20 Things for 2020

Catchy vision-casting post, engage.

While I may not be much of one for New Year's Resolutions, I do like to think ahead and fantasize about what might be accomplished in the coming year. Because coming up with 20 things was challenging, I decided to divide up my thinking across the 8 dimensions of wellness.

https://cpr.bu.edu/living-well/eight-dimensions-of-wellness/

1. Ask for help more.
   
2. Get a travel card. I want to go abroad, and racking up travel points is a great way to make that happen.
3. Read what I have. Definitely guilty of buying more books when I still have almost an entire shelf of unread books. Maybe this will be the year I read those books, instead of buying more.
4. Stay consistent with paying off student loans. It's a marathon, and slowing down just drags out the misery.
   
5. Make friends here. This looks to be a year of settling down somewhat, which means it's time to put down a few roots and make some friendships outside the workplace.
6. Host a game or movie night. Something I've wanted to do for a while, and just haven't done. (Not solo, anyway.)
   
7. Pray more. I've never done this consistently. But it makes a difference in me when I do it, so I'd like to actually, you know, do it.
8. Read my Bible more. And listen to what it's saying.
   
9. Get faster at documentation. I have a few ideas for how to speed up my process, they just require a little prep work. (Obviously the repetition goes a long way, but even faster would be even better.)
10. Get to work. Find something I truly care about in the profession, and put actual effort into making it better.
    
11. Cook more. I'd love to add 10 new recipes to my repertoire this year, so I can keep myself alive and in decent health.
12. Drink more water. It's not that I don't like water, I just really really struggle to make myself drink it regularly.
13. Explore nearby. There are some amazing sights around here, and I'd like to actually go see them at some point. Plus it gets me outside.
    
14. Take more pictures. I've got this great camera that I hardly ever use.
15. Learn how to take good DSLR pictures, manually. That fancy camera takes even better pictures when I set the parameters myself! Just gotta learn/remember how to do that...
16. Find a sewing class. Online or in-person, I am so tired of spending 90% of my time trying to figure out how to interpret patterns or instructions, and then making them happen.
17. Grow edible food this Spring/Summer. I've grown things before, but they weren't very good. Not gonna stop me from trying again, though!
    
18. Organize my craft closet. It's like a bomb went off...
19. Put up my wall art. They're just gathering dust, while my walls look so boring.
20. Display my knickknacks. We've all got them. Little trinkets that we collect from experiences, friendships, and hobbies. They may take up space, but they help me feel grounded.

Do you see anything that's been on your mind to do this year? If not, what's something else you're hoping to accomplish in the next 12 months?

Do or Do Not

So, I've been trying to resume this blog for years, clearly to no avail. I wanted to have something worth saying to make writing a post worthwhile, but also wanted to be good at writing posts so I could say it well.

Guess what the problem with that is? You have to write posts to get good at writing posts. Mind blowing revelation.

Anyway, I'm here to write a post! And here's what I want to say (and no, it's not one of the many things I actually really want to talk about, I'll get to those later).

I. Hate. New Year's Resolutions.

There, I said it. That's what I wanted to say. You're welcome, for that bit of personal information about me that you never asked for. This is the magic of blogging, people!

...Okay, there's actually a little more to it than that. (Fooled ya!) I do hate New Year's Resolutions, because they never work out and it's just a lot of unnecessary effort to change something that I should probably just change. Kind of like the title of this blog post, "Do or Do Not" (there is no try). I get that sometimes making a change requires planning. And telling other people about it helps to hold yourself accountable. I'm just not motivated by those things - if I don't want to do it, then I'm just not going to.

That said, there is something I actually want to do, and because I actually want to do it, maybe posting about it will help keep me relatively accountable to myself. (Not because of you fine people, #sorrynotsorry, but because I can keep somewhat of a log of my progress.)

