New Year, New Me? – Not the same old bullsh*t

As much as I don’t like to think of the New Year as a reset, a part of me can’t help but keep that concept in the back of my head. I don’t normally focus on resolutions per say, but I do seem to follow the classic ‘New Year, New Me’ trends: reading more, eating healthier, working out more etc. Not to say that these are bad trends to follow, but why choose January to start taking better care of your physical and mental health? I don’t have a clear answer for that, all I know is that if I’m finding myself improving my routine, I’m never going to fight that, whether its the fresh start to the year, middle of the year or the end.

One of the habits I am finding myself wanting to improve on as well is my commitment to this blog. Through Thick and Twin began a few years ago because I found myself in a creative rut. As a Bachelor of Visual Arts graduate, I’ve always had creativity running through my veins, whether it be painting, writing, cooking etc. This blog was my way of getting out of that rut. Would anybody read it? Would anybody appreciate it? I honestly figured probably not, but I wanted to create it for me, as an outlet for myself. This blog was to make myself happy. As I told my twin sister about this idea, she had told me she was thinking of starting a blog as well, so why not do it together? That’s when Through Thick and Twin began, but I can tell you that it hasn’t had the same action since it’s origin a few years back. I don’t know whether to call it a lack of motivation, or poor time management? It can be tough to balance your ‘side hustle work’ with your actual ‘income based work’, and I know many others can attest to that.

Like I mentioned before, I’ve started reading more since the New Year began, as I normally do when January comes along. One of the books I grabbed was one that I’ve read in the past, but I wanted to give it a second go and refresh my memory. The book I re-read was ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ by Mark Manson. If you haven’t read it before, I would absolutely recommend it. I’m not going to delve too far into the concept of the book, I think the title gives you a good enough idea. I relate to a lot of what Mark writes about, but one thing he mentions stood out to me when reading it the second time around. He mentioned getting stuck in ‘ruts’, like I was in before I started this blog. It took him just sitting down and writing 100 words a day to get started. It didn’t matter what those 100 words were, they could be completely irrelevant, it’s just the action of writing that gets things started. Most people think you need the motivation and inspiration to get the work done. However he describes it as the opposite, it’s getting the work done that then provides the motivation and inspiration.

So that’s what I’m doing here, right now, essentially word vomiting and just writing for the sake of writing. It is something I miss and I know I don’t do often enough anymore. So as much as I don’t like using the New Year as an excuse to improve my habits, I will honestly take it and use this time to write more, if that’s what I feel I can properly and willingly do right now! So here I sit, currently quarantining and writing ramblings to you, because life goes on. Life can definitely ‘get in the way’ of certain things you really wish to do instead. I mean if the past year has provided or taught me anything, its that I’m tough has hell but life can 100% get in the way. It has also reinforced by belief in doing whatever makes me happy. Working towards creating and maintaining this blog makes me happy.

So thank you for reading and bearing with my word vomit, because there is going to be more of it. I’m not going anywhere.