While yesterday was the start of the new year, it was also the first chapter of 2022.

I spent the first day of 2022 doing two things I love – cooking and visiting with friends. After cleaning up the kitchen and preparing food, and then eating and visiting, I did not have the time to do much else.

Cooking or preparing is when I can often think or reflect (which is why I prefer to cook alone). I kept thinking yesterday that it was the first day of the new year; thus, a blank chapter was upon us. How will the 2022 chapter play out? So many different things crossed my mind. Yet, as the day ended (and I crashed on the couch after “doing” all day long), I realized that I was starting to fall into whole habits. Habits such as doing things for others, other than doing simpler things, give me more time for the things I need to do or not completing things entirely, so I don’t have to revisit them.

The first part of my chapter will be about BALANCE – balancing what I want to do, what I need to do, and what others expect from me. While I always get things done, there has to be a better or more efficient way.

One of the bad things about the new year falling on the weekend is that the workweek is right there to follow. This week education programs begin back at church, the winter dissertation camp begins, progress needs to be made on the conference website, I have various appointments, and I have a pile of laundry that needs to be put away and more laundry to be done. Knowing what is ahead of me this week is both exciting and sickening. I would like just another week to merge into the new year and figure out how to do things (again). While figuring it all out is exciting, it also overwhelming at the same time.

So, here to 2022 and balancing between the expectations of life and the wants of life.