Hello all! I’ve been MIA again recently as you know, working on uh, wrecking all the hard work I’ve done with last January’s new year’s resolutions by watching Kdramas, re-reading several of my favorite fantasy series (if you’re curious, I’ve been reading the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, and the Sword of Truth series), playing video games (the Dragon Age series), eating all sorts of holiday junk food, generally relaxing my grip on all the things I feel I should be accomplishing in life, and just, well, LIVING. But now January 1st is just about here again, and it’s time to re-evaluate and set some new (and recycled) goals for the year.
1. In 2014, focus on activities, not food. – I think I’ve been able to do this and it’s influenced so many different parts of my life. I’ve started taking more portrait and landscape photos, and have generally been ignoring food, especially those that aren’t interesting enough to photograph. In fact, most of my favorite shots from this year have been portraits:
On the down side my “From my Kitchen” Facebook album for 2014 is pretty sparse, but I knew what I was getting into.
2. Work out at least 4 times a week – Oh how I failed on this one. Haha! Fitness has always been a challenge for me, and this year was no exception. BUT I did discover a healthy (also read as: not insane) cleanse to use post-holidays/pre-vacation.
3. Do yoga once a week. – Another one that bit the dust early in the year. I’m just not into slow workouts!
4. Blog at least once a week. twice a month. – I’ve actually surprisingly stuck to this for most of the year. Even twice a month has been a challenge, but I’ve been able to make it for the most part. I’d like to continue doing so in 2015.
5. Do a photography project every weekend month. – Ugh, it was not a good idea to set this as a goal together with Photo A Day. It was just wayyy to much pressure. But I’d still like to squeeze this in somehow for 2015.
6. Do Photo A Day for an entire year. – I made it a few months, so that should count for something. 🙂
7. Stop dressing like a hobo. – I was able to stick to this one.
8. Go through Rosetta Stone’s French 1 and 2. – Learning another language is a goal I’ve had forever, but I somehow just can’t get going on it.
- Go skiing.
- Go hiking.
- Go paddle boarding.
- Go to a new dog run with Gizmo.
- Watch 2 Broadway shows. – “First Date” and “Cabaret”.
- Watch an off-Broadway show. – I did really well on this one. I saw several plays this year and enjoyed them all.
- Watch a concert. – I watched Usher in concert!
- Watch a dance concert.
- Do a weekend trip to one or two of the following: DC, Philly, Miami, San Francisco
- Do a major overseas trip (as if I’ve ever skipped this one).
- Attend a masquerade ball.
2015 Resolutions
And now, despite the fact that I was only able to do less than half of what I’d planned for 2014, it’s time to get off the couch and set some new goals (and maybe print them out and post them on the fridge as reminders for the rest of the year). I truly believe I would have missed out on so many of the things I’d done this year had I not had this list in my subconscious, so I think I’m going to continue creating these in the interest of self-improvement and making the most out of life. So, without further ado, my 2015 New Year’s Resolutions:
2. Focus on the solution, not the problem. – I’ve learned and re-learned this lesson in various ways throughout my life (books, movies, TV shows, actual experience), but this has been really hard for me to do this year. It’s easy to get bitter over how problems come about, so I’d like to make more of an effort on this one this year.3. Exercise at least 3x a week. – Ok, I simply cannot give up on health and fitness, despite all my struggles, so I’m just giving myself a little leeway on this recycled resolution. Even this little ewok takes time to workout.
4. Volunteer.– I could certainly do something to offset all this navel-gazing. 🙂
5. Do a photography project every month. – I’m optimistic that I can get into this since I’m cutting down on the next one.
6. Do one month of Photo a Day for every season. – I think taking breaks from it will increase the quality of my output, since I won’t get sick of constantly worrying about the prompt for the day.
7. Buy less clothes, but of better quality. – So, now that I’ve stopped wearing hoodies to work (okay maybe I still did that once or twice this year), it’s time to change this to a more specific goal. My friend Kim told me over brunch the other day that she buys expensive items, but usually gets one item a month. Looking at my closet half-full of clothes I’m not quite sure I want to wear, I realized that that is a fantastic idea.
8. Go through Rosetta Stone’s French 1 and 2. – Seriously, I need to get going on this this year. Or, maybe I just added this resolution to have an excuse to share this video to the world again.
9. Pick up a sporty activity/hobby. – I’m not quite sure what this will be yet. I was considering taking up cycling earlier in the year, but I don’t quite have the budget (or storage space for bikes) to do that. So maybe I’ll take up running or dancing again.
10. “When I get sad, I stop being sad, and be awesome instead.” – HIMYM’s Barney Stinson isn’t exactly the best person to take advice from, but somehow he ended up with the best life quote from the entire show. I think of this one as an extension of #2. When I get sad, I want to focus on how to get back to being awesome again.
- Go skiing.
- Go hiking.
- Go paddle boarding.
- Read 1 NEW book a month (or at least 12 books for the entire year). – I’m pretty sure I normally read more than this, but I’ve never actually tried to count the books I’ve read.
- Watch 2 Broadway shows. – Saw 5!
- Watch an off-Broadway show.
- Watch a concert.
- Watch a dance concert.
- Do a weekend trip to one or two of the following: DC, Philly, Miami, San Francisco, LA
- Do 6 cheaper weekend trips. – There are sooo many weekend and day trips from NYC to choose from, so with a bit of planning this shouldn’t be so difficult.