Reading and Resolutions

Back in 2015 I set myself a challenge to read a book a week, and exceeded my target, reading 53 books over the course of the year.  I had planned to try and do the same in 2016, but for one reason and another I was unable to read at all for many months of the year. I still kept a record of the books that I read though, and have catalogued them on Goodreads as before.  Although there were only nine of them, I did a graph of my reading patterns over the year:

This year I also included four children's books, as 2016 was the year that I introduced my son to Harry Potter, by reading them to him at bedtime.  In a year we managed to get through the first four books, but we are now having a break from them, as the fourth book was quite scary and even induced a few nightmares for the 9yo.  He absolutely loves the series, and is now Harry Potter obsessed, but agreed quite willingly to have a break, so I think he realises how scary they are for him.

Of the five books that I read myself, the one that had the most impact on me was Marie Kondo's The Magical Art of Tidying.  I have wanted to declutter for years, and had a good go a couple of years ago, but it wasn't until I read this book that I was finally able to get rid of a whole load of unnecessary stuff.  My books have now been reduced from an amount that filled two Ikea Billy bookcases, several shelves and many piles on the floor to a much more manageable number that all fit on one Billy bookcase, with space for DVDs and CDs as well.  I can now fit all of my clothes into 2 drawers and half a wardrobe, and I have even managed to reduce my photos to one shelf of albums and some picture frames.  I can't say that I live in a minimalist home, but with three children in the house under the age of 10 that isn't really going to be possible.  I have reached a point however where tidying only takes a few minutes, and feel much better about the space I live in.

As it's the New Year, I have also made two resolutions.  I'm keeping it simple this year, with a plan to read just 24 books over the year, and to finish (or discard) my various crochet and knitting projects.  I have really enjoyed learning to crochet over the last few years, and even managed to design my own crochet bunting back in 2014, but I have ended up with four projects actively on the go and one as-yet-unstarted knitted scarf promised to the 9yo. I have resolved that I will not embark on any more woolly projects until I have either finished or discarded all of these.

Coffee Machines and Clear Spaces

We have a new coffee machine.  It's been in pride of place on our kitchen surface for a week now, and already I feel that it is worth every penny.  My partner is happy because she loves real coffee, the 5yo and 7yo are happy because they love hot chocolate, and I'm happy because even though I only drink decaf I still love a decaf latte.

I was so excited by the first latte I made that I took a photo:

Flushed with that success I moved on to making the kids a proper hot chocolate each, complete with mini marshmallows:

The other thing that is great about the coffee machine is that in order to fit it on the breakfast bar I was compelled to clear the space. I have now managed to keep that space clear for a week, with just a few second needed to clear it each time. This is a real triumph in our kitchen, as for the last few years the breakfast bar has been a general dumping ground for children's toys, unopened post, assorted pens and pencils and general detritus. Here it is now - a breakfast bar that can actually be used as such, with room for all four of us to sit and eat together.

My plan is to keep this space clear for another week, and then create another space in another room, and continue decluttering in this slow but steady way until we are finally living in a tidy house.

Can a book make you happy?

I can't remember now what made me choose to read The Happiness Project but I'm glad I did, as it was indirectly responsible for prompting me to start this reading challenge.  I found the writing style a little irritating to start with, and I wasn't sure I would stick with it at all, but once I was used to the way Gretchen writes I really enjoyed the rest of the book.

In particular several of the observations really struck a chord with me.  One of them was the idea that people are happier once they stop trying to like things that they think they should like and embrace the activities that they do enjoy.  I used to feel guilty about reading 'chick lit' or YA fiction as I felt that I should enjoy reading classical literature and 'worthy' books.   I always felt the need to justify my choices of reading material, and felt a nagging sense of unease that I haven't ever managed to finish Lord of the Rings, or Catch 22.   However I've read both the Hunger Games trilogy and the Twilight Saga twice, and enjoyed all the books enormously.  Reading blogs like this one by Matt Haig went a long way to convincing me that I should feel free to read what I want and not feel ashamed of any of my choices, but the final nudge I needed was to reframe my reading habit as my way of relaxing.  I would never criticise anyone else's choice of book, so why was I criticising my own?

Another of the ideas in the book I really liked was that of keeping a journal which was only 1 sentence a day.  I'll admit that this mainly appealed because I had already started that very thing.  One of my Christmas presents this year was a One Line a Day Diary which I thought was a genius idea.  I have never managed to sustain a proper diary for longer than a few months, but I think I really can commit to the idea of writing one line a day. It's only been 18 days so far, but I haven't missed one yet, so I have a good feeling about it this time.

I have also started decluttering, but that process really began when I turned 40 a few months ago.  It's going very slowly so far, but I have managed to take several bags of stuff to charity and recycle a whole load of paper.  Following the impetus of this book I now also have 3 'clear areas' in the house (they are very small, just my bedside table, a dresser and a small cabinet) and my aim is to keep them clear for at least 2 weeks and then gradually start on the rest of the clutter.

I would like to try and write this blog more regularly, as I have been thinking about it more and more over the last few months, but it is difficult to find the time.  In particular, I'm not going to set myself any goals (such as 1 post a week, or 3 posts a month) - I am just going to write my ideas down as I go along and see how it goes.

If you're intrigued and want to read more about the Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin maintains a blog, which is here.

As to whether the book made me happy - actually, so far it has.  After starting to read it I stumbled upon Tara Anderson's blog about her challenge to read 52 books in a year and for the last 10 days I have been very happily reading at every available opportunity.