…EMBRACE March…

How is it only March? It feels approximately 300 years since New Years! It feels almost as long since the beginning of last month, when I last sat down to break down my word of the year into manageable monthly focuses. While I set mini goals in February, I only shared them on instagram, and not here on the blog. Ironic, since one of my goals for the month was consistent blogging, and I managed a grand total of three posts. The 100 Days Project is long forgotten. I think it was just too vague and nothing to anchor me into the habit. Of the three February focus points, I can really only tick one off – starting a new quilt. It’s coming together nicely, so look for a progress post on that later in the week. Not a great success rate, is it, really? Here’s hoping March will be more successful!

EMBRACE Lent: We celebrated Shrove Tuesday yesterday, with a pancake brunch. Today we kick off Lent. This year, my focus is breaking bad digital habits. I am giving up social media before noon (and all day on Sundays), as well as giving up binge watching, to be replaced with audiobooks and craft, or actual books. Back in the early days of tiny house life, one of my favourite changes to our lifestyle was the lack of tv, and how that changed what our evenings looked like. Then all the everything happened, and it didn’t take long for us to fall back into our old viewing habits, streaming episode after episode, and collecting streaming services almost as fast as 2019 me collected unfinished projects. I’m hoping to break this habit over the next 6 weeks. I finished my Bones marathon yesterday, and it was so nice last night to actually not have anything to watch, and instead chuck on some chilled music (just a random “evening jazz” playlist) and read one of my current books

EMBRACE Finishes: you know those memes that were floating around at the beginning of the year, about 2022 sounding like twenty-twenty, too? While 2022 is shaping up to make 2020 look like an absolute wimp, I’m getting back to my 2020 mindset of FINISH ALL THE THINGS. Over the last few months, I’ve started accumulating ideas and supplies and starts at an increasingly embarrassing rate. For March (and into April for the rest of Lent), I am not going to start anything. Exisiting projects only. My current in-progress list, in no particular order, is:
*IDA BLOUSE – cut
*SLIP – cut
*CAMI – cut
*QUILT – main blocks sewn ready for layout & filler
*GOLDEN WHEAT CARDY – collard done, ready for yoke increases
*OVERALLS TEST – started
*TEMPERATURE STITCHES – needs major catch up
*BOOK OF DAYS – in progress
Really, for forty days? That’s plenty to keep me busy!

EMBRACE two books a week: The easiest way to break a bad habit is swap it for a new, good habit, isn’t it? I’ve moved my IndyReads & BorrowBox apps to the front screen of my phone (social media apps have been off the homescreen for ages), to make it easier when I pick up my phone from habit, to open a book instead of a social app. Add in my switch of an evening from binge watching to reading or listening to an audio book, and I think two books a week this month is very achievable. Even last night, reading instead of watching saw me start at 30% of my book and add it to my Beanstack as complete a bit before 11. One book down and it’s only the second day of the first week…yeah, I think this is a comfortable goal.

My March goals are very much more centred around habits than individual projects. The Lenten season is one of reflection and adjustment, and my goals for this month are very much anchored in that. Here’s hoping I will do better than in February!