I want to be able to sit seiza for 2 minutes by May, with no increase in familiar leg pains afterward. For those of you who don't know, seiza is just the Japanese word for sitting down with your legs folded underneath you, basically sitting with the tops of your ankles against the floor. I have excellent range of motion going the OTHER way, and I can squat all the way down with my heels never coming up. But that pointed-foot motion is very difficult for me, for a variety of reasons.

Now, it's not a huge deal that I literally cannot sit this way right now. I don't really ever need to, except for a martial arts class I do during the week, and I just sit however I comfortably can for that. It is a symptom of a larger issue, though, that does interfere with my general ability to move in the ways that I want to. And now I'm signing up for a thing in May that I would love to be able to sit seiza for. Again, I don't need to, but I want to.

So that's my goal that happens to coincide with the onset of 2020. I want to be able to sit on top of my ankles without it hurting. Which means I need to do some specific stretching and some strengthening to back it up. Honestly, I dread it (long story), but it's such a simple thing to be able to do, and I just want to know that I can. So, I'm just going to do it. Maybe with whining and some trepidation at times, but I'm going to do it.

(But I'm also a notorious quitter, so feel free to ask about it and help me out.)

Do you do New Year's Resolutions? Tell me in the Comments!


Update: So, I made kind of a list of things I'd like to get done this year. You can call them resolutions. They're over here. (It's a good thing I like waffles, because I do a lot of it. Maybe another goal should be to stick to one thing??)

Women and Self Defense

This is the first of what I hope will be a short series of posts concerning women's self-defense. I've been in the mindset of self-defense for over a decade, and in recent years have been more focused on women getting the knowledge and training they need.

As with basically everything in life, I stand on the backs of giants. I will try to give credit where credit is due as consistently as possible, so you can track down sources for more information if you want to. Of course, I'll present my own thoughts, too (otherwise I wouldn't have a blog), and you're more than welcome to track ME down and ask further questions! That is, incidentally, what the comment section is for; but I can also be reached on Facebook.

Nothing presented here is, or will ever be, a substitute for a good instructor and practice. Hopefully, the knowledge presented will help you start thinking about ways you can defend yourself, but it cannot take the place of face-to-face instruction, practice, and scenarios.

Without further ado, I polled my friends for what they'd like to hear about, and here's what they came back with. This will serve as a basic outline of how the series will go:

• Small stature, but staying safe
• Pros and cons of mace
• Handgun advice
• Poll: Who do women prefer to teach them self-defense: men or women?
• Personal: My own attitudes toward women's self-defense, and why

Be on the lookout for the first installment in the next few days! And if you have more things you'd like to hear about, PLEASE let me know. What you want to read is what I want to write!!

God's Glory in Car Wrecks

So, I was in an automobile accident today. First major accident ever. I was fine, but the couple that clipped me didn't fare quite as well - the hospital here is pretty good, so if they had to get in an accident out of town, at least it was here where they're close to good care.

Actually, that's what this post is about. It was scary, and I was naturally freaked out and adrenalized, but it was so incredible to me how the situation unfolded. All I can say about it is that God is definitely present, and that he's looking out for me, but especially for the couple that hit me.

Let me set this up a little more for you. It's about 5:30 in the afternoon on a major artery for our city. Rush hour traffic is to be expected, and I've been in it enough times to have a decent feel for it. There's this one exit to get onto another major road, and it always gets a line that's backed up for a mile around this time of day. If that's the exit you want, be prepared to stop quickly, and then wait in the crawling queue for a bit until you can finally get off the interstate.

I'm driving a small, two-door truck, trying to get home to some dinner, and then to go meet with some friends. We've all got some place to go, right? Well, I'm watching the traffic ahead of me, and I see that the crawling line is coming up soon, but I must have misjudged how soon, because it came as a surprise when the car in front of me was braking, and then was stopped. So, I brake, and then I brake hard, trying to not hit the car in front of me. By God's great mercy, I did not. But, I was definitely going to hit it if I stayed in that lane, so I pulled a maneuver I've seen done before, and had to use once before: I swerved into the emergency lane.

