What a Life!

So far, I am happy to report, the Joy Diet is going quite well.

I’ve taken out my camera and snapped a few pictures. [Another one of my Treats.] Sometimes the light is good, sometimes it isn’t. But if I don’t get the camera out when the kids are doing something funny, I won’t have any pictures. The lighting in the picture above wasn’t stellar, but the laughter was, so I took the picture. And I sorta like it.

I am listening to the Joy Diet on my iPod while I exercise. Today while I was on my walk, I was listening to the chapter about laughter. She was talking about how children laugh way more than adults. Which, I suppose, is true. Right now I’m just trying to smile forty times a day, okay?

But since I’ve been loosening up a little, thanks to the Joy Diet, I have been smiling on the inside a lot, on the outside a little. And though I’ve even noticed occasions where laughter might be appropriate, I can’t say I’ve gotten anywhere near my forty laughs per day yet.

I mean, seriously. Yes, kids laugh a lot. The boys seem to be laughing constantly when they’re playing sometimes. This I have noticed. But the things they laugh about… The other day Joey took the mashed potatoes on his plate and was playing with them with his spoon (rather than eating them) and all of a sudden he said, “Look! A butt!” He had made them into a shape that, well, did kind of look like a butt. Both boys laughed hysterically, of course.

So yes, children laugh a lot, but do you really expect adults to make a sculpture with their mashed potatoes and laugh about it? Somehow I just don’t think that is going to happen. Though the thought is sorta funny. [And yes, I did just laugh out loud.]

I’ve always been accused of being too serious, of taking things too seriously. For now, I’m just trying to smile – on the outside – more often.

Maybe someday I’ll get in those forty laughs per day. Right now, though, I must say, smiling feels really good.

I think my favorite thing about the beginning of a new year is making New Year’s Resolutions. I get quite serious about it all during the month of December, trying various resolutions to see if they’re realistic or worthwhile.

This year, my New Year’s Resolution is to follow the Joy Diet. It’s a book, actually, by one of my favorite authors – The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life by Martha Beck.

I’ve read this book more than once and implemented many of the practices from time to time. The last three months have been really trying for me – I’ve had more to do than I could possibly get done, and my sanity has been on the brink. And so I’ve come back to The Joy Diet with the intention of not just keeping my sanity but flourishing.

My favorite parts of the Joy Diet at the moment are Treats and Play. Because as we all know, all work and no play makes Tana a very dull girl. The Play part is simple – I am a technical editor and I do enjoy what I do. I’m going to think of it as Play rather than “Ugh, do I have to edit another pattern?” when work appears in my inbox.

As for the Treats part…I tend to reward myself with food, which, shall we say, isn’t exactly good for the waistline. My new objective is to Substitute Inedible Nourishment – or SIN – whenever I need to recharge. In fact, I am going to commit so much SIN that recharging won’t even be an issue because I’ll keep myself fresh rather than running myself into the ground.

Here are some of the Treats I’m looking forward to enjoying:

Reading – currently I’m savoring A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations, which happen to be the current Oprah Book Club selections. And yes, I bought the official book club copy – there’s just something about the feel of a book in your hand that makes you want to read it, and this edition is even more so.

Poetry – one of the things I’ve done with Ben for school is to read a new poem every day, followed by reading the four previous days poems. Each time I read a poem, I get something new from it, and by the fifth day, I’m familiar enough with it to really enjoy listening to it. I’ve decided to do the same for myself. At the moment I’m reading through Good Poems by Garrison Keillor. Highly recommended.

There are other books I’ve got my nose in as well, books I intend to read once a week rather than daily. For instance, I want to read one topic in the Handbook of Nature Study every week. The essays in that book are quite interesting, but the book has just set on the shelf rather than being used. This year I intend to put it to good use.

I want to play the piano at least once a day, even if I just play one song…though I must admit that it’s hard to play just one song. I am going to be teaching Ben how to play the piano in the new year, and I might as well challenge myself to practice and learn a little as well.

