It’s become a bit of a tradition to think of the first of January as a bellwether for the rest of the year. Start how you mean to go on, and all that, right? And honestly, I want 2022 to be a year of rest, healing, and strengthening the good relationships I have, while also separating myself from the not-so-good relationships at the same time. I hope that with a diagnosis and a treatment plan, I can start on some physical healing, and I’m working to find a good therapist, because after some major unpleasant ah-ha moments I had in the last few days of 2021, I have a lot to unpack for some emotional/mental healing as well.

Back to January 1st, though – here’s how I spent the first day of 2022!

Well, to start, I actually stayed up to midnight, kissed Jason as we entered 2022, and then promptly went to sleep because that’s WAY past my bedtime, haha!

In the morning, I began with my favorite breakfast, full-fat, plain Greek yogurt with cocoa, honey, and strawberries. Then I traveled across the city to Government Canyon State Park to meet up with some friends for a journaling exercise. Sarah led the four of us in journal prompts as a way to look back over 2021 and to shape our vision of 2022 going forward. It was awesome! Originally, this was meant to be a big event. Our hiking group was renting out a pavilion and several dozen women were going to come for breakfast and journaling, but with covid cases rising astronomically here, we canceled. The four of us still wanted to gather, so we had a nice time outdoors on a picnic table, writing out our thoughts.

This was followed by a hike at a new-to-me park, OP Schnabel. One of my fellow journal-attendees, Kristina, was also hosting this, as well as a third host, Val. This allowed the group to be quite large – larger than I’ve seen in our hikes since the pandemic began! There were lots of hikers that I already know, and quite a few new faces, many on their very first hike with our group. We did two miles that, frankly, shouldn’t have been as tough as they were, but my sciatica was RAGING no matter how often I stopped to stretch out my hip. Ah well. I also wish I had my nice camera with me, because there were so many deer and all my phone photos are pretty awful! Other than the sciatica and the heat – why you 80 degrees on New Year’s Day, Texas?? – it was a nice hike! And I’m glad to have been to another new-to-me park here in town.

Then it was home for lunch (leftover frito pie), mimosa, shower, and general chore/paperwork completion. Once I got done all the need-to-do stuff, I spent a few hours listening to my audiobook, reading my print book, doing blog maintenance, and updating my daily journals. Dinner was cobbled together because Jason decided to re-shelve the entire pantry today, so I had a steak parmesan pinwheel, asparagus, some mac & cheese, and a small naan. That all goes together well, yeah? Heh.

After dinner, I pulled out my yoga mats. The kittens were extremely curious and all three immediately claimed the cotton mat. I swear, that cotton mat has been attracting kittens since I first got it years ago! Stephanie and I used to attend a yoga-with-cats class at the cat cafe before it shut down (back in 2018), and the cats loved that mat. I got it to put on top of my normal yoga mat because it prevents my hands from slipping too much, but the cat thing is a definite bonus. I have pictures of ALL of my cats from over the years spread out and loving on that thing. And I guess that despite periodic washings, there’s just something about it that keeps the cats coming back.

With my sciatica and the hike earlier, I didn’t want to do much yoga, but one of my big goals this year is to do more and establish a better yoga schedule. I had a 40-mins cozy blanket yoga session in my backlog, so decided on that one. Angus stayed with me almost the whole time. I was wearing my denim sundress, and he kept getting under the skirt while I was doing different poses, making me look pregnant. Ha! I’ve discovered recently that he likes being inside blankets and other coverings. Maybe it makes him feel safe? If I take a nap and don’t close my bedroom door, he burrows under my blanket and curls up by my feet, which makes it really easy to fall asleep! He’s a little space heater! Anyway. So I had my own yoga-with-cats session last night, eventually joined by Atticus and Jojo as well. (Jojo came from that cat cafe, and he claimed me at one of those yoga-with-cat classes, so he has a bit of a longstanding kinship with me and yoga, or more accurately, with that cotton mat!)

So that’s about it. My day in a slightly longwinded nutshell. I began my year by journaling with friends, hiking with my hiking group, reading, listening to constant construction in my house (ha!), and doing yoga with my cats. That seems about right. Heh.

Happy New Year!