Happy New Year, world! Welcome to the roaring twenties. I’m going to KEEP SAYING IT, because as I’ve stated before, I love the glitz and glamour and Gatsby of it all… minus the massive Depression that followed. If we could hold off on that this time around that’d be great, because I don’t think I can handle that.
This time last year, I provided my biggest resolutions for 2019. Like most people, I really did NOT do a great job on them. I decided to include some of them in this year’s resolutions, though. The only failure is failure to try, right?
In 2019, these were my goals:
1. Do an unassisted pull-up.
2. Do a handstand.
3. Make mindfulness a regular practice.
4. Make style changes.
5. Do something new.
6. Take a Career Step.
7. Go stargazing.
So, how did I do?
1. Do an unassisted pull-up – did not happen, but I did get close! I have included this in my 2020 resolutions. This is the YEAR OF THE PULL-UP.
2. Do a handstand – did not happen. I still want to accomplish this, but my focus is pull-ups.
3. Make mindfulness a regular practice – I accomplished this to a degree, but not as much as I’d like. I found myself taking moments to ground myself and enjoy silence when I needed it, but I wasn’t meditating for five minutes every day.
4. Make style changes – Mission accomplished, mostly? I changed up my style a bit in the past year, but not dramatically so. In a later entry I’m going to compare my style post from last year to my current closet. I think this is ongoing, as my body and tastes change, and I didn’t include this in my 2020 resolutions. I definitely did a lot less “phoning it in” in how I dressed!
5. Do something new – Ate gator, pistachio gelato, and multiple different kinds of ultra hot sauce. Held a lizard and a snake, posed with an albino gator. Traveled to Italy, France, and Greece. Got this done, fo’ sho.
6. Take a Career Step – I took bebe steps to this. My workload was massive in the first half of the year, but it gave me a great opportunity to learn more, and do more, within my position. The second half of the year, things calmed down, but at the same time, my life was consumed with the wedding, honeymoon, and family gatherings. Between ALL of it, though, I sat down with my supervisor and discussed my goals for this upcoming year. I have loved the position I have now but I’m ready for something new, go after the real career I want. Thankfully, my boss is supportive and has helped me with this process, but again, it’s been baby steps. I’ve made this a top resolution for the new year.
7. Go stargazing – Mission KIND OF accomplished. On our honeymoon, Aaron and I walked the ship at night and he pointed out different constellations. Turns out he’s really into astronomy! We were only outside for a few minutes though, because it was freezing and I needed to go inside. I’d love to take a night to do that with him, just us, a picnic blanket, and the stars. I see a starry date night in our future… just maybe when it’s warmer!
So, where does that leave us for this year?
Behold, my 2020 Resolutions!
- Read 52 books – Last year, I pointedly did not make book-reading a goal, and with that, I actually think I read more this past year than I did in a while! I want to set a target goal of reading one new book a week. I’m going to monitor this goal by doing a “book review” at the end of the month to discuss each book I read that month. And yes, week 1 is already complete 😉
- Do pull ups – I really want to do it! I’m hoping that my ability to pull myself up will inform my ability to push myself up into a handstand, but if not, that’s okay. Apparently if you can do one pull-up, you can do more than one pull-up. Let’s see how that goes!
- Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING – Holy heckin’ bob, I spend so much time on my phone! Everyone and their mother has an opinion on how much I’m on my phone. I’ve honestly watched so much time fly while mindlessly liking photos on Instagram. I need to get out of other people’s lives/digital media footprint.
- Write 104 blog posts – Two entries a week seems reasonable, right? I’ve started mentally planning an entry for each week this month. Very excited to be consistent and track my year’s worth of thoughts, ideas, and goals!
- Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021 – Those dates may vary, but I want to take the last “week” of the year off of work. I want to leave work before Christmas Eve and not come back until the new year! At the top of my list is a trip to Vermont to have a snow-covered Christmas, and then go skiing for the rest of the year. My mom has also been contemplating taking my siblings, Aaron and I on a cruise in the tropics at the end of the year. If my mom wants to treat us to an end-of-the year Bahamas trip, whomst am I to refuse? That said, I saw photos of Amsterdam all lit up for Christmas and it looked very romantic, and I also considered the idea of going back to London with Aaron, and doing a few days in Scotland before ringing in the new year by Big Ben. How special would that be? So, ideas! Intention! Execute!
- Stop engaging in schadenfreude – This feeds into item 3, but a part of me secretly loves when people on social media I don’t like get their comeuppance or get called out for being terrible. It’s just bad karma. I like “tea” as much as the next person, but I don’t think it needs to dominate my brain as much as I let it now!
- Take better care of my skin – Maybe it’s end of the year holiday food, maybe it’s just not showering RIGHT after a workout, but dang, I have serious acne on my shoulders right now! Boo! Didn’t ask for that! Thankfully I don’t have terrible facial acne, but I have scars that are just… unconcealable. I want to spend more of my hard-earned money on self-care, in the form of facials and massages. Calmer muscles = calmer skin. Also water.
- Go stargazing – I’m honestly embarrassed I didn’t do this last year. I went to a holiday party during which a friend and I discussed bioluminescence kayaking, which is when you go out kayaking at night in a place where the water looks like this:
I think sparkly seas and sparkly skies is an ideal date night. Except Aaron isn’t a big fan of open water. I’ll figure this out, somehow! - Get a new job – This is a MUST for this year. I love my coworkers and enjoy designing/revising websites, but I’m ready for something more. It’s time to move forward in a new position, and I will have one by the end of the year.
- Do a handstand – PULL UPS FIRST, then handstand! I think once I have the upper body strength I’ll be in good shape, the handstand true difficulty comes with the mental part of it. Balancing my whole body weight on my lil’ hands? Mind over matter!
- Go see two of my favorite performers – Stand up? Music? Either or works! Depending on who is touring (and where), I want to see John Mulaney, Bo Burnham, Ali Wong, Ariana Grande, Panic! at the Disco, or Billie Eilish. I’ll go on my own if that’s what it takes, but if John Mulaney is coming to Boston and I am FORCED to go see my best friends in Boston and go with them, I will do what is needed.
- Lose weight – I have a specific number in mind, a goal weight that I want to achieve. You don’t need to know that, though! They’re my numbers and no one needs to match my standards. I think weight loss is a common goal for people in the new year; that said, in today’s increasingly body-positive world, wanting to lose weight has negative connotations. I am all for celebrating yourself and loving the skin you’re in, but I definitely feel uncomfortable in my body lately. By scientific standards, I am obese right now (yikes). I’ll share when I’ve accomplished getting down to a healthy weight, and when I’ve reached my number, in reference to keeping up with my goals. I won’t share any numbers, but know that I’m doing this for me and not because society is making me.
Image from Pinterest. “Women’s Appreciation”. The Office. NBC. 3 May 2007. - Give Aaron a great 26th birthday – Last year, his birthday fell by the wayside between family events and being sick. He had his birthday dinner and got great presents, but we had planned on going to Universal and that didn’t happen! I want to make sure that for his 26th birthday, I go all out and give him the works. He deserves it.
- Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter, and granddaughter – I feel like this past year I was so absent, like I let things happen to me and didn’t really take actions for myself. With that, I heard my friends, but I didn’t always listen. I let Aaron vent but didn’t soak up what he said. I felt drained, so I didn’t spend a lot of time with my siblings nor my parents in a meaningful way. They did so much for me this past year, but I don’t know how my mom is doing. I don’t know what my brother wants to do with his life. Apparently my dad has taken up medicinal marijuana? What dimension is this? On top of that, I should call my grandparents more. I just should. It wasn’t consistent acts of selfishness, I just recognized that I could be better. I want to take better care of myself this year, but also take better care of my relationships with the people I love. This year, and every year, I will do better. I think if I accomplish all of these things, I will complete my biggest 2020 resolution:
- Be happy – In 2020 I will accomplish my goals, both personally and professionally. I will live a life of love and chose love every time.
At the end of each month, I will post my status/progress on each of these goals! I feel good about all of them, and I think this will be a good year for me. My brain keeps saying “Don’t jinx it!” To my brain I say “Stop second guessing yourself! Embrace the good! Go fold your laundry, it’s been in the dryer for three days!”
Happy New Year. Let’s make it a good one 🙂