Welcome to 2019!

Welcome to a new year! We have successfully made our way around the sun another time! And with a new year comes new opportunities, new friendships and relationships, new chapters, and a new chance to grow and improve.

However, January brings around another thing that can be good or bad or, for some people, annoying.

New Year's Resolutions.

This is not to say resolutions are inherently bad. They can be very beneficial for some people, and some people have success with their resolutions. But, let's be realistic. The majority of resolutions are dropped and forgotten after a month or two. Personally, I think part of this is because resolutions are made because it's the popular thing to do at the start of a new year. After all, there's always this "New year, new me" mentality that crops up between Christmas and the second week of January. However, it's also probably because these resolutions are not backed up by personal motivation and a good support system. Resolutions seem to act as a fad and, once the hype around them wears off, it can be hard to keep up with them without people behind you to support you and to have the motivation to continue.

This is why I've never really been on the resolution train. They've always seemed overrated to me.

But, I have nothing against setting (reasonable) goals. Having a specific goal to carry throughout the year is beneficial. Plus, a goal is more manageable than a resolution as goals are more specific and, therefore, can be broken down into chunks to make them achievable.

For example, we can look at one of the most popular resolutions: losing weight. It's easy to say "this year, I'm going to lose weight," but losing weight is hard to do if you don't know how much you want to lose, or have a specific size of clothing you want to fit in to (and harder if you don't have the aforementioned support). On the contrary, it's harder to set a specific weight or size goal, but doing so gives you a target to reach for and a reason to stay motivated. And then you can chunk it down into smaller, more manageable goals, such as losing a pound a week. Being dedicated to losing a pound a week is much easier than just "losing weight."

Now, that being said, I would like to share some of my personal goals for the year.

1) Be healthier

Yes, this does go along with the losing weight example. And yes, I do have specific numbers in mind, one that is personal and one that is from my doctor. But, for me, it goes beyond just being at a healthier weight. I want to be healthier physically and mentally. I want to eat better, enjoy eating better, and for my physical health to be more than a number on a scale.

I've even already started working towards this goal. I currently have an app on my phone called Lose It!, which is a free calorie and weight tracking app. It calculates your daily calorie budget based on your current weight and height, your gender, and how much you want to lose by when you want to lose it. During this set up, it even tells you how much you should lose per week if you stick to the budget. After that, the usage of the app is very similar to the Weight Watchers app. You can search the app's database of foods (or add your own) to track the foods you eat throughout the day, as well as scan the bar codes of packages. Additionally, the app breaks down how many calories you should have per meal and reallocates calories if you are under or above the budget per meal. It also gives you the ability to monitor your macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins), so you know exactly what kind of foods your putting into your body. The app can also sync with fitness devices to track your exercise, though I haven't personally used this feature yet.

I also want to get a membership with Planet Fitness to work on my allergy to exercise and cardio, as well as learn to make better choices when out to eat or when a craving hits. I also would love to have some healthier, but still enjoyable, dishes to cook for us at home. I'm even making an effort to drink more water while at work instead of needing soda all day long.

2) Work on improving my finances

One big thing for me this year, is I want to learn how to better budget my money and to spend less. I can't say I'm bad at this now, but my experience is base level and general. I want to be able to gain a better idea of what I'm spending, where my money is going, and how to not over spend. Right now, I generally know when my bills get paid and how much money I have to have for things such as gas. But I'm not the best at budgeting and saving. This is definitely a long-term goal for me, but one that is attainable through small changes.

First, I'm tracking what I spend and why, as well as making a not of exactly when my bills come out. It will probably take me a few months to start learning my spending habits. Once I can do that, I can start determining what I can spend less money on and how to set money aside.

I can't account for emergency situations. They happen and there's nothing you can do but have to spend money you don't really want to to fix it. Current examples being the fact that I had to have my car pulled out of a hole last month and we've been having to run our cat to the vet. Things like that happen. But, if I can budget and save better, I can be better prepared for those types of situations.

3) Use my planner more regularly

This is one high school me would be rolling her eyes at. I used to hate planners. I used to pride myself on my memory to know what I needed to do. In high school, this wasn't a bad thing since most of my classes had consistent schedules for homework back then. In college, I matured and tried to use a planner since things were more hectic, but I usually failed at being consistent with it. About a year ago, I tried bullet journaling to try to organize my life post-graduation, but quickly gave up on that venture since I wasn't consistent, nor do I have the artistic ability or nice handwriting to make it an enjoyable experience.

So a few months ago, I got an 18-month Happy Planner. The Happy Planner is probably the best planner for me as it's set-up works well for a non-student and it can be customized with the Happy Planner brand stickers and different pen colors. Currently, I have a pack of generic stickers, some budget friendly stickers, and two different colors of pens.

When I first got my Happy Planner, I started out really well with it. I was keeping track of my work schedule, my bills, my tasks, and my goals. However, I've slacked off with it the last few months and didn't use it at all in December. I need to start making sure I'm using the planner every day and get in the habit of using it consistently. Being able to do so will not only help me keep organized, but will also help me achieve a lot of the other goals on this list.

4) Read more

It's not secret that I love reading (after all, part of this blog is dedicated to that). However, I don't read as much as I would like to simply because I just don't sit down and do so. I'll have another post on this later, but I have several books I want to read this year. Which means I need to dedicate time to doing so. And not just randomly because I'm bored (though, I could do that more often as well.

5) Finish my novel

I'll be honest, I haven't touched my novel since November ended. With the business that is December and the Christmas season, I'm not really complaining about not working on it. Plus, my brain got a bit fried towards the end of November, so I needed the writing break. But, now I need to get back on it so I can work towards finishing it, and eventually revising, editing, and cleaning it up. I need to write more in general, and this is one way I can do that. Even if I work on the book an hour per day, that's getting me somewhere. I also have other projects I want to work on, but I don't want to overwhelm myself by trying to write the first draft of multiple works at the same time. My brain doesn't function well like that and I will get demotivated. So I need to determine a solid writing schedule and get down to work.

6) Blog more frequently

I definitely have not been making posts here as often as I would have liked when I began this blog two months ago. Part of this is because of being busy, and it's in part due to being mentally and emotionally drained for a few weeks. But, mostly it's just because I haven't put an effort into it and I need to.

This is one of those goals I said I can use my planner for because I can start scheduling out when I want to post, as well as what to post. I think that would be a good way of keeping myself accountable and organized.

7) Clean my room

There are a lot of things I want to do with my room. I want a proper book shelf, I want to move my desk out of my room, I want to put up some posters and pictures. But, I can't do any of that until the bomb site that is my room is cleaned up, straightened up, and organized. And kept that way. Plus, a clean environment will benefit that being healthier goal.

Plus, there's the fact that I may need a new A/C unit come summer so, now things are a bit more urgent than just kind of wanting to do it.

So, those are my major goals for this year and I feel like I'm prepared to tackle them. I think it'll be interesting as well come December to look back at what I wanted to accomplish and see if I actually did so.

What are some of your goals for this year? Feel free to comment and share what you want to do in 2019!