Think Kit Catch-Up: Community Involvement, Inspirations, Things I Made, and How I Unwind

Life frequently gets in the way of my blogging habits, thus I am officially behind on my Think Kit posts.  Here's a condensed catch-up on a few of the past prompts before I get into today's topic:

Day 5: Interview 3 people about their favorite moments of the year. Share what you heard.
Yeah...didn't get to that. I spend most days with two cats instead of people, but I can assure you their favorite moment involved a switch to Fancy Feast for one to two meals a day instead of a diet of only hard food. But tell me, fellow humans: What moments made your year fantastic?

Day 6: How do you want get involved in your community this year?
I don't volunteer much and I'd like to change this, probably by doing something with kids. My first year at DePauw I loved getting to visit a local elementary school and read to kindergarteners through one of the university's community service programs. It was a fun break in my hectic day that I unfortunately couldn't work into my schedule the rest of my time there. Doing a similar volunteer opportunity would be great.
 
Day 7: What do you want your life (or your kitchen, your job, your x) to look like? Create your own inspiration board.
This office. Or maybe this one. This Pinterest board also says a lot, as do most things I pin on Pinterest. Want to see more of my glorious pinning skills? Follow me and On a Good Note!

Day 8: What did you make this year? Whether work-related or something more personal (like a song, craft project, or work of art), share your process and the end result.
I designed a lot of things this year, including cell phone cases and new note card designs. My design process usually involves spending a lot of time looking around at Etsy or other sites to get a spark of inspiration, especially when I'm working on a project where the person I'm designing for has no idea what thet want. My favorite thing I did this year design-wise was probably this moving announcement post card for my lovely friend Julia. It was so much fun to create and I was obsessed with the finished product!

And finally, today's Think Kit prompt:
What did you do this year when things got hectic? How did you unwind?

Confession: I stress easily. I'm a worrier. My friend Ellen can attest to the number of ridiculous things I was concerned about or stressed over during my four years of college.

Between On a Good Note, twentysomething Indy and other freelance projects, there's ALWAYS something that needs done. My mind is constantly turned on, and countless nights when I've gotten all cozy under the covers, ready for a beautiful 8 hours of sleep, my mind has turned into a hampster in a wheel. This is most likely because I'm a night owl glued to my laptop most evenings, choosing to work in the night hours over the mornings when I rarely function before 10 a.m. Working or having intense business conversations before bed is probably not the best way to get into a sleep zone. A lot of times, though, I find myself bored and feeling guilty that I'm not doing "insert important task/email response here." That guilt leads me to remain "on" a lot of days and nights.

Unwinding is not always part of my process, though I need to make it a better goal to set aside designated work time and playtime next near. Which leads to the ways I want to unwind more often:

• watch a movie or TV show without my laptop open and without looking at my phone
• read in glorious silence for an hour
• listen to music
• workout
• talk to a friend without doing some other type of task, like contemplating an email response in another tab while having a Facebook chat
• spend time outside of the house with a friend

Have I done things on this list this year? Yes, I have. Though most of the instances are few and far between. In the warmer weather I had a few week streak where I got out and took a 2 mile walk through my neighborhood while bopping along to Mayer Hawthorne. It was a great way to think, but I let deadlines and to-dos get in the way of continuing on with the walks, unsuccessfully making it part of a normal routine.

Perhaps next year I'll figure out some brilliant work/play balance where I successfully accomplish everything without a drop of procrastination and have plenty of wonderful unwinding time--both solo and in the company of my fabulous friends. Until then, I'm off to bed, where I'll probably contemplate my task list for tomorrow.

How did you unwind in 2012?