Knitting, of course, is on the list of Treats. Right now I just want no knitting deadlines. I made some beautiful gifts for Christmas, but now I want to make some impractical things just for the fun of it. This evening I cast on a pair of socks. Yesterday I bought yarn to make myself a simple cardigan. I’m thinking of even designing it, in fact. I made my mom a cardigan for Christmas (finally!), and I want to make another sweater for Steve this year. But again, no knitting deadlines. Just knitting for fun.

Exercise is one of my Treats. Yesterday it was warm enough that I went for my walk outside. Beginning last spring, I went for an hour walk every day, but since it’s been cold, I’ve been doing stair-stepping inside. Exercise always makes me feel good, and going on my walk yesterday reminded me just how much I enjoy those daily walks. During the winter months my workout is more intense and thus takes less time, so I want to establish a weight-lifting routine so I can continue that on auto-pilot once it warms up and I can be outside again. I did this for a couple weeks in December, and it worked quite well. I’m looking forward to continuing this habit.

There are many other ideas floating around in my head, and I’ll be adding them to my list of Treats as time goes on. The rule is, you must give yourself at least two treats every day just for the sake of enjoying them. I intend to be enjoying many more than that. And yes, blogging is a Treat, too.

Here’s to the New Year filled with Joy!

I swear I’m gonna finish this sweater over the weekend if it’s the last thing I do!

I started it in May. It went along fairly well except for the popcorn sections, which I kept getting hung up on (they take forever!). I finally finished the last sleeve, and at the moment I am working on the buttonbands.

I am so looking forward to football season with lots of time spent sitting on the couch knitting. I think one day each weekend this fall is going to be devoted to nothing but knitting and football. I can hear the theme music now…

Knitting is good for the soul.

If someone parked in the middle of the road, blocking it completely, and then when you asked them to please move, as obviously they were blocking the right of way, they tartly told you to use the next street over…would that not be rude and inconsiderate of them?

The sidewalk is for pedestrians as the street is for cars.

Pedestrians should not have to randomly cross the street to use the ‘other sidewalk’ just because some inconsiderate fool has either parked their car across the sidewalk or is running their sprinkler so that anyone walking across that stretch of sidewalk gets wet.

It really isn’t that difficult of a concept to understand, is it?

This morning on my walk, someone had set their sprinkler in the middle of the sidewalk, and I had to walk up into the middle of their front yard to get around it. And when I mentioned to him that the sidewalk was for pedestrians, not sprinklers, he growled at me to use the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

I have to weave all over town every morning to avoid walking past houses where people have automatic sprinklers that they just HAVE to run early in the morning while everyone is out exercising. I mean, really, if you want to have automatic sprinklers that also sprinkle the sidewalk, run them at 4 a.m. when nobody cares.

But people just don’t get that.

And we have an obesity epidemic in America where one third of Americans are obese and another third are overweight. Clearly none of these people use the sidewalk or they might have a clue.

Maybe.

What do we have sidewalks for, anyway?

It’s not that I’ve been too busy.

Well, I have been busy. Three kids, homeschooling, working from home, and all that does keep one busy.

But it’s not so much that I’ve been busy. It’s that I feel guilty.

Yes, that’s it. Guilty for blogging.

I work from home doing technical editing for knitting designers. I don’t do it full-time or anything. But I am subject to the ebb and flow of my designers motivation. Every morning I get up and check my email, knowing I may see more work in my email inbox. On one hand, that is good – I have work to do, which means extra cash that pads our budget a little. On the other hand, it means work to do, and guilt if I’m not doing it.

I know my designers don’t expect me to be working on patterns 24 hours a day. But if I’ve been blogging (instead of editing), it’s like they KNOW I’ve been doing something else. I’m even that way somewhat about my knitting. Down time is essential, but I feel guilty for taking it in certain ways.

I’ve gone back to my knitting. In fact, I’m making myself knit every day. I’m so much happier when I do. There are so many other ways that I fool around in order to have down time that I could totally cut out. I want to spend less time on those things and more time on the things I love. I want to take more pictures, knit more sweaters, write more blog posts.

Down time is down time, and we all need it. Can I successfully convince myself of that?