We're comfortably into January at this point, which leaves us with the daunting task of turning our life around at the prospect of a clean slate and a new year. As many people do, I created a few resolutions which I plan to pursue for a better 2018, but before I decided on what I want out of my new year, I decided what I didn't.
I didn't want to body shame myself in the new year, I'm not going to challenge myself to lose 20 pounds or go to the gym 5 times a week. I don't want to look at my body as a project, I want to be able to love it no matter how it changes, so instead my goal is to care for my body. That may mean hydrating it to stay more alert or adding to my step count to stretch my legs, but it also means letting myself eat ice cream when I'm craving something sweet and accepting my breakouts and treating them with a face mask instead of self-loathing.
I didn't want to feel disappointed if I stopped my bullet journal. I have an estranged relationship with bullet journaling, I love it, but it's an incredibly involved and taxing process. As a college student with a lot on my plate, I often fall out since I can't keep up with the weekly spreads when so many events and tasks are coming at me. Though I am attempting a new journal, my goal is to be more organized, to write it down and get it done.
I didn't want to spend as much time on my phone. I'm not hopping on the "technology is ruining the youth" bandwagon, however I realized when I have 20 minutes between class or before a meeting I turn to social media. Therefore I made my goal to put down my phone and pick up a book. I'm going to always keep a leisure book in my bag, so that way I always have new reading right at my fingertips.
I didn't want to walk into my room and feel stressed out. Due to how much running around I do, my dorm room turns into a pit where all my books, clothes, and other miscellaneous things are thrown on the floor, my futon, my desk....you get the picture. So my goal is to start small: don't put it down, put it away. By doing small things everyday to keep my room organized, I'm hoping to decrease the amount of major cleanup days I need to have, that require me to spend the entire afternoon in my bedroom fixing my mess, and create a more welcoming space for both myself and my friends.
I didn't want to get stuck in a music rut. My friends and I tend to keep to a few playlists that we constantly listen to when we hangout, meaning I'm hearing a lot of songs I love, but I'm listening to the same ones over and over and over again. I bought new earbuds and my goal is to create a new soundtrack to my life, I want to listen to more music on my own, and create monthly playlists with new (and some old) music that I'll share here on my site!
Lastly, I didn't want to neglect my writing. Due to the faulty course rotation I'm spending an entire year without any creative writing classes, despite that being my second major. So I started this site with the goal to practice my writing and create an online portfolio of writing samples future employers can explore to get to know me and my voice. I'm not sure how often I'll update, but by creating a new platform to share my voice I hope to both get to know myself and my lovely readers!
Many of these goals won't really start until I'm on campus, but I've begun a few right here! I'm hoping I'll be off to a great 2018 with more self-love, more motivation and more great memories.
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