Happy Happy New Year

 

My wish for you as you enter a New Year

May 2021 be filled with

Belonging, Boldness, and Joy

 

And may you forever know

You are Loved! You are Loved!

You are Loved!

 

Together we can make sure 2021

Is known as a year of

Creativity, Caring, and Kindness

 

And may we forever know

We are Not Alone! We are Not Alone!

We are Not Alone!

 

May this year called 2021

Be the beginning of something Fantastic

Be the start of something New

My 2020 in Review

2020's theme was Live Lighter/Dig Deeper.

This is a quick list of 10 accomplishments I had in 2020 in no particular order

1. I read 104 books, averaging 68.6 page per day, thanks to a bunch of graphic novels. 31% were by BIPOC women, 23% were by BIPOC men,  18% were by White Women, and only 16% were by White Men, The rest was an assortment including 3 by White Genderqueer individuals and 2 by BIPOC Genderqueer individuals.

2. I expanded my freelance writing and got multiple long term intermediate clients. 

3. I got to 35 plays/musicals online. I started with The Adult In The Room and ended with Kinky Boots

4. I took 20 free classes online. My first one was a Radical Compassion Challenge and my last one was A Global History Of Sex And Gender.

5. I did the monthly calendar each month for Yoga With Adriene

6. I did a Darabee Fitness Program each month.

7. I stayed in touch with many friends and family members through seasonal cards.

8. I wrote more blog posts than I did the pervious 4 years of this blog and was better at sharing them with others.

9. I continued to grow my poetry e-news list

10. I learned how to thrive during COVID times and found myself more busy, more connected to people, and more social (virtually) than I have ever been before.

2021's theme is Belonging, Boldness and Joy. We will see what I accomplish next on this journey called life.

DYI New Year's Eve

Typically there are two types of people on New Year's Eve, though who are out partying, and those who stay all cozy at home. This year we are all going to be cozy at home. But don't imagine that means you can't live it up on New Year's Eve. Here are some suggestions.

Make your own holiday crackers. You can use old toilet paper rolls or just rolled up paper if you have any. You can make paper hats to put inside, and put what ever you have available as a treat (such as a tea bag, a piece of candy etc.), plus make sure you don't forget to add a really bad joke/pun to make it feel authentic.

Make a charcuterie platter.  This does not mean you have to go out and buy lots of additional food. In many cases it comes down to simply how you present the food you have. For examples for my roommates I am going to make black olive and carrot penguins to share. Taking the time to make your dinner look really nice will add a nice festive touch.

Fire is always a way to make an evening feel fancy. If you have a real fireplace or firepit light it up. If you have candles enjoy. If you do not have either search on YouTube and find the perfect fireplace for you. Some are simply, some have music, and some are based around a particular fandom which is always fun.

 

Change Things Up for 2021

So as we find the New Year is almost upon us this is a great time to consider changing things up for 2021. For me this is involving changing up my space. I have been cleaning and moving a few items around in my room such as moving some small bookcases around as well as the placement of a few pieces of furniture which is giving my space a new feel. Part of this comes as I read a book on how various people have designed their homes and both gaining inspiration and gaining anti-inspiration (I am not sure what some of these individuals were thinking LOL) 

I feel it is important every year to find ways to demarcate time and periods of time but after everything that has happened for good and bad in 2020 I feel this is even more true today. The great thing is you can make your space feel new even if you have very little time or resources.

1. Moving a few small pieces of furniture around. 

It is surprising how moving something from one spot in a room to another can really change the feel of the room. For example my room now feels more streamlined with a touch of elegancy while still being cozy.

2. Changing the sheets on your bed.

It will be nice to slip into fresh sheets as you fall asleep on New Years Day. If you have extra layers you might also consider changing the blankets on your bed, or maybe keep the same blankets just put them on in a different order.

3. Think creatively about your space.

What is working well and where are your pain points. For example I used to always throw my coat on my desk chair which meant I did not use my chair as much as a chair, I now have a spot in my closet for my coat and am already using my chair more as a chair. Also consider what you wished you had such as a cozy nook and see what you can create using what you have.

