I’m resolved to …..
It’s that ‘turning over a new leaf’, ‘making a fresh start’ time of the year. You can hardly open a newspaper at the moment without finding an article about how to lose weight, take up a new hobby, get yourself super fit. Have you noticed too how the publishing houses are heavily promoting self help books right now? Book bloggers are also, it seems, giving a lot of thought to the twelve months ahead – I’ve lost track of the number of posts I’ve seen in the last few weeks talking about reading plans for 2015 and new challenges.
I’m keeping my own plans very simple this year. As simple as they can possibly get.
1. I am resolved to enjoy the reading experience……..
Lest you think I have completely lost the plot, let me explain. When I first started blogging three years ago I got carried away with all the opportunities for challenges and readalongs. I ended up doing far too many and consequently hardly made progress with any of them. It also began to feel that I was reading just to tick a box instead of what I really wanted to read. I gradually weaned myself away and last year I cut them out all together, focusing instead on my own projects. That worked well. Ok I didn’t read as many titles from my Booker Prize winners list as I expected, or from the classics club list. And I never did get all the way along the Equator. In the last couple of days I’ve come to appreciate how little it really matters whether I read 5 or 15 from those lists. I’m not in a race, not even with myself. And so I’ve decided to keep pootling along with those projects this year. in case you’re wondering, pootling is a word we use a lot in our family. I love the sound of that word. It means to move along at a leisurely pace, a bit like Mole and Ratty in Wind in the Willows.
2. I am resolved to make space on my bookshelves
I joined the TBR Challenge that Adam runs at Roof Beam Reader. There are many similar challenges around but I chose this one because it’s simple and very manageable. Just 12 books from the TBR pile in a year. Even I can do that one.
That’s it. I told you it was simple didn’t I?
The o
nly other thing I’ll be doing this year is trying to get back to the level of fitness I had two years ago when I was going to the gym four times a week. Last year I was lucky if I made it twice a week. Fortunately there are some like-minded bookish people in the blogosphere who in the form of #Fitreaders. Although this is called a challenge I see it more as a online support network. Whether it’s walking, dancing, golf, etc etc, you decide individually on your fitness goal and just share your progress. I bought a Fitbit device last year but it’s been gathering dust for a while. Time to re-activate it. My initial target is a very modest 5,000 steps per day on 5 days of the week. I’ll see how that goes before planning the next phase.
What are your plans for 2015?
Wonderful plans! Pootling is my favorite pace to move at 🙂 I never dare make a read from my shelves goal because it is so stressful and I feel even guiltier when I fail. Fitness-wise though I have a big goal. I plan on doing a 50-mile bike ride in October as a halfway step to doing a 100-mile ride in 2016. Best wishes for a successful year!
As someone who never even learned to ride a bike, I’m more than a little impressed that you can even think of 100 miles in the saddle.
You never learned to ride a bike? It’s not too late! And it’s really fun 🙂
I have an idea every year that I’;d like to learn but its not that easy in older years – you’re so afraid of falling over and breaking something!
‘Pootling’ is indeed a delightful word. Sounds like something that Wodehouse would be likely to use to describe how his characters move about. 😉
it could indeed be something Wooster would come out with
Those are basically my resolutions as well. I kept them as vague as possible and broad enough for me to be successful just by having a good year!
Why tie yourself in knots when you can get a sense of satisfaction in a much less stressful way, is how I think of this Geoff. Seems you are on the same wavelength
Seems as if a lot of bloggers are keeping their reading goals simple, me included. I’m just counting pages and hope I can largely surpass that pathetic page count I had last year (13,110) 🙁 But most of all I want to enjoy my reading. I’m not in a race either but I don’t want to be taken away from what I wan tot read this year. I’m a lot like you. Happy reading and oh I like pooling. I’ll have to try and use it in one of my post. I’ll give you credit. 😀
delighted to have introduced you to a new word Didi! when you type it, make sure the software program doesn’t try to automatically correct the spelling to poole or pooling – it’s POOTLE with a t….
Noted! 😉
Thank you for sharing the #fitreaders group – I think that is exactly the motivation I need to return to my 10,000 steps routine that I so enjoyed this summer.
Are you going to join us Molly?
Giving it serious thought 🙂 Just a bit hesitant to commit; I don’t trust my resolve to follow through with my intentions.
