60: Birthday Post

This is my birthday post! I’m going to be 42 on Monday. That being the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, I feel like I should make this year count.

The past year has felt like a bit of a black hole, but looking back on my previous birthday post, it does appear that I’ve accomplished the things I had planned to do:

Finish upstairs renos – I feel like I mention this in every post, but we are super close to finished now.

Take Indigenous Canada course – Was that only a year ago? I started this course in January and completed it in April. It was very good. Since then I have also read a number of books by Indigenous authors to try to broaden my horizons: Braiding Sweetgrass, 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, The Inconvenient Indian, and in fiction, the Trickster trilogy and the Marrow Thieves.  

Make garage into studio – This isn’t close to finished, but we did put on a new roof and add skylights, which I think were the most daunting parts, so I feel pretty happy with what we’ve done so far.

Artist’s Way 13-week exercises – I am currently on Week 10, so I will be finished before the end of the year. I am not doing as thorough a job as I could be, but I am okay with that and can always go back and dig deeper if I ever feel the urge.

In addition to these specific items I’d listed, I also managed to re-connect with quite a few people during the spring and summer on our back patio and to get in some fun, outdoor dancing at the Kits Showboat, which was a definite improvement over the previous year. I think I also have a better appreciation for spending quality time with people I like.

So I guess 2021 wasn’t a complete write-off, but it still kind of seems like it didn’t really happen.

Now, how am I planning to make 42 count? I think this year is going to be less about ticking off a bunch of items on a list (though admittedly, I do have a long list of tickable items that I want to complete too) and more about being in the moment and doing the things I enjoy, whether that’s alone or as part of a community.

This shift did not happen suddenly, though it has probably been affected by living through a couple of years of non-stop world-altering events, social upheaval and climate disaster.

I had already been grappling with what the best use of my time is for the last few years; that’s what got me started with this blog in the first place. One thing I have found really interesting is looking back at my reading list for each year; it paints a pretty accurate picture of what my mindset was during each time period:

2016 – Every book I read was fiction, which makes sense because this was the year I made the decision to do more reading for enjoyment. (This is also when I started tracking what I was reading, so it’s the first year I can look back on.)

2017 – About a quarter of the books I read this year were non-fiction and all of those were either about early retirement or simplifying. This is the year I left a 5 day a week job with a terrible commute that was sucking my life energy away, and I’m sure these books helped me make that move.

2018 – Again, most of the non-fiction books I read were related to early retirement, with a heavy emphasis on side hustle. This was the year I started working 4 days a week, but it was a job that was particularly dissatisfying and I was still looking for a way out.

2019 – I read a more diverse selection this year with an overall theme of lifestyle design. I had found a more satisfying job, so I was less focused on leaving the working world completely and more into pursuing my creative interests in my free time, rather than trying to turn them into money-making businesses.

2020 – What a year. I read way more books than usual this year, but most of the extras were fiction. Perhaps I was looking for an escape from reality? The non-fiction was mainly lifestyle design and a couple of books on habit-building because I had a lot of time on my hands and I didn’t want to squander it.

2021 – This year’s list leaned heavily towards educating myself on social justice issues and being a better ally, but there were also quite a few books about opting out of various aspects of society. It’s obvious to me that things need to change, but I haven’t decided whether I will become an activist or just go live in the woods as a hermit while everything burns to the ground and/or floods.

While I figure that out, my big plans for 42 are:

• Spend more time making/creating/practicing the things I enjoy
• Help build a community of dancers and jazz enthusiasts
• Start turning my yard into a permaculture food forest

I think all of these things can actually have a positive impact beyond my own little life, or I hope they will anyway. (I recently read The Future We Choose* and I’m working on maintaining stubborn optimism amid the chaos.)

*You should read it too! Everyone should read it!