Finish at least one project that’s still a WIP (ideally Hobbit and Labyrinth quilts, definitely Hobbit first)
Not to go overboard when designing a new group project for the Court of Grandmothers
Walk/bike at least one mile every day (provided my work schedule will allow for it; can be getting to/from work)
Finish the 1500 miles I didn’t complete last year, and in the process finish the Amerithon thing I started back in 2017 (it’s 1793 miles to destroy the One Ring, may just aim for that again )
Slowly tackle the mess that is my room (and simultaneously find a different way of keeping my cat from wheedling her way into the closet other than wall-o-stuff)
I’m going to finish a rough/first draft of a book, and I’m going to do it by embracing my chaos nature and letting the process be messy and non-chronological. I’m going “treat writing like a job”, but like a good job with a healthy schedule and sensible time off.
My secondary goal is to be more active. I work a desk job and it is blah. I want to do some sort of physical activity for 15-30 minutes every day, but I won’t be committing to that until February because 1) I need January to condition myself to wake up earlier, and 2) I’m cursed. Every year I start maintaining a work out routine only to be struck with an illness or injury in mid February that totally disrupts my groove.
I’m going to save better this year. Well, not save exactly. Perhaps I mean manage. Know where it goes on paper not just where I think it goes. Maybe I’ll have 50$ here and there!
I also have a lot of coursework I’ve been avoiding (it’s easy when you’re not even in school). I want to tackle it head on this year!
Okay, so these are all incredible ideas! We’ve been really inspired by all of your revolutions, and we were talking in the office today about how they actually tie perfectly into what we were planning for Nepenthe this year.
Historically, Nepenthe has been celebrated around November/December, and this year it just kind of got away from us what with all the craziness of getting ready for The Briar Society, Secret Saberlane, and my surgery. So this year, with @OracleSage’s blessing, we were thinking of turning Nepenthe into a longer initiative based on helping each other stick to our goals of building habits and making changes like the ones that have already been suggested here!
To focus on helping each other work towards those successes and develop sustainable habits, we thought we could create “support pods” on the forum for people working on similar projects to check in with each other, share updates, offer encouragement, and hold each other accountable! Fitness/Health, Creativity, Productivity, Self Work, Giving to Others, etc. The idea being that by making it a priority to help and support each other, everyone benefits in turn.
Additionally, when we were brainstorming with the leaders, @Ashburn had the awesome idea to look for ways to align personal goals with ways to help the broader community as well. Some examples would be honing creative skills by working on projects for charity/awareness for a particular cause, or participating in a fitness program (real or virtual) that donates to a charitable cause as well. Since the spirit of Nepenthe is at its core about helping others, we thought that this was a really cool idea to adapt and incorporate towards other goals.
I know it’s kind of a loose structure, but it’s because we want to keep it flexible enough to accommodate revolutions of all kinds! We want to give our Nepenthe celebration the opportunity to be the most meaningful and impactful it can be, so let us know your thoughts and how best we can support you all in creating these spaces (should we make a poll for interest in different areas?), and we can all get started!
I really like the idea of using Nepenthe (my first one!) to help support each other and the community/communities we live in.
I suppose my question is whether or not each support pod would be helping out a different charity/community, or that we’d all be helping out a singular goal via different routes.
Also- I love the idea of support pods. Nothing holds me accountable like friends also striving towards the same thing.
Action wise, a poll would probs be a great place to start?
Oh, I work for a charity! I’m a leader in my local guild chapter of Extra Life, the gaming charity that raises money for Children’s Miracle Network hospitals with a game marathon every November. Can I nominate Extra Life as a potential Nepenthe beneficiary?
Absolutely!! I think we’ll put together a new topic at some point today where we can start to organize interest pods and potential charities. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Im going into the recording studio, this year, for better or worse. I want to go hang out with the mounties in AB, travel to vancouver, and attend windchill in Calmar AB. Finally, i want to successfully host a small gig that isnt just the coffee shop i always use.
