Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska

Wanda's Diary Entries

January 1, 2009

New Year’s Resolution No. 1. Write blog entries more often. Several people I respect and admire have told me that in order to stay current, to draw readers to my website, the content needs to be updated at least once a week, if not more frequently. My issue is that once I get started writing, I often have trouble stopping. So I need to realize that short is beautiful, too! Short, more frequent, entries shall be the order of the hour.

No. 2. Watch what I eat. Eating more consciously, of course, involves incorporating as many local fruits and vegetables as possible into my diet. It means tapping short-distance items and doing as much food preparation at home as I manage. Eating lower on the food chain and using as many whole grain and organic items as possible is also a good thing. Eating consciously is an important component of green living, but also, for the first time in my life, what I eat is showing up on my body. In the distant and even recent past, my metabolism was so fast that I could anything and everything in sight and show nary a pound, but as I’m middle-aging, my metabolism is slowing. So I resolve to eat better (and less) this year.

No. 3. Exercise more. While I’m a regular swimmer — when I’m in town and able I swim every day — but I know I need to do more, swim more laps, vary my routine in the pool. And lift weights. My physician recommends this every year at my annual check up and I always tell him I’ll try when there is more time, but time never magically appears. We all know this. The problem with weights and machines is that I’ve never enjoyed them, so that’s the rub. I resolve to make myself do this regularly — something that’s not exactly misery but doesn’t deliver pleasure either. The satisfaction is bound to come in the results.

No. 4. Study Polish. I’ve had a life-long desire to master my father’s native tongue, which is tongue-twistingly difficult, and I’ve made many attempts to learn the language throughout my life. I do know a bit, and whenever I hear others speaking it, it’s music to my ears. But I need to get back to the Rosetta Stone program that Henry and I have been studying on the laptop. Every day. Even 20 minutes a day can start to have an impact.

No. 5. Declutter. Though I’m not a shopper, I have a hard time throwing things away — especially older items, such as those from my late father and even my own past. I can always see the value in a thing, the potential use for it, so when I declutter I must repurpose, redirect. It’s almost impossible for me to throw something perfectly good in the trash can. So for me decluttering takes time. My resolution is to put a set amount of time into this exercise every day.

No. 6. Continue my advocacy work for simplicity and sustainability — for others and for my son, family members and friends. And be sure that I walk the walk as much as is humanly possible.

No. 7. Tap into the power of affirmations. First you must recognize what you want to achieve, state it positively and affirm it twenty times in the morning and twenty at night. This conscious self-direction can start to turn your life the way you want it. Along with affirmations, take time to keep up your journal — even recording only a sentence or two each day — of high or low moments — is a great start.