Resolution

So one day last week, I think it was the 3rd of January, I was waiting in the car to pick up John from work and I managed to type out a whole post about New Years Resolutions on my iPhone. Well, that also happened the be the little period of time where blogpress was being retarded... and it was deleted. It's probably floating around somewhere in cyberland. I will try to recreate it to the best of my ability...

Personally, I feel that anytime of the year is a good time to reflect on your goals, be determined to accomplish something, and better your life. In June last year when I turned 27, I took that as an opportunity to sit down and write down some things I would like to accomplish over the next year. At the start of the fall quarter, I took that as an opportunity to think about what I would like to accomplish for that term (getting straight A's was one, and to get back into the routine of going to the gym was another).

Growing up, my dad would always tell me that I could do ANYTHING I set my mind to. I truly believe that. It's something I've always been told, but never really put a lot of action to, unfortunately. But then- a couple weeks ago, John and I were watching Lost (we started watching it on Netflix in July because we had never seen it, and just finished a couple days ago). One of the characters on the TV show said something along the lines of: "You can do anything you put your mind to, you just have to do it". That is SO true! I think that anyone of us can put our thoughts into action if we just do it. And it doesn't have to be on January 1st, it can be any time of the year! When I heard them say that on the TV show, I felt totally inspired.

So, for me, my New Years Resolutions boils down to just that: If you think you want to do something, accomplish something, set a goal... JUST DO IT! No matter how big, small, or seemingly unattainable it might be. Another reason why this is such a good resolution for me is because the goals I set out to do on my birthday were a little different than the goals I set for the fall term, and all those goals are a little different than what I would like to accomplish now. As of now, I do have a couple things I my "to do" list that I can put down to give a little more concreteness to my "New Year's Resolution" post...

1) Lower my inhibitions about creating stuff. This is important to me, and especially right now because we're moving into our house this week. There is a LOT of stuff that needs to be decorated, painted, remodeled, and I would like to be able to be the one who creates it. The problem is that for the last couple (possibly several) years I get a lot of anxiety when it comes to creating something because I get worried that it's not going to turn out perfectly. So then, I just never do it. I need to let my creative juices flow. A huge advantage I will have is that our new house has a few extra rooms, leaving me a room for projects. I'm NOT going to call it a craft room- it's a project room.

2) School related stuff: Continue to strive for straight A's and decide what I want to major in.

3) Participate in one or two fitness competitions. Now, I would like to just simply say "Participate in a 5k", but I have retarded legs. Whenever I run, I am extremely prone to shin splints, sprained ankles, and sore knees. I love to run but after a couple weeks or so I start to incur all kinds of leg injuries. SO- maybe I can compete in some cycling or something like that.

3b) Achieve my weight goal. Yes, I am putting a weight goal on my New Year's Resolution list. I feel that a few different factors over the past year or so have contributed to me gaining a few pounds that I would like to lose. And this is coordinated with #3 because I feel they're closely enough related.

4) Grow and can my own food. Have I mentioned that my new house has SIX HUGE RAISED GARDEN BEDS??? I can grow EVERYTHING! I really really want to grow as much of our produce as possible. And with that being said, the vastness of the garden space will allow for a lot of excess, which I can can (kind of confusing play on words, but did you get that?). I have experimented with gardening the past two years, but that was in small homes with no yard. I finally feel that I can completely delve into this hobby.

5) Travel... to Japan. Oh yes, it WILL happen.

I think that's pretty much it... But that doesn't stop me from adding anything to the list as time goes on. Because like I said, I re-evaluate my goals very frequently. Almost on a weekly basis. I love to think about how I can be happier. I feel that this life is just too short to be sitting around thinking what I would like to do, only to never do it.