“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”
― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
Readerbuzz.blogspot.com
I’d forgotten that comment so thsnks for the reminder. I will keep reminding myself of this whenever I get tempted to stray
I love your first goal. It’s the primary reason I read — because I love to. I want to once again enjoy the writing experience too– which for me means lowering expectations; less is more.
I really indulged in fitness last year which is one of the reasons I was not here so often, and I want to continue that perhaps in a more moderate fashion. For me fitness means walking, swimming and yoga. I am a registered yoga teacher. I got a bit carried away with online yoga courses by senior teachers last year.
It is easy to get carried away with any activity once you find something you enjoy. Reading books is good for the brain and overall feeling of well being but it does damage to the waistline unfortunately.
It’s surprising how easy it is to get caught up in all the reading challenges, or even just competing with ourselves. I feel the pressure when too many books come in at the library at once. I tell myself that I can always take them out again if I don’t get to them all, but I guess I don’t listen to myself very well. Good luck with your goals!
Oh yes I know that feeling – its wonderful to come out of a library with an armful of books and then just days later I’m feeling guilty because I doubt I will get to read them quickly
I’m trying a year without reading challenges, after failing at the TBR Pile Challenge two years in a row. Good luck with yours!
Oh dear, well I hope I manage with this one, I just finished book number one – 11 books to go but I just listened to a podcast about one of them and it’s not given me a lot of confidence i will enjoy it
I have the same goal when it comes to clearing out my tbr books.Good luck with everything.
its that time of the year when we all like to do a bit of spring cleaning.
Keeping it simple is always good. I basically am trying to keep to two words this year: focus and equilibrium in my reading and in life otherwise. I’m not big on reading challenges either. When I first started book blogging, I was like you doing them all, but then I realized I couldn’t — and really didn’t (don’t) want to do them.
two good watchwords Bryan. I suspect many of us get over-enthusiastic initially and join all sorts of groups only to spend the next few days gradually stripping back to the essentials
Great goals! I’m working on living healthier in 2015, too. And, I definitely want to enjoy my reading!
Didn’t you make a big effort in 2014 on healthy eating and fitness?i seem to remember Joy that you were making good progress
Makes sense to take things at your own pace – less pressure and a lot of flexibility.
I’ve joined a handful this year (as opposed to last year when I joined absolutely none and hardly did any blogging either), and so far I am quite excited about them. Personally, I feel that they give me something to work with, and set some sort of goal I need to reach. I don’t intend pressuring myself to follow them, though. If I find I’m being stifled by them, I intend taking it slow and not minding if I cannot finish them by the end of this year.
Some people seem to thrive on challenges for the very reason you mention, they give you something to focus on. hope you continue to enjoy them Saari
I went overboard on challenges for a while…and even last year, with only two, I fell short on my Mt. TBR…with four books to go. I couldn’t imagine picking up those four books, and ended up giving them away to the library. They no longer appealed to me!
I am all for reading for pleasure and enjoying the experience.
Thanks for sharing…and here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
what a shame to get so close to the finishing line and then stumble. but if you think about it without the challenge you might have been cluttering up the shelf for a long time with books that didn’t interest you
Admirable goals. I also want to read more off the TBR list. I don’t really join in with challenges anyway.
they work for some people it seems but they’re certainly not for everyone. I decided to rename my ‘challenges’ to ‘projects’ to take off the pressure
I’m a Fitbit user too. 🙂 my employer bought them for anyone who was willing to commit to a 12-week 10k steps/day wellness program from May-July. I still use mine but it’s harder to get steps in with the cold weather now. One of my bookish resolutions is to give away some of my old books that I’ll never read again. I used to be fanatical about owning books but, now that I’m older, not so much. 🙂
I’m going to suggest that to our occupational health team – we have a gym and they like to do challenges from time to time. I’m going to have to resort to the gym just to keep the mileage up
I’m seeing plenty of challenges around at the moment – some of which I am tempted by – but am going with only the one – to read 20 books off my shelf (in what ever format) before I replace even one……I’ve even dropped out of the Goodreads Reader Challenge, where I’ve decided to read however many books I want to read this year and have therefore already met the challenge of reading “at least one” book (since you’re not allowed to challenge yourself to read “more than zero”).
So far I’m doing well, clearing off some of the book I picked up after Christmas, but still. 3 done, 6000 to go eh?
It’s 3 closer to the end though Nordie (just trying to think on the bright side for you)