First, for any readers in Canada, as I am based, Happy Canada Day! We are so lucky to be living in what many global polls suggest is the best country in the world!

For everyone, I would like to wish you a Happy Semi New Year for the second half of 2019! Now, what is this “Semi New Year” business, you ask? Well, it’s something I came up with earlier this week in the continual development of my Life Strategy (draft at right) and making it a reality. I am currently making enough changes in my life that they could comprise of a set of New Year’s resolutions. However, it’s not New Year.

So I questioned myself, does one need to wait until New Year’s to make resolutions? Only New Year’s resolutions, but only because “New Year” is attached as a descriptor to resolutions! That’s all a human construct. The synergy is the calendars and many other people doing it is nice, but there’s definitely no reason why resolutions can’t be made at other times of the year. Being calendar aware, though, I realized July 1st was coming up. With it being Canada Day where I live, I had a long weekend to not only finish off some things before the half year ended, but also get a jump start on others with the holiday to start off the second half. That was when I thought up this “Semi Annual New Year” idea.

Life is short. Most people would agree to that. It’s only long if it were arduous, but even then, it’s the days that are long, not the years. There’s some quote that came from, not me. How many years do you have that you can make resolutions? Maybe 50-60 from adulthood to average lifespan. Is that enough for life changes, when you think of all the changes you can, want and/or need to commit to during a life time? It may be for some, but as I think about it, not for me. There are a LOT of opportunities wasted, not to mention time, in having to wait till each New Year to commit to a batch of resolution! As a result, from now on, I’ll be doing Semi New Year resolutions, which will include re-commitment to New Year’s resolutions that either were broken, or lagging!

As for what I am committing to, here are a few items:

1. Get back on the checklist routine to be more productive (works for me to have a checklist of a lot of little items to cross off rather than huge commitments with many steps and goals along the way)
2. See through the Designing Your Life process as per the book from the course at Stanford or online, and do the many things required in this process.
3. Produce some paintings that is my new creative outlet. You can see some here on my art Instagram.
4. Get back into sewing at a much more dedicated effort with a new Asian garments inspired collection I started.
5. Travel more, including to Europe for the first time.

This concept may or may not resonate with you. However, if you make resolutions at all, perhaps just do this informally. Recommit to some you may have let slip. Maybe do more in some that could use more. Maybe even take up some new efforts at something different from the resolutions all together. You don’t have to call it any sort of resolution. And you don’t have to do it on any particular date, though I find birthdays are also another good time. It’s never a bad thing to reflect and regroup to improve life. It may just be funner to do it at certain times where people can understand your renewed zest and vigour. I hope you’ll consider doing it after reading this. Maybe even share in a comment if you do. Thank you and good luck!