new year dread hit me lastnight and i controlled impending panic attacks.
This morning i asked with a simple text for some craig like help with how to get thru the year
Craig is a friend of mine i met randomly on a dating site in June. neither of us really knew what we were doing on there but hit it off as friends. He’s already important to me and i think me to him. Its really nice 🙂
heres his message. Take from it what you will…hope it helps you love and hugs and hope xxx luce
Any advice I have to offer will sound very cliched, but cliches only become cliches because there’s often a lot of truth in them!
As I’ve said before, I’m not really a fan of celebrating tonight, but that’s only because it’s far easier for me to dwell on what might have been and wasn’t, rather than what might be and still can. Quite simply, watching tv is easier than going jogging, like feeling sorry for myself is easier than making positive plans for the future.
The best thing to do in my opinion is concentrate on what was good about the last year and why.
How can you carry this on through to the new year?
How can you make things even better than they were?
Are there any fun plans or projects you’d like to tackle in the new year? (No matter how big or small)
How can you make these become reality? can you draw up a list inorder of how you might tackle them?
I tend to find I start the year very well, get a lot done and feel optimistic. The trick is maintaing that for 12 months! Ever seen an old Kevin Costner film called ‘American Flyers’? It’s not bad and about cycling. Anyway, he goes to a gym which has a lattin motto which translates to ‘Once you’ve got it up, keep it up’. Once you stop sniggering about this being about stiff dicks it actually makes a lot of sense! I prefer to think of it as ‘Gain and maintain’, forge new ground, feel good about it, but be sure not to slip back into old habits.
I know I’ve been moaning about my job like a fucker for ages, but there’s nothing I can do about it when I go back, plus it pays well, so I’m planning on focusing on positive aspects of it and not letting it dictate my mood and home life. Basically, I’m gonna push myself like never before and become so integral to that company that I’ll make it look easy. I know I can do it, and that once I’m on top of things I’ll be able to ride the crest of the wave. ‘Gain and maintain’
I feel a bit of a fake offering this as advice, but geeing myself up really does make a difference, so I’m sure it will for you too.
As for today, if you’re struggling a bit I’d consider either getting outside for some air, or tackling a job you know you’ve been putting off! It’ll feel great not to carry that through into a new year.
I’d love to give up watching tv in the new year. I know I could get so much more done if I didn’t, but I do find it enjoyable and relaxing. I also plan on making more of an effort to get at least 8 hours sleep a night. Eating better would be good too, along with spending less and getting stuck into my mortgage repayments.
Always here for you
2nd email…
You’re more than welcome.
I think the best thing you could do this coming year is get fully immersed in photography.
Read stuff, experiment with it, find out about classes and clubs, get along to lots of exhibitions, get inspired.
Find out where you can make your own prints. (Do you own a film camera?)
Finish the alphabet project!!
Think about your own projects, based on speed, motion, cities, countryside, life, death, happiness, sorrow…..whatever! This could be a set of 10 images, or it could be 100, who knows yet?
Keep a photo journal? 10 pics a day, printed out and stuck in a book? Polaroids? Write about the pics and how they make you feel, why you like/dislike them, how you felt when you took them and did this dictate what you took pics of?
Whatever you choose to do with the next 12 months, set yourself goals and deadlines in which to achieve them.
I’ll be doing exactly the same and I’d love for us to have work to share and compare.
Collaborate on something, you take the images, I’ll add type etc to it?
When you look at it like that, 12 months is such a small amount of time in which to try and get it all done!
fuck me, hes motivational isnt he
