daily life

A Flexible Approach to New Year Resolutions & My Goals for 2018

new years resolution notebook

Happy New Year! It’s a cold morning in Seattle. We had a fairly low-key NYE: watched TV, listened to our neighbors light off mortars from 8:00 PM to 1:00 AM (we live far outside of the city), and then went to bed. I didn’t even open my bottle of Moët & Chandon, which I’m thanking myself for this morning.

It’s the New Year so I want to talk about resolutions.

I approach resolutions a little differently ever since I started working at Microsoft. Every six months, my manager and I and any other team member) go over the priorities that were set 6 months previously and adjust and adapt where needed. Resolutions should be an ongoing conversation with yourself because things change, and much like at work, where I was 6 months ago could be completely different from where I am now.

Having a flexible approach to resolutions removes any idea of failure, and I’m not saying failure is bad, it’s a great learning tool but as someone who deals with depression, not completing a resolution I’ve set for myself and feeling I’ve failed can lead down a rabbit hole of terrible feelings. It can be a domino effect. But it’s also important to figure out why something isn’t going the way you planned when re-evaluating how you’re doing on your resolutions. Adapt from there and adjust rather than abandon.

As of last week, I had only read 18 of the 20 books I wanted to read this year. My book goal tends to be the strictest of my resolutions in that I set a specific number I want to read. But acknowledging why I had only made it to 18 instead of 20 helped set things into perspective. (Spoiler: I had a week off so I did make it to 20 books.)

More Pure Barre

A year ago I was going to Pure Barre classes somewhat frequently. I felt so good mentally and physically. The past 6 months I have hardly gone to any classes and I know I need to go. Depression is a funny thing sometimes. I know that I will feel so much better after I go to class, but depression has a way of keeping you holed up at home. So to help with depression, I should go to barre class, but depression isn’t making going to those classes any easier.

There have been some changes that may help to adjust my mindset this January, so I hope those little things will help be the boost I need to get back into barre.

Read 22 Books

I didn’t think I was going to finish my goal of reading 20 books this year but in 3 days last week, I read two books and met my goal. I am bumping up my goal to 22 books. I honestly could have read more this year but for about 4 months I wasn’t reading consistently.

It’s important to get off anything with a screen (unless it’s a Kindle or other e-reader) and read actual books. Not Twitter or blogs. Read literature!

The final two books I read this year left quite an impact on me: A Colony in a Nation by Chris Hayes, and On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. A Colony in a Nation was easily the most fascinating and my favorite read of the year.

Get the interior of our home cleaned up & plant a garden outside

We are slowly replacing old IKEA furniture with furniture from Wayfair. You know what real furniture feels like after years of IKEA? Amazing, solid pieces of crafted art. Defining the feel of our home with furniture that isn’t handed down is such a fun thing to do. Yes, we still have some things from IKEA that we bought but a lot of the stuff we moved from our apartment is beat up and it’s so refreshing to replace it.

But the guest room is still a bit of a mess. My corner office upstairs could use some decluttering. I just need to sit down and do it.

My partner and I also want to start a garden. I want to grow our own herbs and veggies. I’m excited. I just hope the deer won’t eat the garden when we finally get to that point.

Attend more local blogger meetups

I have always felt like I’m on the outside of a group, whether that was in grade school, high school, and now. I don’t know how to meet other women who share my interests so I’m trying to attend more blogger meetups around Seattle.

I’m a notorious introvert and many people take that as I’m cold or shy (shyness & introversion are not the same thing). And I am a little awkward upon meeting people for the first time, again I’m on the far end of introvert on a scale of introvert to extrovert. So I am guarded at first because I want to make sure I’m in a safe space to have genuine conversation.

I hope that attending more meetups will help me meet some amazing and creative women that will inspire me and my work.

Take More Photos

I have seriously loved taking so many photos this past year with the DSLR my partner bought me a year ago. I want to take more festival photos this summer and work on improving my composition.

 

What are your resolutions for the new year and what do you hope to accomplish? Let me know below!

Happy New Year!

xx
Stephanie

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