Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible. ~Hannah Arendt

In my previous post I talked about recognizing the grossness that I’m feeling inside and out.  I promised myself that i would take this year to get back to myself and feel good again.  How?

I don’t want to call these resolutions, I’d prefer to call them promises to myself.  They are things I just want to do to make myself happy and joyful.  Perhaps the resolution is to be happy, these are just the details, the plan on how I’ll get to happy.

These are really just notes to myself, I think.  Something for me to come back to occasionally to make sure I’m on track.  Or to remind me of what I wanted to do when I lose my inspiration.  So here goes…in no certain order.

I promise myself to be in nature more: hiking, kayaking, cycling, walking, just sitting in the sunshine or watching the stars.  Nature has always been my roots, my soul place.  I was raised in the country and moving into the city has caused me issues because I don’t get out in the wild enough. I promise to build a nature practice, daily.

I promise to spend money on great things, maybe not the best or most expensive, but on the good stuff.  Chocolate, wine, tea, candles etc.  If I’m buying it to make myself happy, to set a  mood, to ingest as entertainment, then I should buy the good stuff.  And if I only buy it when I can afford it, then it’s an extra special treat for me to savor.

I promise to take more pictures and hopefully learn to make them look good.  I never take photos.  Rarely.  I have a lot from our honeymoon in Disney, but overall, I don’t take photos.  I definitely never take photos of myself or my husband.  After 10 years, I hardly have any of us.  Sad really.  If someone was to come into our house, they might even wonder who lives there because there is so little in the way of photos.  That needs to change.  Plus, every good blog has good photos.  So I should work on posting my own photos on here instead of getting creative commons photos.  That will be a leap of courage.

I promise to spend more quality time with my husband.  If nothing is on TV that he really wants to watch, then we should do something constructive, even if it’s just talking about random things.  Maybe even watching the stars while sipping whiskey and wine.  Last year we took ballroom dancing lessons so we could do a good dance at our wedding.  Perhaps we should keep those up and practice dancing on the evenings when nothing is on TV.    Something to create memories that don’t only involve us both on our phones and half watching TV.

I promise to decorate my house to where it makes me happy and comfortable with having people over for social gatherings.  We have plans to paint and re-furnish our living room and dining rooms.  I promise to make adult decisions and pick out good things that make me smile when we go shopping for things.

I promise to hold social gatherings at my house.  I would love to have people over 1 or 2 times a month.  Whether it be a games night, brunch, or a dinner get together, or a game of croquet in the back yard, I want to entertain at my house.  I’ve wanted this for a long time, but my schedule has always been weird.  Plus my house doesn’t make me happy, so I don’t want to let many others see it yet.  It will all come around.

I promise myself I’ll listen more to people and try to talk less, to try to really connect with others.  I’ve been reading articles on how to be a better person in general, or qualities of great leaders.  Listening to people top every list.  Being that my career actually allows me to be quiet and listen to others all day, I have plenty of time to practice this.

I’m sure there are other things I’d like to do this year, but it’s late and I’m sleepy.  They are slipping my mind.  I’ll come back maybe with another post on this and see how my head has changed.  Until then, good night.

my own pic from Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, Belmont, NC.