Wow, I can’t believe another year has drifted by!
A few personal thoughts on 2011:
One Post A Day is too much!
Yep, I started with a noble but in the end, unrealistic goal of one blog post a day. I think I burnt out so much that it partly contributed to little to no blog posts for the rest of the year! I’ve been thinking lately about the purpose of my blog – it was really to document things/tricks that I’ve found/done/learnt or taken time to figure out so that I can refer back to it in the future and possibly help others. And this seems to correlate to the posts I get the most hits from and the people who comment about my posts. In 2012, I definitely want to go back “to my blog roots” 🙂
Youth Church Band and Guitar!
One great community give back in 2011 was getting involved in the Youth Group Band at church. OK, I don’t’ really consider myself a “youth” anymore, but it was fantastic to get involved, see other youths get involved, introduce more “youthful” music/repertoire at church, and do it all by playing the acoustic guitar more! So much that I even had 2 guitar lessons towards the end of the year that really inspired me to do more in 2012.
Date Nights
This is something wifey and I have been struggling but I’m happy with how this went in 2011. One date per month (minimum) on the anniversary of our wedding date. Now that the kids are older, we tend to go out with the kids rather than without since it’s “easier”, but when we do go with the kids, we’re missing out on our own couple time. Definitely something I want to continue in 2012!
Photography Returns!
I think 2011 was the most successful year so far in getting something back from my photography hobby. Enough to partly upgrade my DSLR to a D700 anyway. But I wonder now whether I should start actively pursuing paid work or continue the “for fun” aspect. There was a time near the end of 2011 where photography started becoming a “chore” which is definitely NOT what I want it to be. I started losing that creative/inventive spark and I don’t want that to happen again. On the other hand, I now thoroughly recognise having to charge a reasonable amount for my time and “talent” 🙂
Giving The Kids Space
The hardest thing I did in 2011 as a parent was giving the kids more space and trusting them more, especially Miss 12. I definitely struggled with the concept of actually NOT helping with her homework, trusting that she’ll study for school tests without my help and complete her homework in time. There’s still this hidden urge in me to want to help her, help her do her best, force her to tell me how school went – but this never worked out the way I wanted. Time and time again in 2011, I found that it was the moments when I didn’t say anything and just let her be, that she would be happier and there would be those magic moments when she would make her own effort to open up and talk – often just before bedtime. Parenthood doesn’t get easier as the kids get older – it just changes 😉
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Finally, thank you readers, friends and family for coming and visiting my blog! I really hope you find it informative, sometimes entertaining, and sometimes thoughtful 🙂 May 2012 bring much more happiness and joy into your lives!
One guy, three girls... 