Shake It Up

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:

Nighttime hula-hooping

SHAKE IT UP

We’re winding down the old year; 2010 is on deck.

New Year’s is one of the no-hassle holidays. No hustle, no bustle, no shopping, no gifts, it’s just the Rose Bowl Parade and football games beamed at us from the warm-weather states.

I like New Year’s Day, because with a new calendar the world seems full of options.

Instead of making resolutions, I choose a theme or two to focus on during the year. In late December, I select a word, a concept that I want to more fully integrate into my daily life. Past themes have been lightness, joy, and strength.

I’m still contemplating themes for 2010. But here’s one I’m considering: beginnings.

Beginnings. Because who doesn’t like a blank journal, new clothes, fresh linens, exciting adventures?

Jan. 1 is a time to shake things up. (Twisting and shouting is optional.) It’s a good time to begin something new.

So — what to do? Oh, I’m sure you have ideas already, things you’d like to try, things that have been sitting for years on your “if only I had time” shelf.

But, if your mind says, “Nope, I have no idea what to do,” well, then, here are a few suggestions to jumpstart your thinking:

Learn to play the guitar, the piano, the harmonica. Try the hula hoop, hula dancing ballroom dancing.

Take an interest in Great Plains ecosystems, past and present. Go to the Tallgrass National Prairie Preserve and observe the bison. Study meteorology. Visit the Johnston Geology Museum at Emporia State University and bone up on fossils. Introduce yourself to crusty sea monsters at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.

Take a beach vacation, go fly fishing, climb the Rocky Mountains and yodel from the highest peak.

Buy an exotic spice (cardamom, fenugreek, wasabi) and use it in a recipe. Learn to make bulgogi, biryani, baba ghanoush. Make your own pizza dough. Bake a sour cream chocolate cake from scratch.

How long has it been since you’ve ridden two wheels? Maybe you’d enjoy the Biking Across Kansas event in June. Or, learn to water ski, snow ski, snowboard, skateboard.

Perhaps you’d like to tie on hiking boots and check out nature trails in the state. Or visit every barbecue joint within a 100-mile radius. Or study astronomy, astrology, mythology.

Give up something: smoking, whining, self-loathing. Take up something: jogging, fencing, bowling.

Do you enjoy the TV show “The Office?” If so, grab a video camera and create your own mockumentary. Or, during workplace conversations, just look off to the side and make grimaces into an imaginary camera.

Become a youth mentor, a 4-H project leader, a Big Brother, Big Sister. Serve as a literacy tutor. Drag out the board games from the hallway closet and play Chinese checkers, Scrabble, or Yahtzee.

Take a train ride — there are excursion trains in Abilene and Baldwin City. Eat pie at the Sommerset Hall Café in Dover, the Emma Chase in Cottonwood Falls, or the Whiting Café in Whiting.

Visit Arikaree Breaks, the Cimarron National Grassland, or the Red Hills. Choose one of the nine scenic byways in Kansas and travel it from one end to the other.

Perhaps you’ll decide to eat locally-grown foods as much as possible. Plant a garden, join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), or shop at your farmers’ market.

Take up watercolors, knitting or calligraphy. Put old photos into an album, read a novel a week, write a short poem every morning.

2010 is yours to do with what you will; it’s a year of infinite possibilities.

Copyright 2009 ~ Cheryl Unruh