Sanity List 2014

from here

I’ve been thinking about my Sanity List post from a couple of years ago; I’ve needed to remember what kinds of things I like in order to remember who I am, and that list came to mind. Now that I’m two years wiser, it’s kinda funny reading back over the four ideas I came up with (refreshing my French, learning the guitar, exercising and getting my motorbike license). I gave up on the bike license idea not long after I considered it seriously; every time I made a silly decision while driving the car I’d tell myself, That could have killed you if you were on a motorbike, and the plan kept notching further from “sanity-restoring” towards “I don’t want Moses to grow up without a mother,” so I ditched it. As for the guitar, I obviously don’t want to learn it; if I did, I’d have done it by now. Maybe someday I’ll want to, and then I can. Until then, learning the guitar is off the list too.

The French thing did mean a trip to Adelaide back in 2012, which was very cool, and the Michel Thomas CDs truly are as wonderful as my sister told me they would be – we kept them in the car, and I was astonished to see Alan go from zero to alright French within the space of a couple of road trips; if he’s ever in France and wondering (as one may) what the social and economic situation there is at that moment, he’s now able to ask. It was also nice to be the one who knew most of the answers for a change, and to discover how much I remembered after such a long break from practising the language. Since thinking about what I wrote in that post I’ve brought the CDs out again to listen to and talk along with while getting lunch for me and Hazel, so maybe refreshing my French can half stay on my new list. 

I think I wanted to want to do most of the things on the original list more than I actually wanted to do them, which is why I went on with life doing almost none of them, and doing, instead, the things that should have been on the original list, like blogging. My new list is made up of things I’ve noticed I’m already enjoying, and therefore want to be proactive about keeping up, rather than things I think the imaginary me would probably love one day possibly maybe.

1. Blogging

I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it. Apparently this is how I roll.

2. Exercise

Exercise is still on my new list. I like going to the gym, when I go to the gym (look, the only reason I haven’t been for the last two weeks is because I felt like I was getting a cold, and then I did get a cold, and then I was recovering from having a cold, and now I’m recovering from recovering from having a cold, okay? I‘M LOOKING AFTER MYSELF). A couple of instructors have thanked me for smiling so much during their classes, and I’ve left them thinking I’m just a happy and encouraging person rather than someone who smiles whenever she feels awkward and stupid, which, when I’m at the gym, just happens to be always. So I will go back to the gym, now that I’m feeling much better (thanks for asking).

3. Watching movies and/or TV shows

Another tank-filler for me seems to be watching a good movie or TV show on a regular basis. I’ve seen lots of movies I’ve really liked over the past few months, thanks to my friend The Library and also, I’ve realised, my time-pressed-ness: I’d started to wonder, after giving yet another film a score of 5 out of 5 (it was Enough Said – I LOVED it), whether films these days had all become consistently brilliant, but then it struck me that I was enjoying all of the ones I watched simply because I was only choosing to watch movies I knew I would very likely enjoy watching. I don’t have time for crappy movies/TV anymore. (I also don’t have time to watch awesome movies twice, it turns out.) I love diving into the world of whatever I’m watching and living someone else’s life with them for a bit. I always analyse the characters and read myself or family members into the scenes; I was watching that part in We Bought A Zoo where the dad says, “Help me!” and the son yells back, “Help me!” and I was like, “Oh my goodness, this is me and Moses.” Movies are like free therapy for me. 

I’ve mostly been watching movies, but have found that a good TV show can also do the trick; I like that an episode of a show takes less time than a movie, so I can slot one in to that weird space between doing other stuff and heading to bed. Alan and I enjoyed watching season one of Time of Our Lives (all but the melodramatic bits) a few weeks ago. I’m thinking of checking out Rake and also asking my trusty-TV-recommending friend what that show was she was raving about a little while ago (The Hour? The News? The News Hour? Something like that…).

So that’s my List for 2014. I don’t even need to say I’m going to start because I already have, except for the gym thing, which I will totally go back in a couple of days when it’s clear that I’m completely better. *cough* *cough cough*