It is the New Year ~ 2022, and a time to reflect on my life…what I like, what I want to change.
In the past, I have chosen 3 areas for improvement: my spiritual life, my physical body and health, and my interests. This year I find myself aware of my lack of exercise, my poor diet habits, and so very many interests that none actually develop past the beginning phase.
This post will not necessarily bring me to resolutions for this new year, but it will record some of my reflections today.
I think I will start backwards on my list ~ my interests. I have many. I remember taking an interest inventory as a school kid and being told that I seemed to be interested in (and, therefore, capable of) doing many things. There was no strong indicator which job would fit me best.
Well, that is now where I am still ~ many interests. 1. Photography. I have begun to learn this year how to use the camera on my phone as well as the Canon Rebel camera (and its 2 lenses) that I inherited. I have found that my phone camera is easy to use and that the pics are easy to share, but it is limited in what it can do. My Canon has more capability but I am not efficient with it. I do not know how to use it for the picture I want. To try to improve that status, I have decided that all pictures at the top of each post will be one I took. Most will be from the Canon. (This one was from my phone, however.)
That decision has hampered me a bit from posting as I do not have a lot of different pictures available for the topics I choose. Of course, I have to find one to take…so that is not so much a road block as a delay in posting.
2. Camping. I bought a trailer January 2020. I had never pulled a trailer before nor did I have any experience in camping that way. At the time, it reflected my desire to do something I had liked when younger and tent-camping. Last year, I made my first LONG trip in it. I did pretty well for a first-timer at 73 years of age. But, that trip really wore me out…so much that I have wondered if I still want to do this.
I realize that I enjoyed many aspects of it, but that, overall, it was too long with too much people-ing for this introvert. I need to plan down days…or days off…or rest days into such a trip.
I also realize that part of my fatigue was due to the newness of everything…the concern that I do it right and correct. I have some perfectionist tendencies and those sometimes make me not so forgiving of my humanness. I am better in my older age than when I was young, but, when I am anxious, it is one of the behaviors I fall back on…to my distress. So pulling the trailer, getting to where I was going, planning it all…so many areas of stress.
I can combat that a bit by doing more trips…maybe shorter ones. I can also get more familiar with all the aspects of the trailer. And for every 3 days of travel, seeing people, and doing stuff, I can plan a rest day…just for me…no plans (other than where to stay).
Things I still haven’t done are shower in the trailer and cook in it. In fact, cooking even over a campfire at a campsite hasn’t yet happened! Things I need to repair (or get repaired by someone) are the toilet pump system and the electrical system. I need to store the spare tire elsewhere. I need to work on the storage system for clothes and supplies.
One roadblock to trips is that my dog, Roxie, is almost 14 with arthritis. She does not travel with me because she can no longer manage to get in my vehicle and I can’t lift her. So, I have to always find someone to take care of her.
3. Gardening. I enjoy getting my hands in the dirt and watching something grow. Ed never let me do that. The garden was his spot. Since his death, I have moved within me from continuing his garden to choosing plants I want to try, to trying new spots for some, to learning how to care for the plants regarding pests and soil, to dreaming of doing more and canning/preserving the results.
Last year, I was more nonchalant about the garden as I was more wrapped up into planning my big trailering trip. I would like to do better with it. I enjoy the extra food. So…I am planning to start gardening again this year with intent. I have received the Burpee catalog already and will start trying to figure out what should go where.
Feathers of My Mind 