So now we're ten days into the New Year...and I still don't have any resolutions. I considered making my resolution NOT to make any resolutions...but I'm easily influenced by peer pressure. ;-) I feel like some, if not most, are pretty superficial, but nevertheless, here goes:
1) Loose weight. I know this is probably on everyone else's list, but I'm serious here. I haven't really been happy with my body/the direction I'm pushing it in since I stopped riding. Anyone who doesn't think it's a sport--go out and have an argument with a 1,000 pound animal while being roughly 10% of its size. I've been using the excuse "well I'll ride again soon". No, I won't, so I'll stop waiting for the day when a horse appears on my doorstep and get busy. I'm following some fantastic and inspiring weight loss blogs that should hopefully help. (: And if a horse does magically appear...I'll be in better shape to ride it, right??
2) Laugh more. I feel like this should be a standard on anyone's list. Laughing is a medically (and psychologically) good idea. Just did a quick Google search and apparently it burns calories AND is good for your heart!
3) Go for more walks. I live in this absolutely phenomenal neighborhood, which isn't too far from downtown and I never take advantage of that fact. A friend and I used to go "running" around it, but she's moved away and I've gotten lazy. :-( So I'm going to a) start walking to and from school again, b) walk to the library more and c) just go walk around in the afternoons...although maybe I'll save the last two for when it gets warmer.
4) Eat better. I have this absolutely awful habit of just plunking down in front of the TV most weeknights and --if the first isn't bad enough-- grabbing a bunch of chocolate chips to accompany me. While it tastes good in the moment, I feel awful afterward. I realized the other day that I'm having wayyy too many of those "wow, I really shouldn't have had that" moments, so I'm going to start consciously correcting it.
5) Clean out my house. My father is an awful packrat and while I love him to death, I do not appreciate his --and my sister's!-- hoarderlike tendencies. Since my sister's Chinese, this year we're going to honor Chinese New Year and start clearing out selected spaces in our house. Mom and I tackled the craft closet this afternoon and got about half of it completely cleared out and organized in roughly three hours! It was great having so much to drag out to the street tonight for garbage pickup in the morning. So by the end of the year, I almost want to become known as "that house with the million garbage bags in front". (:
6) Stop swearing. I think this is going to be my most difficult one. At school, I feel like (hopefully it's not this bad) I cuss like a sailor on leave. Granted, I am not the only one in my school and I feel like its definitely environmentally influenced, but surely there's a way to get my message across without needing all the extra emphasis. ;-) It's like the food issue though; I'll say something like "blahblahblah profanity blahprofanityblahblah" and then go "...that didn't feel good/wasn't neccessary. Why would I say that??". So my goal, hopefully soon, is to be able to go "blahblahblahblahblah" MINUS PROFANITY. Yikes.
7) Start trusting myself/my opinions. I'm the kinda girl who appears not to have an opinion. On anything. I can be asked a question by a friend/friend's parent like "oh, what do you want for dinner? Chicken or fish?" and my knee-jerk response is to go "oh, whatever" when I reallyreally want chicken because I absolutely can't stand fish if it's not cooked a certain way. Invariably we'll end up having fish and who's to blame? I am. My goal this year is to learn to respectfully and gracefully communicate my opinions because I definitely have them.
Fortunately, in my opinion, that's all I can think of. I'm sure I could be here all night typing, but it's hard to look at myself so critically and it's definitely unpleasant, so I think I'll stop. (:
What are your resolutions this year?
~B
Loved this post, Bri. I will tell you this: as far as weight wars go, when I just started making small changes to eat healthier, weight came off. Slowly, granted, but it came off and it's staying off. The walking will help with that, too. I bought a pair of ankel weights because one of my resolutions is to build up more muscle. At my age, trying to maintain muscle is key. My other resolutions are to reclaim my garden area from the invasive grasses, and to stay in closer touch with family and friends. I look forward to reading how you progress with your goals through the year. Happy trails! - Mab
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