Happy 2018

It's already 2018 in Australia, and in a Christmas-vacation-week fit of inspiration, I've already come up with a list of manageable (and measurable) resolutions/goals for myself. I'm applying one of the lessons I learned in 2017 from reading this fascinating book, and publishing them here as a way of providing external accountability for myself.

1 new recipe/week - to broaden my cooking horizons (and provide RL blog fodder, I hope).

2 new books/month - I spent a lot of 2017 escaping reality by doing what a friend calls "comfort reading" and what I call "re-reading all my favorite books." So this year I'm tackling the very large piles of unread books which have been collecting next to my bed, in my living room, behind my desk...(note: cookbooks don't count). I'm also open to recommendations.

3 minutes meditation/day - the next step of meticulous mindfulness.

4 fasting days/month - I tried intermittent fasting about 5 years ago and found it had a positive effect on my eating habits generally. So I'm going to try it again this year, aiming to start with one day a week. (Maybe some new recipes from this also!)

5 30-minute exercise sessions/week - linked to #4; I've been managing to do some form of dedicated exercise 3 times a week pretty consistently for the last 5+ years, and have found it beneficial for both my physical and mental health, so I'm going to try to bump this up.

6 pages creative writing/week - some for here, and some for destinations TBD.

I'm planning to update on my progress here monthly. If you're looking for external accountability too, feel free to share your 2018 plans/goals/resolutions too.

Happy New Year!