Sometimes I make New Year’s resolutions and sometimes I don’t. This year, I have more of a theme than a list for myself.
Tango resolutions
Go out dancing more!
At the end of a week teaching dance, sometimes 30 hours in five days, I rarely have much energy to go out dancing. This is especially true after several years of lockdown, when most of the dance opportunities available did not feel safe to me. Now that more careful venues have opened again, my goal is to get out and dance more.
Take a tour to Buenos Aires again!
My last tour went to Buenos Aires in December 2019. We all felt energized and ready to bring that energy back to Portland and Bend and eastern Washington . . . and then COVID happened. The momentum evaporated and one dear friend who had been on the tour caught COVID and died, making those ten days in Buenos Aires extra special but bittersweet.
Now I have new students who have not yet been to Buenos Aires and who want to go together, plus other students who want to return there and dance again, eat lots of great food, see a lovely city, and maybe even get out of the city on an adventure or two. Stay tuned, but the plan is YES, Buenos Aires December 2023!
Yoga resolutions
Keep practicing for myself with my partner
I really love teaching my private and group yoga classes. During the past month, I began avoiding doing my own yoga practice. “I’m too tired!” I would tell my husband, and he would practice without me. Since we began lockdown doing yoga together daily, one of my resolutions for 2023 is to again do daily yoga together. It’s only been two days, but so far, so good! We pick a time, and just DO it.
Keep studying yoga and the body
I take private lessons in yoga that help me teach better and deepen my own practice. I treasure these times and they always bring me joy, even if my legs are shaking after a class! On top of that, I am taking more anatomy classes and learning about the fascia in the body (connective tissue). My training involved more work about the bones and muscles, but I need to learn more about fascia to understand hyperflexibility, the aging body and injury prevention. I learn about something, and then I design a yoga class on that topic to share the information. More of that will happen in 2023.
Work/life balance resolutions
This is the main place I am focusing this year. I feel very blessed to have a lot of work, more than I have ever had before. However, as a self-employed person, I have always worked as much as possible because one never knows what will happen in the future. There is no paid vacation, no matching funds from an employer, and no guarantee of work next week. And I love my work, so it is difficult to say “no” when asked to teach! I have a dream job.
I have now found my limit of how much I can teach per week without completely draining myself so that there is no balance of energy and time for myself or my family. This year, I aim to learn how to better balance my work so that I feel better about my life as a whole. And I am working on saying, “No thanks” and not scheduling more than I can do.
I want more time with my family as my son gets ready to graduate from high school and fly the coop. I try to have special times with him (usually feeding him!) so that we have a chance to check in and chat. Being a mom has been the most important part of my life and I dread that empty nest, so the intention this year is to enjoy the time we have together.
My husband and I are planning to start traveling more, and that will include more dancing in as many places as we can get to in the near future. It’s exciting to look ahead, make plans, and hope some will happen this year.
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions? Tell me!