Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your holidays have been filled with joy, love, too much food, and plenty of rest. I had a low-key staycation – we bundled up, snacked a lot, cuddled with cats, indulged in way too many shows/movies, and I basically became a Holiday Potato. Todd and I are both introverts, we don’t have family close by, are not religious, and don’t have kids, so we don’t tend to celebrate festivities in a big way. We love attending them, but have no desire to host anything anymore. With time to reflect, recharge, and think ahead, I decided on what goals/resolutions I wanted to keep and added some new ones! I figured I’d share my top 4, including process pics of this painting:
1. Shop Less (& Green)
Growing up in a middle-class family in Hong Kong, I’ve always strived for a good deal. I too indulged in fast fashion during my poor college student years. As I became more conscious of the environmental and humanitarian impact of consumerism, I started to be more selective with quality over quantity. And by the end of 2019, I decided I have enough stuff, so I will only shop for necessities or if it is something I ABSOLUTELY want after a significant amount of time and consideration. No more retail therapy! Since then, I have only broken this rule twice. Once was when I went on a shopping spree in Japan! But come on, I was in Japan with great exchange rates! Exceptions must be made.
Also, I want to keep making little steps to live greener. I started with metal straws, simple right? Next was composting, then selecting sustainable paper products, then switching my body wash, deodorant, shampoo, and conditioner to bar form. Last year, I finally switched my laundry detergent to Dropps too! (I still miss Tide, oh that childhood comfort smell of mine!) It may sound like a lot, but it’s really not if you take tiny steps over time!
Anyways, the tried and true rule of REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE is a good guideline to live by and I will continue to do better with more tiny steps.
2. More Physical Exercise / Activity
Being an author and illustrator is not a physically active job and the pandemic further encouraged my homebody tendencies. So for the first time in 2020, my hips started hurting! That was the first moment in my entire life I FELT OLD (and I know I am not, I’m in my prime!) Now, I make sure I have at least 4 check boxes per week in my planner for physical activities, which could be long walks, yoga, roller skating, hula hooping, dancing, or hiking. Anything that keeps my interest and makes me feel good.
According to Dr. Laurie Santos: scientific data shows regular physical exercises produce better results for most people suffering from clinical depression than anti-depression medication. ***Disclaimer: I’m not a researcher or a doctor and medication is crucial to a lot of people. The scientific data only proves regular physical exercise benefits our mental health in a big way.***
Who’s that? She’s a Yale Professor! I took her most popular class at Yale virtually during the initial lockdown, called “The Science of Wellbeing”! ( It’s free on Coursera, so check it out!) And yes, of course, I jokingly called myself a Yale Student during that time! Here’s a link to her podcast “The Happiness Lab” for bite-size episodes if you don’t have time for a whole online class.
Anyways, more physical activity = less pain physically and mentally. I hope to increase those 4 checkboxes to 5 in 2023! And illustrators, if you have to crunch for deadlines, don’t forget to stretch! Repetitive stress syndrome is no joke, don’t let it get so bad it hurts to draw! Recovery takes way more time and effort than prevention, and that’s speaking from personal experience. Here’s a great book for artists: Draw Stronger by Kriota Willberg.
3. PLAY More! Embrace the creative process!
This sounds like an OBVIOUS goal for a Children’s book creator, no? Well, yes, it is, but with an important adjustment. Last year, my goal was to WRITE MORE. And I did, I wrote a lot and explored new stories! But that had unfortunate consequences, I leaned into it way too much, and it got in my head. I was constantly thinking, analyzing, worrying, and pushing to the point of obsession...which then turned into self-judgment, doubt, frustration, hesitation, fear, procrastination, anxiety, and ultimately avoidance... The shame spiral continued, whether I made progress or not.
The thing is writing takes time, esp. picture books and I know some picture book ideas can take years to solidify, but last year, I was tired of being patient. My entire career was being patient (lol and it still is)! I wanted something ready to pitch NOW! Though that kind of pressure and my own bad habit of perfectionism paralyzed me for a while. I didn’t see any of my gains and only criticized my own shortcomings. I obsessed over my stories without giving them the space to breathe and my brain to process, causing burnout during a year I didn’t even have any official deadlines. I am truly my own worst critic.
I’m going to ease up on my projects and play more this year! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to work on my next book, I just need to keep in mind not everything I create needs to propel my career forward. I need to create and play without expectations. I want to rekindle and nourish my passion instead of depleting it.
So I will dedicate an afternoon a week to just creative PLAY! Here’s what I did this week: A painting of my fav. statue from Japan!
Man, it feels good to paint for painting’s sake!
4. LESS social media (and more substack?)
Despite my cheery persona online, I don’t enjoy social media anymore. It sucks up so much of my energy and time, distracts me from actual work, and makes me unconsciously compare myself to others, which I KNOW is completely pointless and the worst thing I could do when I’m struggling. That’s one of the reasons I started Substack – to connect, share and engage in more a meaningful way without all these distractions or changing algorithms.
Though judging by how long these posts are getting, it’s definitely taking more time and energy than I’ve accounted for lol… but I figured this also counts as writing practice, right? *wink* The most important thing is that I like it so far, it feels sincere. Also, I’m completely surprised by how many people read my first post and even subscribed! Thank you!! I feel virtually hugged! :)
And that’s my top 4! I technically have one more about a new sleep routine, but that’s opening a whole other can of worms. So what are your 2023 goals or resolution?
If you don’t set any that’s okay, but I hope it’s not from thinking you can’t do it. I’m already seeing a lot of aversions to setting goals or resolutions online because people feel like a failure when they don’t stick to them. I think that’s just because people make it a black-and-white / win-or-lose situation, and it’s shouldn’t be. Reaching goals and setting new habits are going to take time and effort, we will slip up, make mistakes or fall back to old ways, and that’s okay!
“Pobody’s Nerfect!”
As long as we are getting better, doing better, and getting closer to that goal, even a little bit, it’s a win in my book! So let’s be each other’s cheerleaders and scream in all caps: “YOU CAN DO IT!”
Love this, Isabella! (And I loved The Good Place and "Pobody's Nerfect," LOL!) My mantra this year is: "it only matters if YOU are proud of you." (I tend to be a people pleaser...which isn't always good.) But I hope this thought will help remind me that it doesn't matter if others think I'm doing well enough, or NOT well enough in terms of my work. I need to make my #1 goal to be work that I love and am proud of. :) Hugs! Hope 2023 is your best year yet!
I love this so much. You inspire me so much! I have small goals to just take more time with an active one year old around the house.
I’m hoping to get back in to drawing again just a sketch a day and back to the gym. Trying to stay simple.
But good luck for 2023 I can’t wait to see what you come up with 😀