Okay! So it looks like the 3 biggest areas of interest for revolutionary projects are creative, physical, and personal improvement! We can go ahead and make super topics for those three pods and make this thread the main topic for Nepenthe Revolutions, but before we do, we want to make sure we didn’t miss anything first! Everyone is free to participate in any/all of the pods if they suit your goals, but if you think there’s something worth adding/adjusting definitely let us know here first and we can go ahead and create them either later today or first thing tomorrow!
I’m not only going to be joining a pod(s) personally, but also Catherine and I have a lot of company goals we want to hit this year so AGP may also be contributing support and updates. I’m so excited!
I’m very late to Nepenthe this year, and haven’t had the energy or strength to achieve many of my physical goals. However, I have been writing, a lot. I started writing my first novel, and ya know what? I’ve done a pretty decent job at sticking with it. Starting to knit and crochet again, my next Nepenthe goal is to help those in my city who don’t have a hearth right now stay warm in the last of our chilly months.
I wanted to say how proud I am of all of you. Seeing these, seeing all your goals and determinations, its warmed my heart. I’ve felt your strength, and encouragement of one another, and it rings true to Nepenthe’s original purpose. To call up a community, dance to the common drum. Happy Nepenthe everyone, may the new cycle be kinder and full of magiq!
I think I speak for everyone when I say that 2020 has most certainly NOT been what we all had hoped when we set our Nepenthe intentions earlier this year.
That said, as we finally wind down this neverending year, I wanted to check in and see how everyone’s been faring with their goals! I’ve found that most people I know haven’t exactly met them in the way that they’ve planned, but have been able to find satisfaction and fulfillment in unexpected ways.
For me, for example, those big travel plans definitely didn’t happen, but in being home so much I’ve been able to commit more time than ever to my hobbies, and have even expanded my online social circle by joining a few new interest-specific groups, which probably never would have happened if things had gone as planned.
I talked to my mom recently and she’s said that even though all of my siblings being home is a lot, there’s a part of her that will miss this time in a weird way, because it’s so rare that everyone’s home together and able to hang out and do silly things like puzzles and paint-by-numbers.
It’s been a weird, stressful, frustrating year, but it hasn’t been all terrible. So Mounties, what have your Nepenthe silver linings been?
Well, I used part of lockdown to tackle my room? Still need wall-o-stuff to keep the cat out.
Aside from a couple vaccines and an urgent care visit, I once again failed spectacularly to use my insurances. To be fair, when I did have time, it was very much not a good time to be heading off to the doctor without an urgent reason.
That Hobbit quilt is still staring me down from the bag I move every time I unearth the craft table to work on masks.
No new group project in Court of Grandmothers this year (though the first one is still knocking around out there, I think), so technically didn’t go overboard on designing it? Will probably have to do things differently next time, since, you know… :gestures at the pandemic:
I’ve only had to fib a few times about hitting a mile on my daily activity, though I did start counting incidental activity.
I might hit the 1500 mark for this year? At the very least I ought to finish the Amerithon. Destroying the One Ring isn’t looking too promising (especially taking the long way), but I’ll definitely get past the breaking of the Fellowship (if I haven’t already? It’s been a couple weeks since I updated my progress).
Big Things That Happened, Hoped For & Otherwise:
Got a second job
Got a raise at first job (even with the world crumbling around my industry!)
Got a third job (eventually)
Quit the third job in self-preservation
Went from wanting to move to actually having a time frame for moving (further from work, but better value space/amenity-wise)
I have to say that I did better myself, looking back in it. I have good friends, I’m much better at my job then at the start of this year, so much that I’m getting complements now about it. There is still alot of room to work, but I am getting there!
My plans for the year were to push through my mental health issues and get a job. Instead I was forced to be patient and gentle with myself. I discovered that the root of many of my mental health issues were that I was pushing myself too hard, and I’ve come to accept that I really am disabled by my autism. So I don’t have a job after all, but I’m well on my way to applying for disability benefits, and I know my limits better now.
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