This year, I set myself 22 little goals to pursue throughout the year. I call them the 22 in 22. Once a week (or there abouts), I take a few minutes to check my progress on a few of my goals.
#1 Connect better with the scalawags, according to their Love Languages
If you’ve been following the ups and downs of the Fields family, you’ll know that we’ve been struggling with some anxiety issues lately.
I’ll be honest, I was worried that it was going to be compounded this week because my eldest had an actual reason to be anxious: he would be performing in his first concert.
Well. We had a crisis-free week. In fact, it seems that we have a brilliant little performer on our hands.
It’s easy to see that this child feels validated when he performs…it’s as true when he does a spelling test as when he does a double bass solo.
Against all logic, this makes me incredibly sad. I know how this feels…to feel like I’m worthy only when I’m performing. I didn’t realize how insidious this tendency is, how it creeps up and becomes a motivator at such a young age. I hope I can parent him in such a way that he can feel that kind of worthiness without having to “do” anything.
After a week like the week before, where the big one was taking up all the oxygen with his crises, the little one was start to act up…like he sensed a shift in the atmosphere. What he needed was some one on one time, which he definitely got.
#3 Scoop the kitty litter as an act of love
No, I didn’t scoop the kitty litter this week. My gentlemen took care of the litter. But for some reason this week, that cat has been in my mind.
This cat, the only one we have left, did something strange this week. He sat on my lap. I know! I was sitting through a day-long Zoom meeting, and this cat came and sat on my lap.
He is not a lap cat. He is a shadow creature. I only ever see him as a shadow in the space between my pillow and my indulgent husband’s pillow when I wake up in the middle of the night.
But that’s not all! On Thursday morning, I woke up to a strange sensation on my forehead. This cat had stretched out his pretty black paw and rested it in my head.
This is literally the most interaction I have had with him in years. Is it because it has been glacially cold? Is it because he is unwell? Is it because he just knew I needed him?
#9 Create a workflow for new projects and know how long each part takes realistically
This is just a silly showy-offy thing, but I needed to decompress from these last weeks of crises, so I knit myself something from the handspun wool from the Little Prince’s sheep:
This is related to #9 Create a workflow for new projects and know how long each part takes realistically, because I think this project was a corollary to it: “Sometimes a new project is just a palette cleanser and you have to let it run its course before you can settle back down to normal things.”
Sing With Your Feet 