Behind me is a couple riding one of those comfortable, trike motorcycles with an extra trunk trailing in the back. When I braked and swerved, I missed the car in front of me, but the couple behind me was just as surprised by the sudden change of events as I was, and they wound up still going too fast while I was halfway in the emergency lane, halfway in the travel lane. The wide rear of their trike hit the side of the truck and slid along the side a bit until they came to a stop ahead of me. (Here's a good visual of what their vehicle looks like. Picture.)

Here's where it gets awesome, in my looking back. The couple was older and from out of town, but praise God they were wearing good helmets, and they're in a city with a good hospital nearby.

The nature of the accident caused them to fall from their seats, but praise God they weren't thrown, and they didn't fall until their trike had reached a stop. Also, while their trike did tip, it didn't fall over and trap anyone.

I don't know how normal this is, but, praise God, a good number of people stopped to help - probably because of the nature of the accident (2 people visibly on the road), and also because we're all in close quarters at this time of day, so it's easier to see things unfold and quickly decide to pull over. Regardless, I needed them, and the couple definitely needed them. I learned a lot of things about the effects of adrenaline on me personally today, and one of them is that I can't think clearly or follow through very well. But within a couple minutes or less of the accident, a man came up and announced that he had called 911 already. Praise you, Jesus, because the number just kept ringing when I tried to call, once I had finally managed to get the call placed.

Among the others who stopped were some capable men, who, thank you God, were calm and level-headed, when I was barely able to think one step to the next. One was still in his military fatigues, coming from the Arsenal. One, for whatever reason, had medical equipment in the back of his van - EMS got to the scene before we needed him to use any of that, but he was prepared, and he probably brought even more calm and experience to the situation. A minute or two before EMS arrived, an ER nurse (wearing scrubs!) came up, announced her occupation, and took charge with evaluating the woman. She was able to quickly brief the EMS and paramedics once they arrived on scene.

Looking back, I'm amazed. I feel sad for this couple, that this happened to them while they were travelling, intending to just have a good trip. But I'm also really grateful that it wasn't any worse. They were wearing helmets, the accident was only about 5 minutes away (by ambulance) from one of the best hospitals in the region, they have people they're staying with near town (so there are others who can be with them), and their transportation was not irreparably damaged. For whatever reason, they are under special care, and I'm so glad.

As if God wasn't already doing enough by taking care of these strangers who happened to meet me today, he took care of me, too. I was already braking hard and getting off the road, so the shock of impact was somewhat diminished, and all I had to do was finish the action I had started. The airbags didn't go off, which prevented me from having injuries from that (it wasn't the type of accident that should trigger them anyway). By some miracle, I did the right thing by putting the truck in park, turning on the hazards, and then getting out of the car. I had my phone with me, so I was able to attempt calling 911, and I was able to get in touch with my emergency contacts. By God's grace, I had brought my driver's license with me - I'd just been out on a short errand, but brought my license instead of forgetting my whole wallet at home. The people who came to the aid of the couple were a comfort to me, because they had brains that were able to take more control of the situation, while I was still in the shock and adrenaline phase. The friends I'd been planning to meet up with happened to be driving down the same interstate, and one happened to look out the window at the wreck and saw me - so two of my best friends were able to be there with me and give me hugs and make sure I was okay and didn't need a ride. I even got a text from one of my friends and coworkers, who saw the accident and me, and asked if I was okay and if I needed a ride. Praise God, the truck was drivable, and praise God again that I wasn't so shaken up that I couldn't responsibly drive. Thank you Jesus, this isn't our only option for transportation, and it isn't a really expensive car, and it's insured, and I'm on the insurance.

Today definitely took a strange turn that I wouldn't want to repeat, but it had at least one positive outcome: God's glory. I'm praising God for his protection, his provision, and his plan! This all could have gone down so much worse, but it didn't. All glory to God!!