A new year, a new beginning?

I've long been a fan of the new year. Not the "eve" part - although last night was good fun, first at the operetta where my date and I pretty much halved the median age of attendees, and then back to her place for expensive champagne to toast the start of 2014 - but the idea of cracking open a new calendar has always appealed to me. I'm willingly self reflective by nature, so what's not to like about this time of year when one is pretty much expected to consider the year that was, and ponder on the year that will be. (The short answer to how my 2013 played out: it was mostly a good year full of fulfilling work and interesting travel, including a couple of weeks last month in Chile.) I'm also not above setting goals for myself for the next 12 months - and I do prefer the idea of goals rather than resolutions (although I admit this may simply be semantics). The funny (sad?) thing is that they tend to be the same every year! They revolve around the typical goals that most people set this time of year: to be a better person, to be more generous with my friends and to strangers, to exercise more, to read more, etc. (My friend H. had my favourite resolution, which he would roll out every new year's: "Less fretting, more fucking." There's a lot of wisdom there...)

The one word that always makes an appearance this time of year is "discipline."Basically what that means for me is discipling myself to work a little harder at my job, to not procrastinate as much and not waste time inside and outside of work. This past year was better than 2012 - I was especially good at taking advantage of this city's amazing cultural offerings, more so than in previous years - but I think I can do better. For one I want to discipline myself to write and reflect more, hence my decision to start blogging again.

My plan is to try something different with this blog by instituting a monthly theme. This month's will centre around the January Cure, which was suggested to me the other day by a friend. I'm going to track my progress - even if I don't have any readers, it will serve as a personal diary of my progress. It plays into another goal I've set myself for the coming year: to make my space feel more like a home. I've been a renter for my entire adult life - more out of necessity than choice since I can't afford to buy a home/condo/townhouse in an area of the city I want to live - and always felt that I'm sort-of transient: that the place I'm living is simply a waystation to my next destination. But I've been in this apartment for about four years now, and there's so much I love about it, including the neighbourhood. So I figure the time is right to make it reflect more of my personality, to add some personal and unique touches. To that end, I spent a big chunk of today doing a big reorganization of the office space, largely by shifting things around, purging a lot of crap, and adding a reading chair. I want this particular room to be something of an "intellectual" sanctuary for me (or what passes for intellectual in my world!). So far it feels good. It suggests good things to come in 2014.