Since coming home I have a heightened awareness of how life follows the seasons in an agricultural area. I have come to frame it as follows: Spring is the time to get “ready” for warmer weather, Summer is the time to “run the race” to get as much in and done outdoors as possible, Fall is the time to “reap the returns” and Winter is for “rest and relaxation.” I am partial to Fall but Winter has its rewards in rest and relaxation. I will define January through March as the winter months I hibernate here in Flagstaff this year. A new year’s ritual, here in the mountains of northern Arizona, is to go downtown and watch a large metal pine cone drop from an old turn of the century hotel as the clock strikes midnight on December 31st. It draws quite the crowd of out of town visitors these days with many locals choosing to avoid the chaos by staying home and enjoying a hot toddy in front of their wood burning stoves and fireplaces. My Dad used to make a hot drink called Tom & Jerry’s. I have a decorative glass bowl and mugs for them so think I might look up the recipe and try them next year.
So, I will move on to my thoughts for 2018. First off, I say a silent prayer of gratitude for having enjoyed another year on this planet. Even when there were setbacks, I am grateful for the many things that brought me joy throughout 2017. You have been reading about them all year so it would be redundant to list them all but, suffice it to say, I am always amazed at the abundance of things that go well throughout the year. Hard to believe when you think about the fallible nature of humankind but, in the same breath, I also remember how resilient the human condition is as well. I figure there are about six categories of life management to ponder in the New Year which include: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, livelihood and leisure. For the majority of my adult life, I set measurable goals in each category and spent considerable time engaged in activities to meet those goals throughout the year. At this stage of my life I am most focused on activities that improve/maintain my physical heal, establishing new/maintaining existing relationships with friends and family and better prioritizing and pacing myself in the pursuit of my many interests in the leisure category. I have set diet and exercise goals I have already discussed. I am clear on my circle of friends/family and will carve out spending quality time with them accordingly. Most difficult for me is prioritizing and pacing how I use my leisure time as there are just so many things I want to discover and do. I will try to stay focused on letting things I enjoy emerge and evolve more organically and at the end of the day remember it’s all just “work in progress.”
I will finish by returning to the subject of using these winter months for “rest and relaxation” within the context of structured days, which may be a contradiction. Getting adequate sleep on a consistent basis tops my list along with getting in my 10,000 steps a day. I have set fewer winter sewing/craft goals but will plan to cook at least one dinner a week for Paul. This seems only fair given he is still working and does most of the cooking for us. Finally, I have set aside some time every day for life reflection and journaling which will keep my retirement goal of “more being” and “less doing” alive. Given the intention of this article, that’s a wrap! 2017