4. Anything can be used to decorate.

Sometimes when we think decorating we think about something we would have to buy but most of us have stuff in our homes/apartments we can use. For example as I was organizing I found some paper that was designed for scrapbooking that I rescued from someone long ago. I have taken one piece of the paper and am using it as art on my wall (Trick a combo of push pins and binder clips make a great way to hang things that you will want to be able to change out, and paper items you do not want to poke holes into) and plan on switching it out each month adding a continuously changing spot of color. 

5. Change scents.

If you are unable to try the above for any reason you can always change things up simply by lighting a new candle or using some incense or burning some sage.

 

3 micro-steps to a Happy New Year

 

The next holiday which is on the docket is New Years. If you are like me you are seeing infinite ads for various peoples ideas on how to reflect and prep for a new year.  Today I will share a few small steps we all can do before the end of the year.

Reflect on 2020:

What has gone well this year? What has not? What is the best thing that happened to you? What do you want to change in 2021?

Accomplish one micro-task:

Just like it sounds like a micro-task is something that is small and not very time consuming. You might consider wiping down the inside of your fridge, organizing a small hall closet, sending an email you have kept putting off, making an appointment you need to make, or sending Holiday cards if you have not done so yet. 

Ideally you should pick a self contained project (Not a give a mouse a cookie project) that you will be able to accomplish and which will make you feel good about yourself for completing. This is any project that is meaningful to you, not what you think others might see as meaningful or impressive.

Prep yourself:

What do you want to do in 2021 and what steps can you take now so that it will be easier for you?

Example: Wanting to eat healthier

Prep: 

• Dig up a nice reusable water bottle or get one if you need one so that you can always have water on hand
• Make sure you have extra yummy veggies in your fridge so you have easy access to good food choices
• Create a full meal plan for the first week of Jan so a) you have all the ingredients you are going to need, b) you do not have to make choices each day because you can just follow your own plan.

Example: Wanting to do creative pursuits

Prep:

• Make sure you have everything you need for your projects, all in one spot, that is easy to reach when you want to do your project.
• Make sure you have a space to do your project
• Make sure you have bookmarked any book pages or webpages you are going to need to reference

The whole point is if you are planning to make a change you need to prep so that you will be able to hit the ground running and not get bogged down not knowing your next steps or discovering you are missing something that you thought you had and it turns out you need.

Untold Stories

 

So I am trying to get in a few more books before the end of 2020. I have 5 to go at this point to reach my goal of 104 books this year. (And I will write a blog post about my books in a few days.) I recently finished uncorrected proofs of Flowers by Night which I got from the site booksirens.com.

It is a story that looks at multiple characters creating their own found family in first half of the 19th century in Edo—the city that would become Tokyo. It looks at how gender/sexuality/ and disability were understood at the time.

It was interesting how the novel explores how at the time there was an understanding that gender and sexuality was on a spectrum while also providing context for why certain individuals were able to express that spectrum and others were not legally allowed to and it often came down to which class you were considered.

I always love to learn about cultures who have had (at different points in their history often before the western nations came with their very binary ideas of sex, gender, and sexuality and reframed how these cultures understood these concepts) more complex and nuanced understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality.

This is why it is so important that writers dig deep into the histories of other cultures because there are often ideas that do not come back around into general cultural understanding until decades or centuries latter. We who are LGBTQ+ have always been here we just had many different names and understandings which means we need to pay more attention to see where we have been.

The Longest Night

 

The Longest Night

When dawn seems 

Impossibly far away

When peace and hope

Can seem like a

Once upon a time

The Longest Night

Comes in many forms

Physical Longest Nights

Emotional Longest Nights

Temporal Longest Nights

Mental Health Longest Nights

Longest Nights of those who care

The Longest Night

Comes in many forms

But so too does the dawn

You Are Loved

You Are Beloved

You Are Seen

You Belong, You Belong, You Belong

The Longest Night

When dawn seems 

Impossibly far away

When peace and hope

Can seems like a 

Once upon a time

Remember Dawn Will Return

Someday and somehow and sometime

You are not alone when facing

The longest Night, The Longest Night

You are not alone, You are never alone

This is the longest night when many of us honor the fact that this season can be dark for so many of us. That the Holidays are not always filled with joy, especially this year. This is the night we sit will our pain and sorrow and tears and know that we are not alone in our suffering. That there will always be others who have our back. That there will always be others to understand what we are going through. That no matter how we might feel we are Loved and Beloved and we belong. If this is a longest night for you I surround you in my Love.