TCI readers on emotionally preparing for 2018

By drinking tea slowly every day.

By gaining skills that support my long-term desires.

By reminding myself daily of what makes me happy.

By calling friends a lot and supporting them and their work.

By taking risks, and by considering potential outcomes—but not fearing them.

By taking pauses between the bullet points on my list to let myself do nothing.

By making a plan, and following it. By taking breaks when needed instead of quitting.

This year, the first thing is finding a stable job. In fact, even if that’s all I accomplish this year, that’s enough.

Through planning, routines, letting go of my ego, and being okay with starting small and seeing slow progress.

Spending time in productive activities, and less time reading news on my phone and scrolling through social media.

By looking for and celebrating the good. Taking time to be grateful. Identifying my soft spots and being tender with them.

By taking more time to understand how to be good to others. By being patient in waiting for others to find their best selves.

By getting lost in the process of creation without judging it, and by realizing that everything I need to create is right in front of me.

By taking 20 minutes out every day with a timer to work on each project. Setting deadlines and making manageable to-do lists to check off.

I’ll achieve by desired feelings by thinking, moving, creating, working. Walking. Listening actively. Looking at trees, birds, and plants.

By taking my time. Telling people I love them. Trusting myself, and learning to trust the world and others without forging boundaries. By taking my vitamins.

By embracing weirdness and queerness and being brave enough to show it to others. And by developing my view of the world and my place within it.

By being honest about how I’m feeling with the world, in both simple and complicated times. This year I want to find my limits and push them, nudge them, feel them out and then define them for myself.

This year I’m splitting 2018 into four quarters, like you would the business year. Q1, Q2, etc. In this case, though, “Q” is for Quest. The Quest is to take on a new creative project each quarter of the year in something I know little or nothing about.

I think I can achieve my desired feelings by taking it easy this year and not putting so much pressure on myself to “succeed.” What I want is simple: good company. I want to be surrounded by my friends, good eats, cheap beer, cool art, and nature. This year is about keeping it simple and appreciating the feeling of “home.”

By giving myself more credit. I actually know very well what I want, what I need, what I am (and can be) good at, what matters to me, and what’s right for me. All I need to do is trust my gut and commit. This year, no endless ruminating and agonizing is necessary.

By doing new things I’ve never done before. And, by doing the things I always do in new and different ways. By monotasking. By planning less far in advance, and not thinking so much about what comes next. By giving less shits. And by straight up saying no.

By not wasting energy on people and things that don’t help to nourish or sustain me. By working on building slow connections with the right people. By asking for what I want, and by being direct. This year I want to admit my needs and desires, and admit that it’s ok to ask for help.

This year, I want to be mindful of where my head is at. I want to be forward-thinking while still involved in the aspects of my life that have always given me joy. I want to be more available for friendships and family relationships. I want to take time for self-care while also exercising care and support for others.

I want to spend more time reflecting on what makes me happy. I was recently asked “what is the best thing I created this year” and I didn’t have a good answer. I think if I spend less time reacting and more time moving in focused directions, I’ll be able to achieve my desired feelings. That might mean treating my personal goals more like work goals.

This year I want to feel like I’ve done something—something important and impressive and intelligent and daring—but also like I deserve it. It’s hard to feel like you deserve praise when you’re always pushing yourself to be better. Every flaw of my creative work feels like a deficiency in myself, y’know, but I know it’s not. My hope for 2018 is to be able to fuck up—and therefore be able to take bigger and more exciting risks—without feeling like I’m no longer worthy of making art.

By embracing joy and softness as forces for radical change. When things feel crazy, take a nap and drink some water. This year I want to worry less about everyone else, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and read more books. I want to show affection even when it feels vulnerable to do so—perhaps especially when it feels vulnerable to do so. I want to give myself credit when it is due, which is more often than I tend to believe.

This year I will surround myself with those that believe in what I am trying to achieve. I will take breaks when necessary, but only to reset myself in order to return to my goals with as much gumption (or more) than I had when I had began. I will revel in the little things and not let an accomplishment go by without celebrating what has been done. I will always remember how lucky I am to be working on tough and important problems of my own choosing, and will not let the inevitable struggles of solving these problems get in the way of my appreciation.

Worrying.

Being lazy.

Being afraid.

Eating meat.

Eating gluten.

Perfectionism.

Judging others.

Procrastinating.

Putting things off.

The endless scroll.

Staying up too late.

Lying to my parents.

Reading comments.

Worrying about money.

Being so hard on myself.

Trying to control everything.

Comparing myself to others.

Feeling guilty over everything.

Being on my phone for no reason.

Thinking that anything is impossible.

Doubting the worth of what I’m doing.

Collecting material things I don’t need.

Lending the hands and time I don’t have.

Spending so much time on Twitter. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Expecting myself to be anything but who I am.

Waiting a long time to respond to correspondences.

Exploring the abyss so much when I am stressed out.

Telling people I was late because I couldn’t find my keys.

Putting too much pressure on myself to thrive immediately.

Wasting time by passively consuming instead of creating or contemplating.

Walking.

Listening.

Writing more.

Drawing more.

Singing louder.

Free-form dance.

Waking up earlier.

Leaving the house.

Working out, haha.

S l o w i n g d o w n.

Drinking more water.

Listening to KD Lang.

Listening to my heart.

Meditating every day.

Keeping a daily journal.

Doing things for the hell of it.

Taking better care of my body.

Creating something every day.

Being more of a voice than an echo.

Stepping outside my comfort zone.

Letting things just be what they are.

Saving towards my goal of $10,000.

Having more offline days (or weeks!).

Reading something thoughtful each day.

Meeting new people, no matter how scary.

Accepting that my music isn’t for everyone.

Existing in the world outside of my own body.

Keeping my place clean, and inviting more people over.

Jumping in without thinking of every reason why I shouldn’t.

Presenting myself as I am. Being more honest. Being more kind.

Loving myself more and focusing on my physical, mental, and spiritual health.

Taking concrete actions to change the parts of my circumstances that bother me.