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I think we human have the tendency to do too much. Or too little, almost to the point of nothing at all. Somehow it is in our nature to go to one extreme or the other. Thus the term “everything in moderation”  is there to remind us that we need to find the balance.

For the first 20 odd years of my life, I have done too little. I grew up in an environment where questioning was not encouraged, doing things outside the box was not permitted and being yourself – an individual, whatever that means – was restricted to the cultural norms.

Sit straight. (I have always been the short one, too short for my feet to touch the ground!)

Well, that’s my excuse now. But to be honest, I was happy where I was. I didn’t have any ambition, no goal in life except to one day own my own home. I didn’t really care about career aspirations or doing well in school, because I didn’t like the idea of school. Learning was forced so I hated that too. I did nothing. Nothing I was proud of. Not that I cared.

Stand straight and smile. (Good to know I’ve always liked pink and polka dots.)

Now that quickly changed into doing too much when, slowly, I started to find little things that I enjoyed doing. And once the passion in me started brewing, it was hard to not do too much. It was as if I was trying to compensate for all the years that I didn’t do anything with my life. But I think it was more because I realised there were so many things I could do. That’s the danger… Just because I could do, I probably shouldn’t do. Because the spectrum of doing too much brings other issues too. Overworked. Tired. Stressed. Burnt out. And the cycle of dissatisfaction and discontentment.

Why am I talking about this? Well, just trying to justify why I haven’t been blogging much, really! LOL. The last few months have been really busy for me, mostly because of my over-commitment in certain areas of my life. “Can you do ___ for me?” Yes sure I can. “Can you help me with ___?” Oh yes, I’ll have time for that. “Can you extend your stay at ___?” Mm yeap, I don’t really need the time off between jobs anyway. So all in all, I burdened myself with the thought that hey if I could, then maybe I should. How. Very. Wrong.

So now that it’s almost mid-year, I thought I’ll remind myself of the things that I want to do more of… and the things that I should learn to say no too. (Come to think of it, I actually wrote something about being productive and saying no, didn’t I?) You know, usually by this time of the year, people tend to forget their New Year’s resolutions. We all need good reminders.

• Live a healthier life. Eat my veggies. Do at least some exercise. Sleep at regular times.
• Try not to be so cheap, whilst still keeping to my awesome low budget.
• More productivity, less procrastination. Use my free time wisely. Plan my days ahead.
• Set my priorities right. Learn to say “no” to some things. Don’t get too busy.
• Finish re-decorating my house before the end of the year. And make it pretty.
• Buy more gifts for loved ones. Celebrate special occasions. Cherish moments.
• Write more. I want to be able to blog daily. I will be happy with 3 posts a week.
• Start my new blog – and focus on it, persevere at all times, make a difference.
• Read more. Learn more. Go out more. Think more. Network more.

So I did say I have been busy right? But I have been busy doing none of the above! Except for sleeping heaps, again, it’s the age showing. I can probably proudly say that I have started decorating the house, which is always a good first step to actually finishing a project, but it’s nowhere near to what I want to achieve. But anyways, today I want to re-focus on the four things that I have highlighted (or bolded, if that is a word).

Use my free time wisely. Plan well.

I started my new job mid-May. It’s a role that combines all my passions: creativity, design, web, photography and ministry. Can’t ask for a better role really. And to make it even better, it’s a three-day part time role. This gives me two full days to do pretty much whatever I want. And my hope is that I will use it wisely to be able to write more and start on my new project (the other two resolutions I highlighted!) However, due to my lack of time management, I haven’t had much time to enjoy being a part-timer, until last week. But yes, I now have free time to do more things, whether they are things that I am passionate about or things that I should’ve done more: like spending more time with mum when she’s around. Plan well.

Say “no” often.

I don’t want to be a party pooper for myself, because to be honest, the reason I say yes is because I do like helping people and doing things for others. Everyone is different and you have to understand who you are as a person. But with that understanding also comes my responsibility to know when to stop saying “yes” to people so that those whom I’ve said “yes” to will actually get the help they need. Else, everyone gets nothing and then I get even more frustrated at myself. Yup the danger of doing too much and not saying “no” is this.

Blog more often.

Recently, I have been asked by a friend to start guest-blogging weekly for a start-up. It has been fun because (a) I love blogging and (b) I love talking about tech, social media and online marketing. But this also means that my time for personal blogging is considerably lesser. Like, when was the last time I blogged here? Well, yes let’s not talk about that. Also, with my plan to start on a new project, I feel that my personal blog will not get the same amount of attention that it used to. But you know what? I’m not worried. Blogging has been my way of reflecting and recording my life even before the word blogging was popular (oh look at her, ain’t she a hipster?) The frequency might change, but I will still be around! :) More importantly, continue blogging and continue writing… anywhere.

Start on the new project.

Enough thinking. Enough having ideas. Start doing something. So what if I fail? So what if I want to then change my focus after a few blog posts? So what? Just start. As much as having time to think and reflect on things is good, it is also dangerous. It makes you question everything that you’ve been planning. It makes you wonder if maybe you shouldn’t start until it’s perfect. It will never be perfect. Get over it Julie.

So there you go. My four main goals for the next half of the year… Hopefully, I will be able to find the balance to do just enough. Not too much. Not too little.

How’s your New Year’s resolutions going along?