(Photo: Robbert van der Steeg)
I have no idea where 2009 went. It’s six days into 2010 and I haven’t given much thought to the moves I want to make this year. Procrastination is a great friend of mine. In my defense, my birthday falls on the second of January, so I don’t usually entertain thoughts of change until the day after my birthday when the “I am (xx) years old now, who am I becoming?” questions start bubbling up.
- I want to read more. I am a book hoarder. I mean, I hoard a lot of things but books is a big one. Still dreaming of the library I’ll one day have, the books sit in stacks throughout my apartment. Many of them haven’t been read at all; others have been partially read; the rest I have read and liked enough to keep. I commute for a total of around 6 hours a week and I have insomnia most mights. I should have time to finish books, but I say I don’t. I watch Netflix on my laptop instead.
- I’m keeping my future self in mind. Stumbling Upon Happiness by Daniel Gilbert is one of the aforementions books I never finished. It’s 75% finished. In it is a great quote - “We treat our future selves as though they were our children, spending most of the hours of most of our days constructing tomorrows that will make them happy.” Maybe I love the quote because I don’t subscribe to it. My basic needs are covered to ensure basic, future contentment… but happiness? No. And I’m no happier in the present moment either. I like to do what I call “delegating to my future self.” Eventually my future self has to deal with the delegated tasks and my future self becomes very stressed out. I guess I’m a bad parent, without any children. The Power of Now is another book I have and didn’t read yet. I’ll read it this year, I swear.
- I’m going to learn how to play the guitar. It started as something I just talked about wanting to do in 2007. Then it became 2008’s New Year’s resolution, but I moved and switched jobs twice that year. So last summer I bought a gorgeous guitar, which was smart because now it serves as more of a decor item than a musical instrument.
