And just like that…another year has come and gone. Is it just me, or was 2021 weird? I felt unsteady all year, and never really got my feet under me. The news headlines were consistently discouraging, and between that and the pandemic continuing to rage on, I was left with a bit of mental whiplash.

As you may know if you’ve been following along regularly for the past few years, I typically save my New Year’s Day blog post for a long-form manifesto detailing my plans and goals for the next batch of 12 months. I’ve made all sorts of grand announcements—things like resolving to shop nothing but secondhand for a year, cutting back on sponsored posts and not accepting as many freebies for the blog, how my career as a professional potter was going to get off the ground in a big way, and, of course, last year I announced that I was giving up on making resolutions.

If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that planning is sort of a useless pastime. Thinking too much into the future encourages us to look away from the present, and distracts us from what’s happening in this singular moment—which is, technically, the only moment we actually have.

After another year’s worth of introspection, I have to say that I’m feeling extra committed to my resolution of not creating resolutions. Goals are nice to have and help motivate us not to give up, so I have brainstormed some ideas for the new year, but I’m not going to be making any grand announcements. Not to you or to myself! I no longer care to set my present self up for that kind of defeat.

So, what are my “loose” goals for 2022? There are lots of things on my “someday” list that I’d love to be able to cross off! Things like write a book (I’m currently writing a home décor eBook that’s set to launch this spring!), I’d like to get back into pottery (I’ve been taking an extended break—a casualty of bad mental space thanks to the pandemic),  and I’m continuing to focus on my health (I’ve been on Noom for eight months now, and lost 30 pounds—full review here!).

I have posts scheduled for later on that go deeper into those three topics mentioned above, so I’ll hold off on long-winded explanations for now, but one thing I wanted to address up front today was the lack of larger home projects that you may have noticed lately, and likely will continue to see on into the future, too.

I haven’t spoken much about it here on the blog (I’ve possibly never mentioned it), but I’ve been having chronic pain in my right wrist for years. I first noticed it when I could no longer do yoga. Putting any type of weight on my wrist was excruciating, so I had to give up my planks and downward dog motions. Then, within maybe another year, the pain started to seep into my everyday activities, things like painting, hammering, moving furniture, and gardening. Any type of impact action on my wrist set my nerves on fire, so I had to drastically reduce my involvement with projects around the house.

I finally went to a specialty doctor last year and found out that it’s likely a ganglion cyst. Apparently this is a pretty common thing, but it is definitely uncommon for me. I’ve been given some physical therapy exercises to do, but the general prognosis is that it’s something I’m going to have to live with.

Learning this was a huge blow for me since my job revolves around house projects and any type of work that involves my hands. It has led me to stop almost all home décor projects, not to mention I’m not working at the pottery studio on my own clay work anymore because it’s just too painful. I push through it sometimes in order to get things done, but for the most part, I’m on extended “bed rest” from house projects.

Thank goodness for my incredible family for filling in where they can! My mom came over just the other day to stain our new deck for us, and John has taken multiple days off of work or sacrificed his normal days off to help me with bigger house projects. Even still, I’m continuing to over-work my wrist out of impatience for my new limitations, and that has meant I’m not healing nearly as quickly as some other people do.

I honestly hardly even feel like myself anymore because of my inability to work on things around the house, so I’m really hoping that I can commit to getting better this new year. If you suffer from ganglion cysts and have advice, please let me know in the comments! I’m all ears because I’m positively desperate to get back to repainting rooms, building furniture, DIYing, and all of the other creative projects I used to love so much.

My point in sharing all of this is that you might not see quite as many big renovation updates here on the blog, at least for the next few months. I’ve slowed way down on decorating because of my wrist pain, but, to be honest, I’m also just feeling really settled with our home the way it is! I’ve never, ever been enthralled with the idea of redecorating for the sake of having blog content. I like to keep things real here, so I refuse to change décor just so I can put up a blog post about it. Maybe that makes me a bad business owner or a rotten content creator, but I’d rather be considered “bad” and “rotten” as opposed to wasteful.

So, to wrap things up, I’m looking forward to a new year, a new start, and the chance to live more intentionally around our home. I’m going to be publishing a new eBook all about how to decorate a home on your own in a few short months, and have plans to lean into blog post topics that revolve around sustainable versions of home redecorating using what you already have. I’m also resolving to do more art in my free time, like drawing and painting. It’s what I went to school for, but I haven’t sat down to cultivate those skills in years. It’ll be nice to get back to simpler passion projects that don’t require much money or heavy lifting.

Less is much, much more for me these days, and I’m feeling motivated to pass that enthusiasm along to all of you. Are you ready for it?! Thanks, as always, for following along and for your support, and I wish you lots of inspiration for the new year ahead. Cheers!