Happy New Year, All!
“Be Boring"
This might be the year of Navel Gazing for me.
In my post before New Years I made a causal brief reference to the goal of being boring in the eyes of my medical professionals. It was a comment that was randomly dropped while writing and I felt it would be a very positive development for me health wise to be boring (or healthy) in the coming year.
Oddly that phrase - be boring - stuck with me for a while.
Being perceived as boring has slightly negative connotations in almost all other situations. After all, who doesn’t want to be perceived as interesting, charming, the “life of the party!” Popular people are definitely not boring people. Others are drawn to them, seek out their attention, desire their company. It is an external shell that can also be described as charisma. Definitely not boring.
While in my life time I haven’t ever been described as the life of the party, I have gravitated toward leadership roles both in my professional life and private life. Even until recently I found myself invited to join the community board of directors and did so willingly because I was not a stranger to those kinds of activities. Stunningly I discovered that my actions on the board were noted by residents I didn’t even know. They knew my name, but I but I didn’t know them. I guess doing the hard actions, saying the hard things, and making a difference made me one of those “not boring” people.
But with all the health drama of the last 2 years, I believe my focus has changed. I think it has made me a bit more of an introvert than before. Yes, I was described as in extrovert by others and by personality testing. Now that label feels like a weight too hard to carry. I am more comfortable letting others grab the spot light. At least it feels like I am gravitating towards that as time passes. Focusing on my own needs, family, life and letting go of other stuff is the way I am heading.
None of this has happened intentionally. It is mostly an observation of where my life seems to be taking me. And it most definitely isn’t a New Year’s goal of any kind. It is more of a gentle observation of the evolution of my personality. Maybe a pulling in - a contraction - a letting go of previously held needs. I also think there is a shedding of some friendships that were not really friendships before - but I didn’t see that. Cultivating close friends, ideas, activities with a much smaller boundary than before.
Being more boring. That is what it feels like.
A New Yearly List
I follow a blogger named Leigh at 5 Acres and a Dream. While her life style is entirely different from mine, I really enjoy reading some of her posts in her effort to live more responsibly and off the grid. In a recent post she provided a list of her 2024 books that she read. It was TOTALLY amazing how many she had. It included paper, audio and kindle. I got to thinking ... I wonder how many I read last year. That inspired me to create my own list for 2025! Her list is just titles and authors. No reviews or pictures. Just a simple list. Mostly a list that gives her the scope of her reading for 2024. So I am off and running on my own list for 2025. Thanks for the idea, Leigh.
If you are curious about her blog or the list she provided - click on the link below.
https://www.5acresandadream.com/2024/12/my-2024-reading-list.html
