Behold the Turtle

We all have aspirations for the future, dreams of learning French or Spanish, mastering the cello or flute or throwing ourselves into an obscure martial art. Seemingly distant ideas that make for fun conversation but are mostly at the parameters of our minds, shelved as too expensive, inconvenient or time-consuming. So, for the most part, these ideas stay firmly where they are: as conversations in pubs and we continue to stay in a routine that gets us by. If, like me, you live in London you will recognise the overriding truism that everyone is just so damn busy all of the time. This makes for an easy excuse for postponing those pottery lessons, yoga classes and writing that first novel. Life is messy and busy and chaotic, but it will always be so and by acknowledging this, I plan to challenge my inner procrastinator and stick my neck out like the proverbial turtle that gives this blog its name:

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out - James Bryant Conant

This is my pledge for the coming year: to try at least one new activity or class per month throughout the year and then write about it here. Publishing my endeavours serves two purposes: 

1) I have always enjoyed writing and have been thinking of a way to get back into it for months.

2) It keeps me accountable to readers of the blog, which in turn keeps me motivated to continue.

So far, my open-ended list of potential ideas comprises the following:

* Try a hula hooping class

* Go wild swimming in Royal Docks (one for the summer, I should add...)

* Join Hackspace - a community-run workshop in Hackney - and actually use it to learn laser cutting and other skills

* Do some kind of volunteer work

* Try a laughter workshop

* Go canoeing on the Thames

* Learn to swim front crawl

* Do a sourdough baking class
* Do some writing for a local website

There are many varied ideas swimming around in my mind. Some will be longer projects, ongoing throughout the year while others are one-off diversions. I anticipate some waning enthusiasm in the coming weeks and months as my current eagerness subsides and the lure of Netflix beckons on dark wintry nights (in fact I have almost given up several times since starting this post!) but this is all part of my wanderings through the year.

To kick start my pledge I have booked myself into a two day woodwork class to make a wood stool. All sounds very wholesome and rewarding. More words and photos to follow soon...