blaugust & systems mode
Every few months I really dig into a full system overhaul, something I've written about here before. I do it to procrastinate something else, to process stress about something coming up, to pull my life back together when the mental clutter is overwhelming. This time, it's to transition from a really lovely summer I can't stop feeling guilty about to a fresh year of middle school teaching.
If I get nothing else done in the next two weeks before school starts, I want to have a workout and a quick meditation every morning as an automatic habit. For the rest of the day, I want to spend time in ways I feel really good about at the end of the day.
My plan for Blaugust is to account for how I actually spend this time, to answer for myself. Unfortunately, this sounds incredibly boring unless you are also in a systems-refresh mode, or, even more embarrassingly, you also read corporate productivity books for dads. So RSS readers - do you exist? - it's going to be boring in here unless I manage to do interesting things with this time.
And hey, I might! Maybe I will try to live my life in such a way that I entertain an internet stranger or two who may or may not even exist.
Organization:
I want to start the year off with inbox zero and with no unopened texts. I want to watch my spending and update my budget/track spending in YNAB at least weekly instead of letting it slide for nearly a month.
I am dipping my toes into the Getting Things Done world, and it seems to line up with my very very strong urge to remove mental clutter. I tend to take pieces of systems like this one and just fold them into my bullet journal monthly system.
It's time for clothes to be assessed, especially now that I have a sewing machine. I just feel like I don't want to wear anything again, or something has a tear, or it needs to be handwashed... I'm just really annoyed at my chest of drawers and I want it to be full of things I like.
Sewing/Baking:
I want to keep at these two hobbies often in the next two weeks so that getting started making something feels more "normal" and less of a production. I want them to be just things I do, not big stressful events - and I am better at not covering my kitchen in flour or having to fuck with the bobbin every five minutes for some dumb reason.
I want to finish my first garment from a pattern, and a wallhanging for my room that is almost complete:
Exploration & Social Life:
I want to have at least one more puzzle night at my house before school starts, and I want to hit the public pool with the homies. I have a few little friend dates I want to make, too.
As for exploring, I want to spend more time in the parks. Other than the heatwaves it's been a relatively cool summer, and I want to find more trails and spots. I also want to explore outside Baltimore a little more and spend more time stopping to look at buildings and plaques around the state. I want to take new routes to places and see what different parts of town look like in the tall weeds of late summer.
Posting Expectations:
I am going to try to keep up posting daily/near daily until school starts in about two weeks. I would love to tell you that I will just naturally fit daily accountability blogging (and meditation, and exercise!) in my life teaching middle schoolers, but something will have to give.
Anyways, that is all. Here's a podcast episode I liked, and here's a track from an album I can't wait to listen through. Tomorrow, I post up at a coffee shop and bring my journals and laptop and get my shit together.