New Year’s Resolutions and Message – 2021
Hello Hygienic Helpful Happy? Humans!
A Happy Christmas and Merry New Year from Adelaide where I have been for the past 10 months and the longest time to be in Adelaide for 20 years!
Looking back at my 2020 new year conclusions I didn’t have in there: a global pandemic nor a loss of job, end of a beautiful relationship, living back in Australia, getting a new wonderful job and every other unexpected thing for the year – what does that teach us? *DON’T MAKE PLANS OR HAVE EXPECTATIONS!* 😉 I do love a plan but 2020 taught us it is only a plan and our response is more important than the plan!
Despite unexpected change and thanks to lots of online gigs I did manage 156 presentations to 9166 folks on Teaspoons of Change / global citizenship / tiny houses / sustainability and anything people were keen or forced to listen to! 🙂 I’m proud that in the past 10-11 years I’ve managed 1622 presentations to 141,026 people and the reason I’m proud is I wanted to try and make a difference in the world since 2001 and this is what I’ve decided to do and keep track of it – did I make any difference? Who knows, but I’ve tried and that is better than nothing!
Personally, it’s been the hardest emotional year of my life… Ending a relationship, kinda maintaining it and then finally closing it out – and still on that pathway. It is my first time to feel and process that kind of pain and when it subsides I will have another life experience under my belt that no country could give me. Serafina and I will forever be friends and care for each other in the background but we weren’t able to feel settled in either of our situations so we did what was best for each other – big thanks Fina for making things work for as long as they did!
I’m still in love with humanity, keen for a new beginning in 2021 and determined to keep loving waking up on Mondays as I shared in a TEDx talk last year…
I’m also in love with my job as Group Head of Sustainability and Global Citizenship with the Dulwich / Dehong Group of Schools with 10,000 students and 2400+ staff. I like being a slightly unusual suspect in their line up but kudos they have someone like me working with them for real change in sustainability and global citizenship!
See below for my scorecard of 2020 New Year Conclusions and some weird and wonderful Re-Solutions for 2021! 😊
What 2021 MIGHT have in stall for me…
- I’ve been working remotely in South Australia since August and at this moment in time I am due to fly to Singapore on 18 Jan and then Shanghai 25 Jan to be based there (for a while!)
- I’m so ready to be working with real humans and especially students and keen to be a foreigner once again!
- And that is about it! Usually there would be 19+ other countries and plans but I’m going for depth over breadth in the coming year and working with my Dulwich family!
Big hugs and best well wishes to you all as we reset for this stack of 365 and if, by any chance, you get to Shanghai – please get in touch and come say hi!!!
‘We can all have everything we want in the world as long as we don’t want everything’ (one from me). All the best in your new outlook in the world xxx
d’Arcy.
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New Year’s Re-Solutions 2021 and review of 2020!
For 2021…
- Change my ring tone each year with the song I’m into at that time (switch from Hang Massive to Mos Def to now didgeridoo hip-hop!
- Spend at least 30 mins playing my new didg once a week
- Try something Chinese and new since I will be living there – language, cooking, hip-hop dance, indoor sport in winter, maybe a tai chi or chi-gong or some Taoist pursuit…? Suggestions…
- Repeat – At 4pm each day pause for four DEEP breathes and connect with everything and nothing!
- Repeat – Never been big on flossing so i will make sure I floss on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week, at least!
- Try to catch at least 10 DIFFERENT leaves falling from trees throughout the year
- Find a sheep-shaped cloud – failed it a couple years ago but still believe I can see one!
- My favourite colour for 2021 will be purple! Just like my tiny house in New Zealand
- Repeat – Continue to not buy a single bottle of plastic bottled water – 9th year in a row
- Repeat – Meet someone from Angola!
- Repeat – Leave voice messages for my friend’s children’s birthdays – Love doing this – add your kid to the list if you want a message from me to them (and I have your WhatsApp!)
Add plenty of Teaspoons of Change around Dulwich and my other interactions 😊
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The resolution results from 2020…
| At 4pm each day pause for at least three DEEP breathes and appreciate the humility and importance of oxygen and our bodies to utilise it 😊 | Mostly and loved doing this. To be continued in 2021! Also strive for 365 days of meditation in a row… |
| Never been big on flossing so i will make sure I floss on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week, at least! | So good, even got those bottle brush ones now! |
| Try to catch at least 15 DIFFERENT leaves falling from trees throughout the year – loved this one so much in 2019 | Only got to 9 being stuck in only one country and one autumn!! |
| Only ONE serving of ice cream a month – as I get closer to ending my diary connection! | Mostly. Aug I might have bought a box of 6 ice creams having one a day 😉 |
| Find a bird-shaped cloud – I’ll be looking into the sky a lot this year! | My friend found a wonderful one and me an ok one – going back to sheep in 2021 |
| Make a donation for myself and Noa to good people and organisations on the 29th of each month – you can do it too! I’m set to give my biggest donations ever this year – exciting!!! | Nailed it. So good to have some extra income to pay decent taxes and the most donations I’ve ever given!!! |
| Memorise all the countries starting with W (2 – Wales and Western Sahara [not UN states but good enough]) and Y (1 – Yemen) and Z (2 – Zambia and Zimbabwe) | Kinda, over this one and retiring the memorisation of countries in 2021 – I made it to z anyway!!! |
| At least 20 chin ups per week – I like trying to find something above my head to hold my weight everywhere I go | Yep! Conscious of this and loved it. Need to keen that sinew strong!!! |
| My favourite colour for 2020 will again be lime! I forgot about it most of the year in 2019 | Love lime and was a good fav colour – thanks lime!! |
| Continue to not buy a single bottle of plastic bottled water – 8th year in a row | Just gets easier and not only water but any kind of drink – juice, soda, etc! |
| Meet someone from Angola! | Nup, fail roll over to 2021 – hook me up! |
| Buy Nothing New Month once again in October | Mostly. Forgot about it but still love it |
| Leave voice messages for my friend’s children’s birthdays – I was getting slack with postcards! | So good! Love doing this and want more kids to leave messages… |
| NEW – Run a half marathon once a month | I accidentally did this and then a full marathon in May for my b’day! |
Also I’m pulling back on social media this year as I don’t have to be on there as much with Teaspoons of Change and having been on there a lot in the past 10 years and also living in China with restrictions helps as well… I’m not going to add to the Instagram account called darcy_living_geo and instead will put some pics up and descriptions on a WhatsApp Living Geography group if anyone wants to join in… Think, interesting strange things in China and cultural gems… (+61428416765)
2020 in 49 pics… 🙂
Living Geography with d'Arcy 
Reblogged this on Happy Simply – a sustainable lifestyle model & education project and commented:
2020 wrap up, looking towards 2021 and the year I spent the most amount of time in my Happy-Simply home – ever!!! 🙂