The Pantry Challenge or The Grande Failure

Well, I have to admit, and I'm not terribly ashamed: I have failed beautifully, I only got as far as taking inventory on the lower pantry & freezer, I even had the brilliant idea of putting them on a list on my iPhone so I'd always have that important info at my fingertips.  I still have not done the upper pantry or the fridge, it's just SO daunting - I have countless little jars of this & that in the fridge...

So I failed.  I pretty much KNEW I would.  December is a crazy month spent entertaining, potlucking & being too busy in general to make eating frugally a priority.  (Which is a whole 'nother topic & problem of mine!) 

However, I did LEARN a LOT about myself thru this process of sincerely trying and of failing.  I learned that I definitely have a problem with buying too much food.  I am not very good at planning ahead, which tends to be pretty darn necessary when eating more nourishing foods.  I am also very lazy - there, I said it!   I want to make this new lifestyle a priority, I want to learn a rhythm to integrating these habits into my daily, weekly, monthly life.  I tend to live in cycles, I'm sure that's not unusual.  I have periods of time, where there are lots of social commitments that take up your time, energy & focus.  There are periods of time where, I am able to make home more of a priority.  And there are periods of time when we travel & no matter what I try, it has been impossible to get back into whatever rhythm I had finally worked out previously.   And then I have these cycles of excitement to try all these new things & I just go crazy - I tend to be a bit extreme, all or nuthin', you know?  And then overall that, I tend to get very overwhelmed & very frustrated that I can't seem to bring it all into focus & achieve these goals I've set for myself....

So, while we're talking about goals, with Christmas being over now, and 2009 quickly approaching, everyone is already talking about setting New Year's Resolutions.  I generally try not to bother, knowing I will simply let myself down & all that...

So this year, Kimi from the Nourishing Gourmet has a marvelous post that I found very encouraging about setting realistic goals, rather than 'not bothering' at all.   I read her post tonight on the way home from my 5th and hopefully final Christmas and I felt encouraged & inspired.  Instead of 'not bothering' again this year, I will give it some thought & really try to boil down all my many aspirations to just a few, and to make sure those few really make sense at this point in my life....

Stay tuned...