Resolute

Back in 2015, I woke up too early one morning, tired and miserable.  I said a wee prayer for guidance to help get me out of this haze.  Clear as day, a voice said - "Do yoga."  So, I got out my mat, found a channel on youtube and rocked shivasana.  And child's pose.  The others were kind of a disaster, but I felt a kajillion times better.  I could BREATHE.  I'd get up early in the morning and stretch and be present.  But after years of not doing yoga, I found my body had the elasticity of a yard stick.  Downward dog was especially bad.  So, that year, I made a New Year's resolution - and one that I actually kept:

And I DID.  Not a bunch of times, but I was definitely better, which was the point.  So, I actually made another one last year: 

This one was big because if I was super bad at yoga, I was a complete disaster at running.  I got winded going up the stairs, down the stairs, across the room, everywhere.  I wanted to see if I could push my body to achieve something, and it had to be something attainable.  It took until August, but I finally managed to run one mile WITHOUT STOPPING.  I know that's nothing to my friends - most of whom run marathons like it's a stroll in the park, but my bar started suuuuuper low, so I kind of climbed Mt. Everest.  Kind of.

After that, I got up to 3 miles.  SERIOUSLY.  I don't know if I can try for more, because I rarely have more than 30 minutes, and I really like running in the evening.  Morning running makes me angry, which is kind of the opposite of my goal.  So I started something else...

Any of you ever use Duolingo?  I've used it off and on to try and work on my Portuguese - it's a free app or website that has lessons/quiz stuff.  And around the time I hit my mile goal, I had a life situation that whacked me that precipitated the need for me to take a step back from social media - it's wasn't huge, but I needed a break from drama outside my own family.  So I deleted the FB app and put the Duolingo app in its place.  It's right up front on the home screen, and it tracks streaks and how many days you can go without skipping doing a lesson.  I've gotten up to 28 days before forgetting, and right now it says I'm 47% fluent!  That's probably wildly optimistic, but I surprise myself sometimes with the words I know - wolf, costume, shark... random stuff!

In fact, we were in the car the other day, and husband was listening to some Brasilian punk music, and I saw the title and screamed - "WHY ARE WE LISTENING TO 'I WANT TO SEE THE POOP'?!?!?!"  I swear I saw "Eu Quero Ver O Coco" - but on second view I realized it was not Coco but Oco - Hollow.  Whatever.  But I read that super fast, so someday I may have a situation where a crazy Brasilian asks to see my poop and I'll know what he's saying and can hit him with my purse.

ANYWHO, the point of all this is that I'm thinking about the next year, and what I might be able to accomplish.  And I'm thinking I want to try practicing violin every day - I practiced super hard for years (hellooo, masters) but I haven't in a looong time.  Teaching my own kids has been helpful, plus the occasional gig, but I want to see if I can manage to practice every day, and achieve something.  Maybe I want to learn all the Bach Partitas or Sonatas?  Or learn the Sibelius Concerto... naw, that's more than a year... but I want to find something to learn and achieve it.  Any violinists have any ideas?