Promises to Myself

I have a very long Favorties list on YouTube with many different songs. I am a passionate oldies fan but also like music from all kinds of genres. I am an American Latvian since both my parents came from Latvia. My mother taught me to enjoy both popular and traditional Latvian music. So my list includes songs in Latvian. I will listen to my favourite music more to brighten my mood, remember beautiful things that happened in the past, get me through my day quickly, and even train my brain. This mix calms me, soothes me and makes whatever I do during the day more straightforward to achieve. So in the new year, I shall have my music playing more often.

Get more sleep. Unfortunately, I am a night out and get more inspiration at nighttime and get more work done then. So I shall make sure that if I spend some nights up until the wee hours after I get to bed, I get plenty of rest and sleep to replenish my energy. On nights when I can get to sleep regularly, I will get at least seven hours of sleep and still take on the early morning refreshed and ready to get to work.

Get outside and walk more. I am not a person who can do regular exercise. Sometimes my bum knee hurts me, and other times I am just eager to get to my laptop and start my online work. So in the new year, I will make sure that at least a couple of times a week, to begin with, I will get out and take a walk so that I can enjoy nature and see what is happening outside my four walls.

Return to improvisational dancing. So many years ago, my mom and I would listen to our favorite records, and now and then, one of us would get inspired to dance to the music. This is like a form of exercise, but it can be slow or fast. When a favorite song and melody inspires you to get up and do some dancing. I have not danced in ages, and when I remember how euphoric it made my mom and me feel, I would not mind taking a few dance steps around my apartment. It is a fun way to get the circulation moving, the heart pumping, and of course, the mood-lifting.

It is essential to never stop learning since I am a content and freelance writer and often have to do research for writing projects. However, I have not thought to jot down notes from some of the information I find out about. That way, I will remember what I have learned during my research and then later be able to explore the subjects further and perhaps write up some articles of my own, letting others know what I have learned.

Give me a cleaner environment. I get lost in my writing and the things I do online and neglect my apartment. It is not very big so all the dust and dirt is around me. To make my environment cleaner and better to live in I shall make sure that I put aside at least one day or at least some hours to entirely clean my apartment and make it more liveable for myself instead of just living in an online environment.

Organize and watch my videos more. I was an avid video collector and have a video player. I have home movies to organize and many different movies I once enjoyed and I purchased. It will do me good to remember why I bought them and why I enjoyed them. It will also be a good thing to train my brain to remember the Old Hollywood actors, famous lines, and even dances and lyrics in musicals. Otherwise, my videos sit and gather dust, and they once gave me much joy.

Go down memory lane and organize all of the photos I have downloaded on my laptop. Organizing the images will allow me to listen to my favorite music while I view the photos and figure out what stays and what goes. It will also do me well to see the places and faces I once knew and get rid of the images I have too much of. Then I will know that I can continue to head on out with my trusty digital camera and take photos of the places that now surround me where I live and use those to enhance the new things I post online.

Read a lot more, take breaks during the day and read for several hours. Right now, when I finish my online work, I get into bed and read until I fall asleep, which is not bad, but I miss the times when I would spend hours reading, so it is time to start doing that again.

At one time, I wanted to get in touch with the creative me through drawing and coloring, I have the coloring books and drawing materials and the coloring pens, but I have done nothing; therefore, I will put aside at least one day during the week, perhaps each Sunday when it is most quiet and sit myself down, put on my favourite music, and begin to color or draw and relax both my mind and my soul and perhaps put myself in touch with an even different me.

Get more organized in my writing work. I keep a journal each year and write down what I have accomplished each day. However, I also am surrounded by bits of paper and jotted notes about things I hope to do and things I need to find out about. As a result, while the things I do finish each day are good, I find out after time passes, I don't know what is in all the notes. So in the new year, to help myself, I will be more organized. I will go through all these notes and the things I do want to remember I will jot down in a separate notebook with organized titles at what they are and why I need to look these things up online. That way, I will have peace of mind knowing I am doing the best every day and I am not forgetting anything,

Putting it all together I promise myself in the new year to listen to my favourite music more to brighten my mood, get more sleep, get outside and walk more, return to improvisational dancing, never stop learning, make a cleaner environment, organize and watch my videos more, organize all of the photos, read a lot more, get in touch with the creative me, and get more organized in my writing work. Keeping to these resolutions, I hope that in 2022 I will be a better me in mind, body, and spirit,