FOCUS
Cindy Maddera
See this Instagram photo by @elephant_soap * 2 likes
I know it is still early to be thinking about the new year, but next week is Thanksgiving and that means November is practically over. I'll be traveling to San Francisco the first week of December for a conference. Then I'll stay a few extra days to hang out with my friend Heather. I think there's a cabin in the woods thing that's going to happen. I'm sure there's going to be lots of laughing happening. Laughing happening. I like that. Any hoo, I know December will roll through in a blink and I'll be staring 2017 right in the eye. I want to be able to do that staring with a fierce intensity while puffing out my chest and saying 'bring it!'. Many of us may feel the same way after the shitty shit storm of 2016.
There are some specific things I would like to focus on in the next year. Not really resolutions, just some self improvement and life improvement things. The usual. I've been wasting a whole lot of time scrolling through facebook lately. I find that any time I'm looking at a blank page or the start of the next sentence, I end up opening facebook instead of just looking at a blank page or figuring out that next sentence. I use it to fill the moments in between moments, maybe because I'm bored, maybe just to use it as a distraction. I don't know, because I'm not really reading anything there as much as I'm just scrolling through looking at ridiculous pictures and shaking my head at all the fake news headlines that I see people posting. I have resisted the urge to say "you people will believe anything." more times than I can count. Yet, there I am just scrolling on through it and it is dumb. I have exceeded the appropriate amount of time one should be wasting in that space.
So, for the next year, I'd like to focus less with online wastefulness and more time behind my camera lens, more time writing and more time spreading a more positive message. I have been talked into doing a yoga workshop on the use of yoga straps. I'm planning this for February or at least having a class plan by February. This is going to require me to dig out my giant teacher binder and doing some refresher research. I don't even know if I remember how to teach a regular class let alone devote two or three hours to teaching a whole workshop, but we're going to find out. I am not backing out or saying no. I am doing this. In the first few months of the next year, I will focus more on yoga and the art of teaching yoga. Then I want to follow this up with a focus on more yoga for my personal life with an emphasis on being healthy (more greens, less cheese).
Michael's been nudging me to find a way to sell some of my prints, but the truth is I feel like I'm totally faking this photography hobby of mine. I still rely heavily on my iPhone, though I know there's nothing wrong with that, but I have a really nice camera with two really nice lenses. I want to focus on getting to know that camera better. I'm thinking of doing a beginners photography class and giving myself a weekly assignment that I share here. I would also like to get a few photo editing apps on my iPad so I can edit photos while I am traveling. Travel is going to be another big focus for next year, not just for me but for Michael as well. We are itching to put miles on the truck and to see the country. And I want to photograph all of it. Maybe then I can think about selling prints, like that could be a focus for 2018.
You guys, I am so close to finishing a story. I don't know what the fate of this story is going to be, but it's something I am finishing. I really really really want to focus on that. I want to focus on finishing something I've started. In fact just writing that sentenced made me feel like anything is possible in 2017, in a good way. What does all this focus mean for the blog? I am hoping it means writing more thoughtful entries. This is the space where I can spread a more positive message and I'm going to work hard at doing that. Also, how else are you guys going to keep up with all our travels. I just want to build a nicer space here. I want to build a nicer space inside my own head and inside my own heart.
I want to build a nicer space.