Setting yourself New Years Resolutions these days is pretty much considered being set up for failure for the rest of the world. Because it is generally considered lazy to procrastinate things you would like to change in your life, and it’ll make it all the harder to actually do said things when the clock strikes because, you know, they’re not immediate pushes toward change.
So instead, I’ve set myself a list of goals for the year 2015; these are things I already have begun working towards here in old 2014, but would like to fully achieve by next year. Without further ado, here are my goals and how I plan to achieve them;
1) Drink more water.
This is so basic but I was never a big, water, drinker. I just kind of sit and ignore my thirst between meals and just drink when I have food.
NO MORE say I! There was a period of time this summer where I was drinking two liters of water a day, and I felt really awesome doing it. I’ve slipped back out of that, but now I’m back up to at least one liter a day, which isn’t great, but I’m getting there.
But why?
Because water is probably the best thing to drink. It hydrates, clears your skin and makes you feel 10000% better. Most issues with myself, like my headaches and tiredness at work, are cus I don’t drink enough.
How will I do this?
Super simple stuff I’m already doing now; bringing a bottle full of water with me literally everywhere, taking regular breaks to drink said water and make sure I keep up with it steadily throughout the day. Hopefully very soon, two litres a day will be my standard.
2) Read 50 Books at Minimum.
When I was younger I read books pretty much constantly. I mean, usually between three on the go at once that I flitted between, and that I adored. I read comics, magazines, books I should probably not have been reading. I read Watership Down by Richard Adams when I was nine. Trauma. For those who don’t know the book, you might be familiar with the horrifying animated movie which looked like a lovely experience of bunnies on a journey.
That movie is the reason I’m claustrophobic.
But moving on. As the years trailed past I just lost time to read as much as I used to, with education stacking up and life stacking up and responsibilities and basically everything awful about being an adult, and books are now something I only read when I’m on holiday. No more.
Why?
Because frankly, reading still makes me incredibly happy. I love the feeling of sinking into a whole new world and a whole new life and getting lost in there. I feel like a lot of books really open up your world and the way you see things. Obviously I know not everybody feels like that about reading, and that’s absolutely fine. But, for me, reading made me so elated and not doing it as much has been an absolute drag.
How?
Simply, by reading. By sitting up in bed with a book in hand before I go to bed and just reading it. By choosing a book over slothing out and scrolling through tumblr. I’ve also begun watching tonnes of what are known as BookTubers and adding virtually every recommendation to my amazon wishlist. I also joined websites such as Goodreads, and, I will be reviewing all the books I read on this wordpress also. Which ties into my next goal.
3) Write More.
Writing has been my ultimate goal in life since I was about eight years old. Short stories, blogs, articles; I’ve always wanted to write. However, going into university and doing a three year course where all I did was write about things that made me want to claw my eyes out, plus writing for my student newspaper weekly, left me feeling a little bit lackluster sometimes. On top of a mad funk of massive unmotivation and a disdain for most things caused by my terrible job as a barista (that is a whole other post.), it left me in a massive slump where writing was the last thing on my mind behind trying to get through a shift without crying a lot.
Changing jobs, however, has made me feel a lot better about myself. It’s still retail, but I don’t stink like stale coffee and gross food, and I don’t have to work at 5:30 in the morning so, it’s a really welcome change. And thus, this blog was born because, I feel better than I have in a very long time.
Why?
Writing has always helped me get my feelings down, and I used to be so chill and patient. I’m finding myself a lot more cranky and worried about things these days, and maybe it is the fact that now I’m an adult with tonnes of things to do and a seemingly small amount of time to do it all, but writing used to help immensely when I was in high school and college and going through hard times.
On top of that, my dream is to be a writer. Dreaming is nice and all, but hard work is what gets you where you want to go. So I intend to work very very hard.
How?
