2024: Giving new life to old things

With the start of the new year, it’s time to start thinking about new things. New goals, new adventures, and new life. In recent years, I’ve started with an overarching objective to go along with a range of measurable goals. But this year, I am moving away from the idea of an “objective” and focusing instead on an overarching theme: giving new life to old things.

My 2024 theme: Giving new life to old things

I am calling this year’s “thing” a theme rather than an objective because it’s not about self-improvement, although I know that there will be a lot of self-reflection and self-improvement along the way. It’s a little more concrete than past objectives (which have tended to be “touchy-feely”) but it’s also not quite measurable enough to be a goal – although there will be several little goals to meet as I work my way through the year.

Because of that, some of my measurable goals will be attached to this theme. However, many other goals will be a continuation of my past goals that relate to improving or challenging myself to do more, to do better, or to just do.

This 2024 theme resonates with me on several levels and, in some ways, has been part of my life from the beginning: Upcycling this, repairing that, repurposing the next thing, and all the rest. But this year, I will celebrate 50 years of life on this planet. And whilst that’s not terribly “old”, it’s certainly not new – and vintage bodies can generally benefit from some metaphorical refurbishment.

There are also several Big Things happening (or being planned) in my life that will entail breathing some new life into old things. The biggest of these Big Things is that I am looking to buy a house this year. My budget means that it will need to be an old house and that I will need to do quite a bit of work to give it a new life. My budget (coupled with my love of recycling, reusing, et cetera, et cetera) means that I will also need to fill my new-old house with old things that need to be renewed and refreshed.

But the idea of giving life to old things doesn’t end with my old body or an old house. It also includes working on craft projects that I’ve been putting off or that I have recently decided to take on. That includes (finally) making a quilt out of Paul’s old running shirts, finishing some of Mum’s unfinished projects and making new blankets and scarves out of old yarn. I also have some old clothing, blankets, textiles, and buttons that I want to refresh or repurpose – some for decoration in my new-old house, others for my old body to wear. There are so many opportunities for new life!

Other old things that need some new life include this website and my PhD website – both of which are due for a refresh. I need to breathe new life into my fitness routines and into my daily routines as I move further and further away from the routines I settled into during the height of COVID19 (it’s still here, just less deadly for most people).

Yes, this year I will give new life to this, that, and the next thing. And I hope that it will bring about new opportunities, new experiences, and new outlooks.

As for my measurable goals, they can be found on my goals page here.

I am entering 2024 with the knowledge that it will be a busy and chaotic year – and that there are Big Things afoot for which I need to be flexible. I have an idea of what I expect from the year, and I have an imagined timeline, but there are too many parts to the plan, and it involves an unknown number of steps and other people. But I do hope to be breathing life into an old house by mid-2024.

I’ll share tales from my 2024 adventures in due course. Happy New Year, everyone!