Happy New Year, Subscriber First Name!

Time to hang out, do small projects, and put Christmas presents to use is a nice breathe-out. Now, we are ready to start looking towards the New Year.

Resolutions often bring more into the equation, but they don’t have to.

We are looking to refine our schedules and daily flows, include more structure in how we run our home, all to create more time for… white space.

White space in business is where companies consider their customers’ unspoken and unmet needs and then serve to meet those needs.

I won’t suddenly be capable of meal planning or specifying and acting on my individual needs at the drop of the ball at midnight. No, 2022 will be a year of tweaking reformation around all the parts we don’t want to change.

My focus isn’t to start new things or institute significant change. Instead, I plan to focus on what we don’t want to change and allow more space and energy for the small parts we already relish so that they can become a bigger part of our lives.

Nathaniel has held himself to a set work schedule for a couple of years now. Of course, weeks of ranch work pop up throughout the year, but that is the beauty and necessity of the life we have created at Big Rock.

Now we need to implement more structure into our home. I am rebellious at heart but also find comfort in a schedule. I don’t uphold to myself nearly as well as when I feel the weight of accountability towards someone else.

As I write this, I believe I may just have discovered my great lesson to study this year; it is difficult to be accountable to yourself.

When I think about what I do most each day, it is this: cooking, picking up things, and preoccupying my mind away from daily life by creating and consuming on phone or computer.

When I think of what I would like to do each day, it is this: being present and engaged with Clancy and our animals, exploring nature, eating good food, and making of all kinds.

Discipline and accountability to my needs and desires are what I need to make that shift. But how I work towards that each day will be trial and error.

I suppose my only concrete resolution is to not purchase a yearly planner that ends up being sporadically used and largely a waste of money and paper. Instead, I am only making what we need and using notebooks for the daily writing I enjoy doing. I did get an additional notebook for using as a daily log for recording the happenings, such as extreme temperatures freezing our water pipes on New Year; what a fun first entry, haha!

Here is what I have been creating for us to use this year to stay organized and mindful.

Applying these concepts for myself doesn’t click! Cooking or scheduling techniques is not what I need for this. No, what I need is old-fashion discipline. Pencil it and stick to it, Tweak what doesn’t work, and stay the course. That doesn’t sound as fun as a new kitchen gadget or cooking class, but if I can persevere, it will work. Unfortunately, we often seek help or fancy tools, thinking they will make the difference, but they rarely do; shunting responsibility from ourselves is common.

I still want to eat my real food; I don’t want to spend hours each day cooking it, though. Often I have no idea what we are going to eat until we are eating it, I work best under pressure, but it isn’t exactly enjoyable for any of us. I need to prepare carbs and proteins for meals and have the discipline to do this on set days of the week. Personally, this will be brutal. I am also a bit of a rebel. My first response to schedules I set for myself is not to do it; the result is purely self-sabotage!

We woke to a sink full of dirty dishes and frozen water pipes this New Year! Day one, and we are being reminded of old lessons such as “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

I found myself very thankful to have an outhouse and our outdoor frost-free hydrants. We didn’t skip a beat; we just had to haul some water to the house and heat it to get those dishes done!

Not a lousy outhouse view?

Happy New Year from Big Rock!