My first “deadline” to post again was this summer – I meant to post some learnings about my journey towards a minimalist closet but that will be later! – which then became the first day of fall today in this second year of pandemic time. Oh well!

Last year for me ended with a tense but welcome extended holiday season with family enabled by my ability to work remotely, followed by this year’s ups and downs with the vaccine, the surge of the Delta variant and upcoming boosters.

Now that the colder months are back again, perhaps it’s time for some encouragement…. So, last summer I did a really good brain dump of all of the “goals” I wanted to work on immediately and they were all BASIC. “Getting organized”, eating better, exercising more, working on discovering a more meaningful career, paying off debt, etc.

Did I have an outlined action plan with specific, measurable mini-goals spelled out for each of these areas? Would have been great but NO! Some areas have clear endpoints, like paying off debt, but instead of worrying about deadlines and such, I just determined to (and did) SPEND TIME working on those areas. And it worked out great.

One year later, I’m happy to report that, even though I haven’t finished with all of my projects, I’m at the point where I am no longer living in reactivity but venturing into true productivity. Meaning, I got most of my basics so thoroughly handled (if only for once in my life so far!) that I now have the breathing room to tackle better, higher-level problems that are beyond just the basics, vs. operating on survival mode and working on whatever task was most “urgent” in that moment. This is when you can CHOOSE the problems you want to work on!

How’s that for progress? Choosing your “problems”! For example, after a year of intentionally focusing on using up my personal care products and decluttering my closet, my bathroom is practically empty and my closet is thinner than ever. While I still have multiples of shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, lotion, hairspray, mousse etc. still to use up, it’s more like two or three, rather than four or five. I no longer have clothes everywhere because after I determined to wear the “nice” clothes I was “saving” for special occasions, I finally learned whether I truly liked them enough to keep them and wear them regularly or whether they just weren’t working for me and were really better to donate. Healthwise, I’ve gone from getting all my medical, dental, vision etc. etc. appointments done starting last month that I’m thinking about acupuncture, fitness classes, massages and spa items that I haven’t even thought about in years.

I think I’ll end it here because it is getting late, but more encouragement to come in future posts!