While Mimi makes targets for the year ahead, this year, like last, I will be making Personal Promises.
Looking back I see now that I am perhaps a little more battle scarred than I was last year. I made three promises, that in retrospect I think I may have abused a little bit:
I promise to be kind to myself.
And lo and behold I was. Too kind to myself. So kind I didn’t force myself to get off my bum and actually do the things that would make me feel better: so kind that I abandoned the pleasure/pain principle altogether, and didn’t force myself out of my comfort zone for longer than a moment.
I promise to cultivate the art of delayed gratification.
HA.HA. HA. I WANT IT NOW!!!
I promise not to shy away from commitment.
Oh at last. A promise I made, kept and even kind of excelled at. I didn’t have an affair with the postman. I turned up here at BrocanteHome each day, and yes indeed my commitment to chocolate remains as strong as it was twelve month’s ago. I am very proud.
So what’s new for 2006? Without wanting to sound too philosophical, I think I’ve learnt a lot about myself this year and my new promises are specifically concerned with attempting to fix all those things that I believe are compromising my ability to reach my authentic goals…
I promise to keep things simple.
I am in the habit of making things complicated. Meals, housework, websites… If I can make twice as much work for myself as I need to, then wouldn’t you just know I’ll go out my way to triple it. It isn’t a good thing. I end up exhausted and dissatisfied, which is downright ludicrous, when I could apply my energy and skills to one or two things, do them really well and thereafter stop over-promising and under-delivering: thus….
I promise to stop over-promising and under-delivering.
I don’t know why I do it. I talk things up. Get the whole world excited, then feel overwhelmed and beat a hasty retreat away from other peoples expectations- letting nice people down and feeding my self belief that I am utterly hopeless at seeing thing’s through. It stops. Right now. From today, if it happens, it happens, but until it does I won’t talk about it. Does that make sense?
I promise to learn to prioritise.
OK so it’s Finn, then Mark, then the house, then BrocanteHome, then me. Which is of course utterly ludicrous. If I come first, then I attend to my authentic needs, and daily frustrations, organise my life so that I don’t feel like I’m banging my head against a brick wall all the time, make some money from BrocanteHome, so that I add much needed financial value to that which I ache to do (BrocanteHome has actually cost me a lot of money this year: it can’t go on.), then popular belief informs me that I will be a better Mommy, Wife to be and Vintage Housewife. Is that how it works? Have I been living a pear shaped life all these years??
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
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Oh me too Alison … keeping my big over~excited trap shut until I've actually got up off my butt and done something to make the massively ambitious plans come to fruition. But … in order to make my 'resolutions' I've already had to break a personal promise to myself … NEVER TO BLOG. I know Alison ~ said I wouldn't do it ~ but I have and am almost ashamed to admit it. Ashamed because you're sooo good and I'm … well, I'm just a virgin blogger and right now fumbling around in the dark !!! ~ Here's to keeping your mouth shut and all other wonderful things for you in 2006 Alison ~
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Oh me too Alison … keeping my big over~excited trap shut until I've actually got up off my butt and done something to make the massively ambitious plans come to fruition. But … in order to make my 'resolutions' I've already had to break a personal promise to myself … NEVER TO BLOG. I know Alison ~ said I wouldn't do it ~ but I have and am almost ashamed to admit it. Ashamed because you're sooo good and I'm … well, I'm just a virgin blogger and right now fumbling around in the dark !!! ~ Here's to keeping your mouth shut and all other wonderful things for you in 2006 Alison ~