot of tasks to do on Facebook (such as managing my card company and writing various people), I make a running list of stuff I need to do on the site so I don't forget and have to come back. 

It turns out that when you stay off your two biggest time wasters, you have a lot more time in the day! I've been keeping some light reading around (such as Mother Earth News magazine and an illustrated volume about herbs) and trying to turn to that (or actual blogs with content I want to read) whenever I feel the need for a mental rest in between tasks.

• Consistently track monthly expenses. Since Zach and I live so far beneath our means, we've often gotten lazy about keeping track of what we actually spend in a month. Since November, I've been itemizing our receipts, and that's a habit I intend to keep up all year. So far we have yet to tabulate all the expenses, but at least I'm keeping track! I'll post an update about this soon. 

• Avoid eating for the first few hours of being awake. Because of Zach's work schedule we usually eat dinner at 8:30pm or even 9:00, and I began to notice that giving my stomach a solid 13 or 14 hours between dinner and breakfast made me feel more alert, more energetic, and actually less hungry. Having more free time right when I first wake up also gives me motivation to work on tasks that would normally be overridden by breakfast (like writing this post!). This eating rhythm certainly isn't for everyone, but it's a reminder to listen to what your body is telling you rather than following some prescribed formula. 

• Avoid buying industrial animal products of any kind, not just meat. For the past few years, Zach and I have committed to (mostly) avoiding meat that was raised in inhumane conditions (you can read more about that here and here). However, a lot of animals products that are just as bad or worse have slipped under the radar: industrial dairy products that are difficult to find organic, such as sour cream and cream cheese, and foods that contain eggs and dairy, such as Little Caesar's pizza. I've known for ages that buying industrial dairy is just as bad as buying industrial meat, but I clung to my old ways because, well, I'm addicted to Parmesan. But that's not a valid excuse, so back in November I announced to Zach that I wanted to take the plunge and try to avoid buying any animal products unless they were raised ethically. 

It turns out that this is manageable when you're buying food for yourself and cooking at home, but gets tricky when you're out and about, or buying food with other people, or deciding what to accept and what to refuse from people buying you stuff. As I said, I've been away from home a lot, and often have split buying groceries or takeout with people. I did the best I could, and I tried to quell my anxiety about it, but it will certainly be easier now that I'm home again and calling my own shots on what to purchase. It's a learning experience!

One of the best parts of this resolution has been finding all sorts of substitutes for the animal products that I once used— usually ones that are cheaper than the original! I'll be writing a blog post about this soon.

GENERAL GOALS:

• Teach workshops to share knowledge. Sometimes I look at myself from five or even two years ago and marvel at the insane amount of stuff I've learned since then! Although I've blogged a lot about my learning experiences, this year I wanted to commit to passing on that knowledge in a more hands-on way. So far I've taught two classes in my home, both about making sauerkraut, and both were a blast! It was a joy to be able to pass on this hands-on knowledge to people who were eager to learn. Zach and I are teaching a class about water kefir, milk kefir, and kombucha at the end of the month, and I'm planning to schedule at least one class (hopefully more!) every month. 

• Learn herbalism (and grow more herbs!). I've dabbled in learning about herbs, but I decided to deep-dive into this subject after an experience back in October. I was having menstrual cramps, and I thought, "Man, I'm out of raspberry leaf tea," my typical remedy. Then I looked out my window and realized that I literally had raspberry plants in the backyard! I gathered a few, along with some peppermint to lift my mood, brewed myself a cup of tea, and immediately felt relief. I thought, "What if I could go to my backyard for headaches or stomachaches or a sore throat? I should learn herbalism!"

I know how I learn best, and it always begins with a trip to the library to clear out their herbalism section. My favorite so far has been The Backyard Herbal Apothecary by Devon Young because it focuses specifically on what you can grow and forage. I already have a huge wish list of herbs to plant in the garden this year!

• Start a food-sharing network. This year, I'm determined to garden in community. That way, when I get a bumper crop of cucumbers, I will actually know what to do with them! Several neighbors have already expressed interest, and I'm brainstorming what this kind of network could look like. Stay tuned!

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