Happy New Year!!

Flower growing on street in Phokeng
Originally uploaded by damariasenne

I hope 2008 brings you many blessings: good health, less stress, happiness, the ability and resources to reach your goals and loads of money.

I’m feeling well-rested now, and my brain is actually working. Looking back, the past two months look really scary; I don’t know how I got through them I was so worn out. In view of that, here are some of the decisions I made for the coming year:

1. Take better care of myself – This includes planning my work days more effetively, sleeping early and taking morning walks before I go to work, eating less junk, planning my meals better so I don’t have to buy fast food at lunch, getting a regular dose of vitamin B12 and other supplements.

It also means taking a full day, once a week, where I do no work. On this day I will not blog, do research, write fiction or any type of creative writing, read industry web sites or answer emails. Sounds really tough just thinking about it, but I have to try.

2. Mind the details – Some of my stress came from not minding the details of meetings, schedules and the writing process right from the beginning.

My hope is that my new Blackberry will help coordinate things and get more work done in a shorter time frame. It will especially help with reminders, responding to emails on the run and submitting articles when I'm working outside the office.

3. Pay attention to the superficial– I’m going to regularly colour my hair black. I started turning grey when I was in my early twenties, so I’ve had ample time to get used to the fact that I have more grey hair than my (almost) 69 year old mother. As for now, about 40%, maybe a little less of my hair is grey.

Personally, I love it and the grey is interesting, even unique at my age. But society does not agree with me. Conventional wisdom says grey hair means that you are old, and it was sobering when I met a couple of people over the festive season and they greeted me with the kind of respect normally reserved for the old and feeble:-)

I’m also going to pay more attention to my home – make it fresher, more stylish, keep the garden neater. Feeling good about myself and my environment will help keep me energised I'm sure.