Prompt #11 – 11 Things
What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life? (Author: Sam Davidson)
11 things my life doesn't need? Seriously? Where to start.
1. People who suck.
I put a lot in to my relationships, and something I'm working on jettisoning is people who can't be the sort of friend that I need them to be. Not that everyone I know needs to be a total rockstar to me 24/7, or that I'm God's gift to healthy relationships (far from it) but I'm letting go (that's another post) of emotional leeches and people who can't or won't reciprocate what I give to them.
2. Clutter
If I end up like Hoarders, so help me God, I'm taking a blowtorch to it all. Next year I'm going to work on letting go on all of the grad school crap I've accumulated that I don't actually need for research. Any article can be re-printed, any book ordered on inter-library loan. Get out of my filing system. (And by filing system, yes, I totally mean floor.)
3. Distance
I love my friends here in Boulder, but I hate how removed it makes me from everyone I love, everywhere else. New plan of attack: short of teleporting, I'd like to do what I can to minimize the effect of the distance on my relationships. I'd also like to badger more people to come out here to visit. 2009 was pretty good at that. 2010 has fallen a bit short. I'd like to get the numbers back up in 2011.
4. Bamboo
The curtain rods are dead. Long live the new curtain rods. Also, panda bears.
5. Social anxiety
Does me no favors. None whatsoever. Has lots of silly payoff, like not knowing when to hug or when to fistbump, or how to have a good time at parties instead of having a panic attack, but I'd love to trade some of that in for something vaguely resembling normal human interaction.
6. Self deprecation
Don't worry, kids, I'm not going to get rid of it - I just want to modify it. I want it to be something that I love about myself rather than something that I use to hide parts of me that are lovable. I'm aiming for change, not auto-lobotomy.
7. Graduate school
Let's hurry up and graduate, M'ris. This sooner you get this shit over with, the sooner you can stop stressing about it and get on with the Rest of Your Life (tm). Figure out a gameplan, figure out an exit plan, and make it happen. You're too smart to be stuck in academia.
8. Fear
I don't want a No Fear shirt (let's leave the 90's where they belong - fashionably dead), I want to shed this cloak of terror that wraps me up every time I'm faced with a decision or change. I've been working on it all year in therapy, and I hope to continue making progress with it next year. Some day, I want to be able to walk through a metaphorical doorway without it slamming shut behind me and locking me in a box of predetermined, miserable future.
9. Dust, see also, dry skin.
Why it's taken me 3 years to buy a humidifier, I have no idea. I can adjust to lots of things, but this lack of humidity is not one of them.
10. Cold showers, see also, backbone
I don't know if you've heard, but I'm getting a new hot water heater! I'm beyond stoked for this, since I'm hoping it'll mean that I can take a shower that's longer than 5 minutes, and maybe even a real live bath! The other part of the story is that it's taken me this long because I haven't been particularly good about confronting my landlord about my shitty hot water heater, even though it's been getting worse and worse since I moved in. My landlord is also the nicest, most attentive landlord I've ever had (and probably ever will have) - so I should really use this as an opportunity to put my neuroses and terrible landlord experiences from West Philly behind me, grow a spine, and not be afraid to complain to him about things that tenants are supposed to complain to their landlords about.
11. This Space Intentionally Left Blank
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