Dear Me 2021

Dear Me:
Welcome to 2021!

Covid-19 still hangs over our heads like a dark cloud. This has made making goals more of a challenge this year. I haven't got the excitement and enthusiasm that I usually have and I'm tired of seeing my friends over the internet instead of sitting with them at a café sharing a cup of coffee or a plate of pub fries.

I try to shave off my melodrama and breath in some fresh air... sans mask!

With my Goals and Accountability group, I have come up with some goals for the year. It took some time, but I finally managed to write them into my Bullet Journal. Now I can look back at them anytime and see the coloured ink, full of promise.

I broke things up into several areas, though I could classify things into two broad categories. The first is Writing and Reading and the second is Health and Fitness.

For Writing and Reading, I want to accomplish these things this year:

A poetry collection. This can be broken down into smaller sets. The first being that I go through all the poetry I have written here on Writing.com - since 2013 - and copy and organize them into year. Then once that is done, I can sift through the poems themselves and see if there are any common themes that may blend themselves together.

Edit my Nano Novel. Having finally completed the first draft, I want to delve into the editing process. This requires me to figure out what program I want to do this in. I am leaning towards Scrivener... but we will see.

Weekly Contests. I was overjoyed to see the I Write Challenge was taken over by a very willing and capable person - CheerFairy Dutchessbarbie. This will keep me working towards accomplishing 52 contests in 52 weeks over the year. I managed to do this last year! Within this Challenge, is the Monthly Contest Challenge and I intend to also complete entries for the contests from 2017 and 2018 before next January so that I can be in on the big celebration.

Goodreads. I have signed on to read 30 books in 2021 and within this accomplishment is the challenge to read a book starting with each letter of the alphabet - 26 books.

For Health and Fitness, I have committed myself to several goals.

Walk more. I aim to get 10,000 steps a day at least 2 to 4 times a week.

Yoga. I need to stretch and tone. I am committing to 1 to 3 sessions a week. These sessions could start with as little as 5 minutes and build to 20 or 30 minutes as the year progresses. I want to start small to get myself oriented to doing this.

Meditation. The same is true with meditation. I am committed to 1 to 3 sessions a week. these sessions can be breathing sessions with my Fitbit or they can be Sahaja Yoga sessions. A session could be as short as 5 minutes or as long as 45 minutes.

I could also say I want to lose weight because I do, but I don't know if I am ready to fully commit to buckling down to a diet, per se. Trying to change some bad habits and move towards healthier ones is doable - more fruits and veggies; more water, less junk and sweets.

But until the shroud of Covid lifts, I don't feel ready to step up to that big a step.

As I write this, I am also teaching right now. I teach in a special ASD education class and we, unlike the rest of the teachers in the province of Ontario, are required to teach our students in class. I have two students in class and five students doing distance learning. I wear a multitude of hats and try to remain positive in the face of scary circumstances.

Our students do not wear masks and many occasional teachers don't want to cover us if there is an absence. I don't blame them...

I work with some pretty amazing people, but I have to say our government is... letting us down. And that, is putting it very diplomatically. To top it off, the general public has no idea that we are back at school... unless you know someone who teaches special education in the province of Ontario, Canada, you would never know we were there.

Words = 742.

Dear Me: ▼

Judging Criteria:
* Creativity: Be creative with your letter; it's to your benefit! You should be able to look back at your goals throughout the year and become instantly inspired by your own creative words of wisdom and encouragement.
* Believability: Don't just throw your goals into a mindless list with no explanations or encouragement. Be sincere with yourself; this is you you're talking to!
* Feasibility: Your goals should be achievable ones and to the point. Don't just tell yourself that you want to "read more" or "write more". Set some real goals with real achievable numbers and dates; give yourself something concrete to work toward!
* Spelling/Grammar: We will absolutely be checking for spelling and grammar mistakes. If you're not one for spell checking or editing your first drafts, maybe you should add that into your letter to yourself for the new year.
Your entry must be:
* Started with "Dear Me." Since you are the recipient of the letter, it must begin with "Dear Me."
* Based on the guidelines above.
* Rated 18+ or lower. Graphic content is not permitted, including GC or XGC items.
* 2,000 words or less. A word count must be included in the body of your item (top or bottom, not in the intro/header).
* Newly written for this contest. Create your entry as a Static Item and keep it in your portfolio. Submit it using the survey form below.
* Submitted One Time Only. You may only submit one entry, so make it a good one!
* Edited Only Until the Deadline. Entries edited after the submission deadline may be disqualified from winning without notice.