We’re two weeks into 2026 and I’m already running behind; good thing I didn’t make any resolutions! Instead, I keep a mental list of things I’d like to work on in the upcoming year, but without any specific conditions, deadlines or must-do’s. What gets done gets done, and what doesn’t get done will either be revisited eventually or go by the wayside. However, in the not so distant past, my thought process (and perhaps Alex’s) was much different.
A little over a decade ago, Alex and I were knees deep in full schedules: our regular full-time jobs, our own business, school, creative ventures, freelance gigs, etc. Most of our spare time was filled with self-imposed obligations. Then a major health event occurred. The lesson we learned from it is that the most precious currency is time, and it’s something we never get back and is not anything that can be made up for later. Once it’s gone, it’s GONE. So we scaled back by closing our business and streamlining our other activities.
I don’t believe every spare moment should be filled with commitments or projects. However, I do believe we should be productive to an extent that keeps us engaged, keeps the gears in our minds turning, or to simply provide something to look forward to. Whether it’s one thing or five things is up to of us individually. Our productivity – and our chosen level of it – should be for our own life enrichment, not for approval of our family, friends or throngs of strangers on social media.
Even though we are more conscious of how our free time is spent, I still catch myself feeling annoyed that I don’t do enough. I didn’t make as much art as I was hoping to in 2025 – I felt like I wasted too much time on some things and failed to put enough into others. Before I let annoyance get to me, I wrote down a list of various things that occurred throughout the year and found that 2025 still brought opportunities to learn new things, a few adventures, some reorganizing, and time to simply be still and enjoy moments. In no particular order, here are several highlights:
- started Weekly 5 series (more news on this coming soon)
- participated in online art summits
- discovered new artists
- discovered new music/rediscovered old favorites
- attended art exhibits
- bought art from local artists
- finalized my art studio storage/shelving; Alex re-vamped his music studio
- enjoyed monsoon action after several back-to-back dry summers
- enjoyed time (and cold drinks!) together on the patio when weather permitted
- couch and cuddle time with our dogs
- day trips to explore to new places (on one occasion we got lost)
- celebrated the 8 year mark of drawing DEEMINZ
- several long holiday weekends
- rainy week in mid-November and last week of December
- had the exterior front entry of our home redone with pavers
- had a small paver pad installed in backyard, creating a new seating area
- extended our backyard patio with leftover pavers from the front entry project
- cleaned out a small ‘junky’ corner of the backyard
- reorganized the pantry, kitchen cabinets, and linen closet
- tried a few new recipes
- tried new restaurants
- created a handful of small art pieces for gifts
- scaled back time on social media
Once I wrote out my list, I felt much less annoyed. A lot of art didn’t happen, but many other good things did! Here’s to a new year ahead with a [very] loose game plan and tying up loose ends of 2025. Again, what gets done, gets done….
P.S. I can’t close out my first post of the New Year without a recap of the top 50 tunes that played in the studio this year:
