1. Happy (late) Thanksgiving, y’all. I was feeling uncharacteristically sentimental over Thanksgiving, though I didn’t really feel “good with words” about it, so I just sat in peace, uncharacteristically happy. I got to run a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning with a bunch of friends and then spent the rest of the day with my family. Being surrounded by people I love was very much something to be thankful for.

2. I get a little…ugh…whenever I go too hard on any self-help ethos, but I do like the fundamental premise behind Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks. The only way to escape feeling busy is a mindset shift, not an endless stream of more tasks and more productivity hacks. Oliver was recently on Rich Roll (speaking of things I can only take in small doses) where he talked about how if you spend your life trying to “catch up” on to-do lists, you miss the whole “living” part. And, yeah. Time is a construct and we cannot master it, we can just be in the moment. Don’t race time.

3. Speaking of racing! I have a plan, in theory, for my race calendar next year, but I haven’t actually signed up for anything yet, other than the requisite Old Man Winter. I don’t know if I’m scared, unsure if it’s the right plan, or just poorly executing life (Who, me?). I am excited to build my training back though. Genuinely excited. Sometimes I think I just sign up for races so I have an excuse to run more.

4. Just a little something to keep in mind during the season of everyone trying to get you to buy more things.

5. In my utter failure to complete a 365, one photo a day project…three times…I am proud to say that next year I am completely abandoning the effort. Instead, I’ve set my sites on a much lower output 52-Week Challenge. One photo a week. In theory, this is more manageable, except that with only one photo a week, the pressure is on. I can’t just throw down a blurry photo of my dining chair and call it art. I’ll likely be following the classic Dogwood Challenge. I can let down all ten (ten!) of my subscribers when I fail this year :D 

   

   In the last month, I got to see the aurora from my house, my mom went on her first hike post knee replacement, I’m getting into a delightful sauna routine, I ate the best gluten free cinnamon roll I’d ever had (well, other than my dad’s), and I was up for so many bright, beautiful sunrises with bright, beautiful people. Being able to feel joy is pretty great, huh?

   

Love,

April

PS: I can’t imbed a “song of the day” like I do on my website-hosted blog posts, but this is what I’m jamming to today (if that works).