Endeavoring in 2022
I’ve never been big on making New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, the idea used to annoy me deeply back when I worked out at a gym and January would see a surge in newly resolved exercise enthusiasts competing for treadmills and stair climbers.
But the pandemic and my friend Mickey have me reconsidering my position. I think, especially in the middle years of life, it’s possible to begin to simply drift or to let your job set your goals for you. And of course the pandemic has left many of us feeling less engaged in actively shaping our lives. A recent New York Times Morning Briefing, (December 29, 2021) listing the year's most-read articles, called out an article on the moldering effect of the pandemic:
“‘There’s a name for the blah you’re feeling,’ as the article’s headline put it. ‘It’s called languishing.’ In the article, Adam Grant, a psychologist and author, described languishing as ‘the neglected middle child of mental health’ and ‘the void between depression and flourishing — the absence of well-being.’
Avoiding languishing
To combat drift and droop, a sense of direction is, perhaps, called for. And I guess goal-setting can give that sense of direction. Long-term goal-setting, the domain of the 11th house, is not my forté and never has been. When I realized I have Chiron in the 11th house, I understood why. But this coming year, I arrive at my Chiron Return, which will set me up to confront wounds to my goal-setting, tribe-finding mechanism. And with Chiron in Aries, healing these issues will, ideally, unlock some courage and passion.
Courageous Goal Setting? Probably Not Yet
I’m sure I’ve read in one of the trillion self-help books I’ve gobbled up over the past several years that a goal has to be measurable. Since the idea of having my progress measured makes me fractious, I will have to find another route, or at least a different word.
Intention is so new-agey. Aspiration is too breathy. So, how about endeavor? It makes me feel earnest and boyishly hopeful. Why boyish? I don’t know. Girls endeavor. When my mom was a girl at summer camp, she received a letter from her father wishing her luck on her “equestrian endeavors.”
So, I will set myself some endeavors for 2022.
Read the books in the British Library Crime Classics series
Read the classics published by New York Review Books
Read the Best-of books from The New York Times Book Review (or, at least, the ones that appeal to me:)
Read at least 100 books
Read the rest of Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn mysteries
Have the self-awareness to learn and grow from Chiron's Return.
Be prepared for some shadow work with Pluto about to form a conjunction with my North Node
Trust endings, silence, alone-time and visionary inspiration as my progressed Moon enters the waning crescent phase
Uncover what’s enjoyable about Christmas and practice whatever it is
Complete the FCEA Craftsperson program
Become adept at synastry
Write for fun (as in, more bloggerel such as this) and money.