This week I worked a lot on what is important to me: my thesis. I read, re-read, wrote and re-wrote. And talked so much about it. I loved this week because I allowed myself to immerse in it. To take the time from whatever I found less important and to focus on it. Every day. Every other night. It felt great. There were small steps achieved in each hour and I could just see it get completely done in the nearby future. I guess it’s work in progress and it might take even more time to get it done and get it done in the way I want it to be. But it’s my work and it’s speaks about where I am in my life right now as a writer in social science.
This progress led me thinking about my 2019. What should be on my 2019 list? First of all, I loved the idea Gretchen Rubin and her sister, Elizabeth, have discussed in their podcast episode 199 Evaluate Your “18 for 2018” List (We Reveal Our Own Successes and Failures), Plus an App for Finding Lost Items and I have decided to work on my 19 for 2019 as a result.
In a way, 19 things seem to be many. I will have to find some balance between keeping on the list activities which inspire me and activities which can actually realistically be achieved given my full plate. I guess there is a fine line between excitement and paralysis and my high expectations tend to keep me on the border.
Therefore, I will start with picking just three activities from my 2018 list to be continued or done in 2019. These are the activities (a) which I most love doing, (b) which I most need in order to take care of myself and (c) which would bring more comfort in my profession:
- for sure I want to keep on reading. I just love it and there are so many books already on my kindle expecting me to find the time to get to them;
- most certainly I will plan a holiday for this year. Without a clear plan, I always have something to do in Bucharest and so it would be really easy to convince myself I can just stay in the city and relax;
- the third thing is my drivers’ licence. I continue to believe it’s no need for it in Bucharest, as the city is anyway overwhelmed by the number of cars, but doing field work is much easier when there’s driving involved. I loved the romanticism of doing field work while counting on public/private common transportation, but it’s not always efficient.
I am taking a break from working today and going to visit some friends. This year’s celebrations happened earlier for us and for this reason we are calm and peaceful, happy and grateful, as our lives, though imperfect, are filled with blessings. Happy Saturday!