Pages

Monday 19 December 2011

To make up for all those to-do lists...

..Well, at least going a little way to redress the balance. I am a BIG fan of lists. Of anything and everything. I make lists of my favourite songs, bands, movies, books, all sorts. I make hundreds of to-do lists; not even when I have loads to do, sometimes just because I'm bored at work and I'd rather write down the things I have/want/need to do outside of work than, you know, do work.

Anyway. In order to restore the equilibrium a little, and inspired by the first suggestion on Megan's post here (although actually,  her whole blog is pretty inspiring), I have created a Done list for the past year. I know it's not quite the end of the year yet, but I'm feeling reflective, and anyway, all I'm going to do for the next two weeks is eat chocolate, open presents and watch cheesy films. The list is perhaps not quite as crammed full as I'd like (and certainly nowhere near the size of my to-do lists!), but small victories and all that.


1. Saw one of my favourite-ever bands, Belle & Sebastian, play live. They were totally awesome. I almost cried with happiness, it was so perfect. The only imperfect moment was when, after trying to ignore my cider-pint-drenched bladder for a while, I made an urgent dash to the toilet. No, nothing embarrassing happened a la skirt tucked into knickers; but by the time I came out of the toilet, they were already halfway through my favourite song and I had to stand at the edge of the crowd and dance by myself. Completely bad timing on my part. :(




2. Got back into showjumping, coming first place in my class by the end of the season. This was a pretty big deal for me, as I was never particularly confident showjumping when I rode before. Milly has given me as much confidence as I have given her, and I think we both threw our little hearts into it completely over the summer.




3. Competed in my first ever one-day event. It wasn't so much of a 'proper' ODE as there was no real cross-country course, but it was a challenge just the same both for me and Milly as it was the first time for us. We met the challenge admirably, and ended up being placed 7th out of nearly 30 competitors - we missed out on a rosette by only one place!

4. Handled a complete change in my life and circumstances rather well, if I do say so myself. I actually never thought I would have to face the situation I faced... I thought, if the relationship was going to end, it would be me that ended it - and I certainly never thought I would be cheated on. So I never really knew how I would act, but if somebody had asked me I would have speculated that I'd probably take it quite badly. I am actually amazed at myself that I have come out of this feeling and behaving so rationally and positive, and I'd like to give myself a pat on the back. I'm not completely over it, but I'm well over the worst of it and things can only get better.

5. This isn't one specific thing, but it's something I made a conscious effort to work on this year and I'm pleased to say I have pretty much achieved it. In 2010 I realised much of my life followed the same old routine of go to work, come home, eat/watch TV, go to bed. Repeat. Even the weekends weren't that much better. So in 2011 I decided I needed to get out more, go to local attractions and out on day trips. I am pleased to report that I have completed this mission satisfactorily, and have many happy memories of going off to different places for the day, or even just going to an art exhibition in my lunch hour. Doing or seeing something a little different each day makes them stand out from the rest, and that's important to me.

No comments:

Post a Comment