The Walking Dead: A Telltale Series started spurring me with the reminder that when I really love something, I have to write it down. A lot. I’ve always known about myself that when I’m passionate about something, I tend to put fingers to keyboard and let the schpeel fall out. And it always leaves me feeling really happy and relieved and enjoying myself. So, to spur myself to write more, I’m going to do things I love more. So reading tonnes of books, playing lots of video games, watching movies, those things are going to make me sit down and go “Let’s talk about this”. And that is how I will be writing more in 2015; by just doing.
4) Stop biting the skin around my nails
I have a really bad habit of not biting my nails, but gnawing on the skin around them and I’ve been doing it since before I can remember. There was a period of time where I used to bite my nails really badly too, but then I began painting my nails a tonne (during my super dark, teen angst phase.) and the gross gross gross feeling of nail polish chunks in my teeth and the ruining of my already terribly tween painted nails made me feel extremely unhappy. So that stopped on it’s own, but the skin biting didn’t.
Why?
Because it’s super gross and painful to be chewing bits of skin off of my fingers almost constantly. It makes my fingers look all raw and pretty disgusting. On top of that it also hurts a lot when I go too far and end up with a cringe inducing skin peel moment.
And because a guy at my work does it and he recently got a super disgusting infection which made his finger swell up with pus and despite getting it drained and cleaned, it’s still really red and weird looking. So nah.
How?
Mavala Stop.
Mavala Stop is a very simple concuction but it does the job; it’s a super disgusting tasting polish you put on your nails to stop you biting them, and trust me when I say it works. It’s literally a hellish punishment on earth, because it isn’t jut a bad taste that lingers in your mouth a while. It is there for what seems like an eternity, and it somehow spreads all down your throat and to the roof of your mouth. It’s super hardcore but when a habit is as engrained into you as this, it’s nessicary.
WARNING: If you plan to use this stuff, don’t eat with your hands until you’re sure your habit is dead and you stop wearing it because it will ruin your food and everything you love.
5) Cook better and healthier foods
By this I really don’t mean a drastic change in diet; more so just trying to cut out what is easy and not so healthy with something a bit more fun and satisfying.
Why?
For one thing you should always aim to eat well to get what your body needs to do basic functions. For another, I feel a little bit pathetic that I’m 21 years old and I have barely any variation in what I can cook from scratch, especially when my brother slow roasted two gammons and makes burgers by hand while my mum is queen of cooking.
How?
By buying some cookbooks, bookmarking lunches, breakfasts, and dinner, then going out and getting what I need for it. Then cooking relentlessly until I’m more comfortable in what I think goes together, and how to cook it all, etc. I’m not totally helpless, but it would be nice to get more variety rather than just shoving something in the microwave.
6) Get a goddamn better sleeping pattern.
Why?
Because going to bed late and barely being able to drag myself out of bed in the morning and feeling shitty all day is relentlessly awful. And then I feel more awful because my need for a lie in can ruin my time management for a day or put me behind, which stresses me out more. And that is bad.
How?
One thing I want to do is start drinking herbal teas. I’ve heard Chamomile and Spiced Apple by Twinnings is like drinking an apple pie, and it helps to soothe and relax you before you sleep. I’ve also decided to eliminate stress before bed, via sorting out everything I need for the morning the night before, and by writing down any restless thoughts I have in a notepad (woo, writing more!) so I get them out, and release them from my brain.
The hardest step in reaching this goal will be, coming off the computer/my games a good hour before I want to sleep, and just getting into bed with a book. I’m so used to a cycle of just dicking about then going right to bed when I feel like it that it will be hard to break, but I’m determined to sleep better, and then be a more tolerable human being in the mornings.
And that’s kind of it. I have other goals, some fairly menial like trying to keep my room and my to-do lists more organized, to frame photos and get them on the wall, look after my skin better, and other more personal goals I’d rather keep close to home. But my ultimate goal for 2015 is to stop sitting and waiting, and to just do the things I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t want to rely on other things, or be afraid of rejection. I know there will be rejections, and lows, and really bad days; but I’d rather know I worked my arse off and tried for them, than not.
Does anyone who’s reading this have any goals? Or have any of mine matched yours?
Fran's Mind Fell Over 