It’s that time of year! With our holiday travel, the new decade ushered in, and my 37th birthday (yikes!) over, I’ve found a moment to jot down my goals for 2020.
1. Stop referring to myself as “Mommy” when conversing with Little Thing.
She’s seven. This is going to be a long-overdue, hard habit to break. Considering I’ve mostly conquered my spacing twice after a period at a sentence’s end habit, this resolution is attainable.
2. Spend less time on social media.
Last month, I read Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport, which calls for deleting social media apps and points out that when Apple created the iPhone, the company never envisioned it becoming a pocket-sized, distracting mini-computer. While I won’t be deleting Facebook and Instagram, I do agree with his underlying argument. I’m monitoring my activity closely, even deleting distracting Facebook notifications and turning off email notifications.
3. Manage my stress better.
A. My ulcerative colitis is barely managed right now. My medicine stopped working, and I’m a week out from an IBD specialist consult with a John Hopkins’ educated gastroenterologist. My UC stresses me out, and stress triggers flare-ups.
B. I’ve got a new curriculum for one of my classes, and I have two preps. I’m existing like a primitive amoebic blob with mush for brains, crossing my pseudopods, I mean fingers, and hoping that everything works out in the end.
C. My school district is building a new middle school, relieving overcrowding for my school and a neighboring one. To staff it, they’re taking teachers from both schools. What does this mean for me? Who knows, but it’s freaking me out! No matter what, it’s the last year I’ll be working with some of my coworkers, furthering my anxiety.
This all boils down to I’m a nervous wreck, and I need a way to cope. I’ve tried anxiety medicine before, but my fibromyalgia causes me to have exaggerated side effects with lots of medications. (For example, I tried to take half of a low dose muscle relaxer with my UC medicine last weekend, my rheumatologist assured me it would be okay, and I was a wet-noodled narcoleptic the next day.) I’m going to find some books on managing stress and look into therapy.
What are your 2020 resolutions friends?
4 thoughts on “Mrs. Ram’s Jams New Year’s Resolutions for 2020”
Anonymous
You always make me feel better !!
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Mrs. Ram Jam
Thanks, anonymous person! 😉
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Invisibly Me
Some great resolutions. I’m not really doing any but I think I’d like things to work towards. Managing stress has been on there the last few years and yet I never get any further along.. it just gets worse and worse. I’ll join you on that one, because I know I need to do something about it. I have meds, but haven’t taken them recently due to having other medications alongside that I’m not in a hurry to mix regularly (though the GP assures me it’s fine). As you’ve found though, that’s not always the case. A “wet-noodled narcoleptic the next day”, I shouldn’t laugh but.. 😂😂
Mindfulness and meditation are the stock suggestions of late for stress. Interested in anything like that, or other distraction and emotional-release type of things (colouring, art, gardening etc)? Given that part of it is actually physical, it’s a tough one – my stress is predominantly borne from high anxiety and the biochemical elements cause that. It’s not about changing my thoughts. Does that make any sense? It may be somewhat similar with you to some degree. Researching options sounds like a good idea!
Caz xx
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Mrs. Ram Jam
That totally makes sense, Caz! I often color with Little Thing, but as weird as this sounds, I can’t do it for very long. It hurts too bad. Thanks fibromyalgia! Mindfulness and meditation sound like great ideas, looking into those options stat! Stress just makes all those chronic illnesses even worse. I know you know how I feel.
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