Happy New Year to you all. Are you someone who makes New Year Resolutions? From the 1st Jan I will…. diet? write a chapter a day? keep the house clean and tidy? Exercise? make mad passionate love at least twice a week? keep in touch with friends? and the list could go on and on of all the things we could do, know we won’t (and usually in a short space of time from 1st Jan to maybe 2nd Jan or a bit longer if we are lucky.)

I determined quite some time back that I wouldn’t set myself up for failure by creating a list that even at my most positive I knew would end with me beating up on myself. Instead I think of goals. Where do I want to be at years end? I try and make them realistic but I’m a great believer in Creative Visualisation. This was a book written by Shakti Gawain that I read in the late 1970s. Yes that was a long time ago but it was an immensely powerful book that taught me two things in particular. Firstly, I could do and be anything I visualised and secondly, my goal was not set in cement. By that I mean that in the journey to attain what I visualised, I might find something that was even more desirable to reach. It is not failure to not continue on to that first endpoint but choosing a fork in the road to take you to a different endpoint. Time for me to read the book again. I think I could benefit from some of the positive mental imagery that you can’t help but do as you read through the pages. I digress.

So rather than resolutions I am setting some goals for myself for this year and for blogging. It is now well over a year since I wrote anything on my blog. Some of you may remember that I was struggling a bit with my own breast cancer, my husbands incurable cancer and my mother in her nineties requiring increasing care and nurturing. Sadly she passed away a week before Christmas and although her passing leaves a huge hole in my life, I am glad for her as she was finding the world an increasingly frightening place.

My husband hasn’t reached remission with his second lot of chemo but has come very close to it. It was a tough 6 months for him. I don’t think he’d really recovered from the first year of chemo. Now he is on a monthly maintenance dose (and after only one month it seems the side effects of the chemo are subsiding) and we are keeping the fingers crossed that this will give him 2 – 3 good years. And so for my first goal. We will do a few trips given that we now have almost 4 weeks that we can be away from home. Our first one will be in March corresponding with when I am competing in the Central Division International Speech contest (having won the club and area contests prior to this).

I have Toastmasters Goals as well. Having been a toastmaster now since 2013 it is time I achieve the highest award – that of Distinguished Toastmaster. I am realistic. I doubt that it will be in 2022 as there are some leadership tasks that have to be done that I think will be difficult to do by years end. 2023 seems much more realistic to me. By mid year I hope to have completed Level 4 of Engaging Humour pathway and Level 5 by the end of the year. As far as the international speech goes – I am just happy to have got this far.

Blogging. I have decided that I am going to return to the blogosphere. I was focussed on my book and my studies when I last blogged but in the end predominantly joined in challenges, both photographic and writing. This meant that I sometimes posted more than once a day. Yes I was prolific but I burnt out as I found that my personal life was taking my thoughts and time and I didn’t have the time to visit other bloggers. This time I am going to do it differently. I will post Mondays, Wed and Saturday. I will have set topics. I will visit others on Tuesdays. Thursdays and Sundays belong to my husband.

On the 1st Monday of the month I will do a book review.

On the second Monday of the month I will do a segment about where I live. With Covid affecting us all it will be an easy way to travel to my world.

and on the third Monday of the Month I will concentrate on my goals, public speaking and toastmasters

On the fourth Monday of the month I will talk about photography or writing from my perspective.

Wednesdays – will be a thought for the week, a poem or prose or an opinion on something or other.

On Saturdays – I will give you the week in review

I think that is enough goal setting for today from me. Have you set yourself some goals? I’d love to hear what they are if you want to share.

Wishing each and every one of you a Very Happy New Year.