CL Pauwels at Large

New year, new challenges, new goals – right? Well…

If you’re like me, the annual rite of New Year’s resolutions leaves me cold. And that’s not just because Winter Storm Blair has buried us under 7+ inches of snow. It’s because motivation is hard enough to find when I don’t have to also find the energy to get out of bed in the morning when it’s gray and icy and cold.

Tanya Sichynsky from the New York Times shared a better idea: “I’m heavily leaning into the idea that resolutions can be silly side quests that just exist to wedge more joy into my life” (sorry, the link is behind a paywall ☹). To be fair, the idea has been around for a while, albeit in the gaming world or in humor: see “Wife Comes Up with Genius Way to Get Husband to Do Chores: ‘Side Quests’” from 2022 in  Newsweek. That story included such gems as “Beat back the Green Scourge invading the Fishy Kingdom! (Clean fishtank).”

Maybe reframing daily chores isn’t really what I need right now, but “side quests” sounds much more interesting than “resolutions” any day! When I saw that idea shared on social media, my immediate response was, “I want to explore more sourdough techniques and recipes, read lots more, and learn to simply not do more often.”

For several years, I taught my students about SMART goals, so I know that answer is far too simplistic for reality, but it’s a start. And for the local library’s writers’ group that I facilitate, I shared goals for my writing life: Finish Fatal II by writing at least 500 words at least 5 days/week; blog at least every other week, including what I’m reading (WIR); and, write/submit for publication 6 non-fiction essays.

Specific? Check.

Measurable? Check.

Achievable? Check.

Relevant? That’s debatable.

Time-bound? Sort of…?

But writing is only one part of my life (gasp!), and I already have several critique partners to hold me accountable for that. What I need help with is those activities “that just exist to wedge more joy into my life.”

My most notable mislaid joy is reading something other than social media posts or online articles. Why can’t I lose myself in a novel these days? During Covid, I read voraciously, easily finishing a book or two every week. Somewhere along the way though, I’ve lost that. Wil Wheaton of Star Trek fame attributes his struggles with long-form reading with the chaos of the world and “hypervigilance.” Those of us who absorb too much of the anxiety around us have trouble setting that aside to enter a fictional world. Rather than new years and resolutions, he’s dedicating himself to specific “seasons” of change. One of them for 2025-ish is his “season of reading and growing as a short fiction writer.”

There’s a side quest worth pursuing for joy – reading and writing! I’ll share my successes here with a renewed flow of “What I’m Reading” posts, and work on both short and long fiction writing.

What are you resolving/questing/seasoning your life with in 2025?