My New Year’s Resolution to do something new everyday garners interesting reactions. Some question my rules. (What happens if you skip a day, do you have to make it up? Do you plan them out a week ahead of time? You did three different kinds of different puzzles, does that really count as three things or should it only count as one? Does it have to be something you’ve NEVER EVER done, or something you haven’t done in 10/20/30 years?) Others share some of the things they would like to do and offer suggestions for things I might do. The beauty of this plan is that it is completely different for everyone who does it!

I wrote about my first week experiences here. Since then, I have tried some more new foods (vegetarian General Tso’s “chicken”, absinthe, boba tea, bánh mì) and spent one afternoon sitting in a café with NO book, sketchpad, phone, or computer. I got a flu shot. One morning I decided that throughout the day I would look for (and take) opportunities to do other people favors secretly and/or silently. On opposite body part day, every time I noticed myself doing something one-sided or asymmetrical (crossing my legs, folding my hands), I switched sides. I tried crossword and KenKen puzzles (still trying to defeat that Sudoku addiction!). On the cultural awareness front, I went shopping at an Asian market and attended a Vietnamese New Year’s celebration.  I observed two different kinds of dog shows and took a class in drawing with colored pencils. Tonight I will attempt to sit silently in a meditation group.

I can’t say that I’ve yet had any life-changing revelations…but I no longer find myself sitting around the house in the evening feeling slightly bored, and I am sleeping fabulously!