I love the New Year. It's a time of reflection and introspect. We're all given a tabula rasa with the New Year. That's not to say that you can't start anew any other day of the year, but there's something psychologically refreshing about a new year that gives us the push we need to start fresh.
I've been making my New Year's Resolution list for years now...and I've never fulfilled them. Never. Never. I figured that this year should be different. It's a big year for me, personally. I turned twenty-one two weeks ago (whoop whoop). I graduate in December and will (hopefully) land my big-girl job as a history teacher soon after. Being twenty-one, I am legally an adult in all ramifications now. It's time I made some changes in my life that will be beneficial and rewarding. And it's high time I stick to them.
So, without further adieu, here is my 2014 New Year's Resolution List...
- Lose weight and Exercise- Perhaps the most universal of all NYRs. I'm not fat by any means, but I've been carrying on some extra lbs. that need to go ASAP. When I was ten years old, I weighed a whopping sixty pounds. Let me reiterate that- SIXTY POUNDS. I ate precisely two chocolate Poptarts every day for breakfast, and was still skinny as a rail (and I thought I was fat...HA HA HA). Now, I can look at a slice of cake and gain five pounds. What happened to the skinny mini Megan? Where is she? I'll tell you where- hiding underneath twenty extra pounds, that's where! Plus, I do need to be healthier. My family's medical history is rife with heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and pretty much anything involving the heart and arteries, and I'm pretty sure that it could have been avoided with the proper diet and exercise. So, there's more to my resolution than to just get skinny...I need to get healthier. Plain and simple. But I will still make room for Girl Scout Cookie season...
- Read more- When I was younger, I read voraciously. I would spend hours locked away in my room devouring books. This includes the Twilight novels, unfortunately, but the past is the past...Anyhoo, I loved reading, but it somehow fell to the wayside sometime during my high school years. Then, reading became a chore. I hate reading textbooks, and most of the assigned reading we had to do was boring. I cannot and will not finish a book if it does not interest me, and most required reading in school was horrendous (*Unpopular Opinion Alert* Fahrenheit 451 is one of the worst books of all time). And with the advent of social media, I determined that stalking my crush was far more entertaining than reading. Plus, you want to do something mindless after jargon has been ingrained in your head for eight hours a day. I do still love reading and being caught up in the whirlwind of the plot, so I've decided to reignite my love of reading.
- Have a closer walk with God- I've always believed in God. I was reared in church my entire life, and I was saved and baptized at the age of eight. When I was younger and a newly saved, I read my Bible every day and prayed every night. I asked my mom what I should do as a new Christian, and what was expected of me. Somewhere along the way, I fell out of the wagon. I still go to church. I still believe in God. Unfortunately, I don't always read the Bible or pray. You can call me a "Sunday Christian," I suppose. However, it is high time things have changed. I've idolized other things, rather than being focused on the things above that is of lasting value. This world and its earthly materials will not last. I need to focus on the Most High, who never changes and will always remain.
- Save money- Eeeeek. This one scares me. While I am not a total spendthrift, I don't save much of my money, either. What do I mainly spend my money on? Food (this is linked to #1). While it may be easier to save money when I get a more comfortable income, I need to start doing it now.
- Be organized, and keep my apartment clean- I have a feeling this is will be a challenge. I am, by nature, a slovenly person (I have a suspicion that it's somehow genetic). This completely contradicts everything a girl is supposed to be: clean, orderly, multi-tasker extraordinaire...let's be real, the only real multitasking I can do is watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix while eating potato chips. My mother says, "A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind," but what of an empty desk? People who work at messy areas are successful and creative, and it's been scientifically proven. If you don't believe me, just look here. But, nonetheless, no man will ever want to marry a slob, so I must clean up my act if I am to catch a husband. Which is, after all, my main goal in life, no sarcasm (that's for another post).
- Watch more T.V./movies- While this may completely contradict numbers 1, 2, and 5, and may reaffirm the fact that I am, indeed, lazy, I do need to catch up on a lot of things. I still haven't finished all seasons of The Office. I need to rewatch How I Met Your Mother before the series finale in March. I also need to watch this year's biggest contenders for the Oscars so I can make my predictions of the awards (nerdy, I know). Anyways, I have a lot of catching up to do. Plus, binge Netflixing is one of my favorite activities.
- Find my talent- *Author's note: I promise I am not trying to brag, I am just trying to prove my point and explain my situation!* I have always been smart. School has always been pretty easy for me (except where math is involved, but that's a different story). It's been a burden and a blessing. Yes, I've made good grades and I do well on tests without much preparation, and there is a great sense of pride and accomplishment in wowing your peers and family with your knowledge. However, I've been seen as this giant brain stuffed with knowledge...but little else. What else do I have to offer the world besides knowing a copious amount of trivia? I literally cannot do anything else. I can't play soccer. I can't dance. I'm not a musical virtuoso. But I can sure score well on a test. What am I going to do after I leave college? I won't have another talent to fall back on. There won't be anything else I can do. Sure, being intelligent will help me in many areas of my life, but isn't there more to me than just a brain? I'm determined to find out.
- Make new friends- Another scary one. If you read a list of qualities in an introvert, you will have an idea of what I am like. I'm not technically shy, and I don't mind getting up in front of a crowd, but people in general exhaust me. I always feel the need to "recharge" after being in a social situation. I love solitude and being alone. Besides, people irritate me, and like my dad always says, "80% of the world is stupid." Combine that with my poor social history, and you have a pitiful soul. I've always been a loner, and I was a late bloomer, socially. I was bullied in elementary school, which did nothing to bolster my self-confidence. In high school, I blossomed into this social butterfly and suddenly had more friends than I knew what to do with. Now, most of those friends have moved away, and some have married. I now only have three good friends who I keep in close contact with. Here's the kicker- none of them live in my town. NONE. As Paul McCartney once sang, "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?" I've tried to be strong and resist invitations to outings simply because I didn't feel the need to have friends, but I've found that I've dug a hole around myself that I can't get out of. So, my goal for this year is to quit being so stubborn and try to extend friendship to people. Hopefully my social calendar will be more full, although I do need some time to myself to watch all of those movies and shows...
- Write a full-length novel- Besides my large brain, my other talent is writing, but that's too closely tied to academia for me to be satisfied (I'm really trying to go out on a limb with the talent ordeal). However, I do love to write, as you all can tell by this lengthy blog post, and this is just me curbing it for your sake. I've been creating stories since I was in the first grade, writing about Sailor Moon and historical fiction (no kidding, seriously). I've written hundreds of pages, planning novels, characters, plots, everything. And while I've finished a few short stories, I have never written a full-length novel. One of my long-term goals is to be a published author, and I believe that I can do it. I have a plethora of ideas in my brain, but I just have to finally put them to paper. My goal this year is to write a full-length novel. It will most likely just be a draft, but the fact that I've written over ten pages will be a huge accomplishment to me.
- Journal/blog more- I am not good at keeping up with anything, least of all, a blog. In the past, I have attempted to write blogs, but I made a couple of posts and abandoned the projects altogether. NOT THIS TIME! I really want to keep this up. I think blogging is a great way to detail your musings on life. I also used to journal quite a bit. Unfortunately, most of my journals have been lost as my family has moved, so I would like to start that again. What a great way to pass down your own personal history to your grandchildren.
Okay, so there you have it- my main list of New Year's Resolutions. As you all can see, my basic task is this- DO NOT BE LAZY. It truly is the root of most of my resolutions. Wish me luck!
