The 5 Things on My Project List for 2022
I always set a personal direction for the year, and family goals, and business goals. This year there are some projects that have been hanging in the balance for a long, long time and I realized it’s time I tackle these too.
Nothing helps me better than a deadline so I am leaning into that to get me started.
Make a Blurb book for my oldest son. He is graduating high school and I want it to be a gift to him of his baby days on up. I have never been good at keeping scrapbooks, but I have taken a lot of pictures and kept a consistent personal journal, so I know I have all the materials to pull from. It’s just going to take some intentional time to get it done. One obstacle is that his baby pictures were taken on an old digital camera so they aren’t readily accessible. Blurb has so many beautiful options to make this project as easy as possible and make it a meaningful experience for me and gift for him. I intend to first gather all the photos into a folder on my laptop and then drop them into a Blurb template, then go back and add captions and a few stories. My deadline to order from Blurb to have it in time is May 1.
Organize my personal recipe binder. We find and share recipes so differently now than we did 10-20 years ago! I’ve had a messy binder of magazine clippings, print outs, and hand written family favorites building over the last almost-20 years of marriage and am ready to upgrade to something more beautiful and accessible, and something that I can easily print and share with my kids as they leave the nest. I’ve started typing everything up in a google doc, printing them off, and organizing them into a 3-ring binder, but I have a long way to go. So far, I’ve been setting aside a few minutes each Sunday to chip away at this project. My goal deadline is before our move, June 1.
Resurrecting my French language ability is another project on my list. Re-learning a foreign language takes constant effort and practice that I haven’t dedicated since living in Belgium, France and Luxembourg over 20 years ago. My mind is less malleable and plastic so I’m not going to lie…the learning feels rough. My brother is about to start a masters degree in French so I have motivation to work hard so I can share this interest with him, and I hope hope hope our overseas assignment with the military works out so that I will have the chance to really use the language. I am working through a grammar course for beginners (because I need a strong foundational refresh) and for intermediate levels. I am listening to music and podcasts in French and am reading the Book of Mormon in French everyday. I also do a few minutes of Duolingo. So far so good. I try to make it fun by doing a bit of study as a break from work during the day. This is a consistency project so there isn’t a deadline.
Running for time. Pre-pandemic I set a goal to run a mile in 7 min or less. It took me 7 months of intentional training and my fastest time was 7:03 before the gyms all closed and I stopped…I was convinced that I could only really train or do a timed mile on a treadmill which I realize looking back was probably just an excuse to stop. I haven’t run since then, up until the last week of 2021. My goal was just to run for 15 minutes straight and it was hard. So hard! But I did it. I am now up to 20 minutes, 3 times a week. I plan to gradually increase my time running until I get to 30 minutes straight, and then work on pace. I’ve done it before so I know I can do it again! I’m taking a more level and balanced approach with running just 3 times a week and doing weights and Peloton the other days to avoid injuries that have always plagued me when I run. So far so good!
Lastly, I am reading the entire standard works of scripture all the way through. This is an undertaking at 2476 pages for the Old Testament, the New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. I heard of a woman who reads them all every year, focusing on just reading 7 pages each day. I thought, I can do that! I read a few pages from the Book of Mormon in French each morning and then the rest of the pages from the other works. So far I have read through the Pearl of Great Price and am well into the Old Testament now. Reading all the way through is a different experience than the topical studying I had been doing. It’s a challenge, but this is something I know will be worth it. Here is a link to a schedule to keep you on track if this is something you want to do too, no need to wait to start in January, just start!
What projects are you working on this year?
