Happy New Year everyone!
Or at least, let's do our best to make it a happy one, and our best year yet. I have to admit, I am a true believer in some good New Years Resolutions. Not everyone gets that, but I for sure know that some people out there reading this do actually feel like I do.
One thing is for sure - the first day of a new year is just another day of our lives. Yet, even if it's just another day, it feels like the best time to make a cut to some things and use this opportunity to start new habits, try new things and refresh stuff you have not been putting enough time and effort into before.
Throughout the years some things that you had once put on your New Year's Resolution List are going to feel natural to be part of your every day life, whether you realize it or not. Some you will define further over the years, about others you will realize, that you have learned better than to set this goal, because experiences taught you differently. Some will take time, some will be very easy for you to pick up on.
You've got 365 chances to make your 2017 the best you can. Try your hardest to make the most of it. Laugh, scream, cry, dance, run, kiss, fall, make mistakes, make memories, live in the moment. Wow, that was a little cheesy, wasn't it? Sorry, for that, felt right. 😝
For once I actually started thinking about my New Year's Resolutions a little earlier than usual, though that was definitely not planned. I hope I've put enough thought into them, because I really tried setting realistic goals for once. Let's hope I'll actually maintain them throughout the year. But I guess that's a whole other story that we will need to talk about at the end of the year.
1 Make better use of time
I seriously suck at this. I am the kind of person that will read a message that I am either not sure what to answer to, or I tell myself I don't know what to answer even though I'm actually just scared of stupid stuff, and leave the answer for hours. Throughout these hours I will rethink a thousand ways to answer correctly and it only stresses me out. I definitely need to stop that, and the same counts for other things I keep putting off doing. I want to work on them when they come up and need to be done, and not wait until last minute.
2 Write 5,000 words a week
Last year I set myself the goal to write one other book apart from the one during NaNoWriMo. I definitely failed at that goal, but as I always complain to myself about how I do not spend enough time writing and working on my style, I decided to opt for something different this year. Maybe a more pricise goal will work, because I have got a certain amount I need to achieve each week. 5,000 isn't that much, but it's also not too much because I know otherwise I would find way to many excuses, especially when exam season is coming up.
3 Read 40 Books
I did manage to read 30 books in 2016, which I am happy with, but I know I can do a lot more, considering that I probably used to read 30 books each month when I was younger. So this year I am going for 10 more than last year, even though I will probably have less time to read this year, but I am going to try my best.
4 Worker smarter, not harder
This point is mainly about school stuff, but I guess I can incooperate it into my daily life too from time to time. Sometimes I will start getting stressed about not having started to study earlier, and I will cramp every little thing in somewhere in my timetable to do the most possible. Sometimes, especially whilst I am studying for Maths, I will keep calculating excersices that I have already done, understood and accomplished a thousand times, instead of focusing on the ones that I actually need to work on. So this year is not about stressing myself to work harder and harder, but to do it in a smarter way without as much stress.
5 Earn & save some money
I have got a few things planned for the next few years, concerning a gap year, uni and something else, so it's only the right decision to earn and save some money this year for all of those things. I am not saying that I will restrict myself every time I feel like I want to treat myself to a little something, sometimes I actually do need things like a bunch of new jeans because I have definitely not got enough. I have never been one to spent tons of money because I really do think about whether I need that and whether it's worth the price and use, but I can still work on that, and by that make my future a little easier maybe.
6 Worry less, enjoy life
We all worry way too much in our everyday lives, and it's time that I try my best to worry a little less. It's human nature to worry sometimes, but sometimes we just need to let things happen, because I guess they always do happen for a reason.
7 One post in stressy weeks, two in all others
In the past few months I let myself go way too much when it came to posting twice a week, sometimes I posted once in two weeks. School was definitely a reason for that, but I love this blog, and I don't want school to destroy everything that I love doing. If it's definitely not doable in a certain week, okay, I'll not stress myself about it and not do a post that week maybe, but I need to stop putting it off (see number 1). This year I will try everything to do one post in stressy weeks, but two in all others, especially during the Summer break.
8 Finish things I have started and will start
I've gotten better at this, but I there are still quite a few times when I fail at it too. For example, I started trying to teach myself Swedish at the end of 2015, and I really lacked at maintaining that after the first third of 2016, even though I really want to learn it. So that's something to work on.
9 Figure what I want to do after the gap year
I've known for many years that I would like a gap year after school, but that is going to start next year. However, I have got no idea what I want to do afterwards. At the moment I am still quite sure that I am going to go to Uni, but I don't even know what to study because I have so many interests and also not all things I am interested in I will be able to get a good job with afterwards. This year I want to finally find out what I want to do and kind of decide, so that I can go away next year without worrying about what I am going to do and where I will have to apply to.
10 More Focused Workouts
Gladly, I don't have to put on here that I want to work out more or start working out, I accomplished that resolution two years ago, which I am quite glad about, to be honest. However I have been lacking a bit at focusing on all body parts and instead did whatever I felt like doing, which is mainly HIIT and Abs. So, that's something to work on this year. Each day of the week I want to focus on a different part of the body.
11 Finish the NaNoWriMo 2016 book and a second draft
Last year I had set myself the goal to write another book apart from the NaNoWriMo one, but I failed at that, because I just kept putting it off, as much as I love to write. Starting a new project on a white page can be quite scary sometimes I guess. This year I am not aiming to start another project before NaNoWriMo, though I am not even sure whether I will be able to do that this year as it's in the middle of A Level preparations, but I will try my hardest to finish the last NaNo project and a second draft. I am not sure how much of a realistic goal it is to also finish a second draft, being the person I am, but I am going to try my best.
12 Try New Stuff
Don't think there's much needed to be said about this. It's always good to step out and try some new things to incooperate into your life, so that's something else to do this year, even if it's just trying out some new foods or stepping completely out of your comfort zone to do something.
13 Explore more
I love travelling, and I did do some exploring in 2016, but definitely not as much as I had planned to do. Especially this Summer, where I will hopefully not have as much to do for School, I really want to work on this. I am very likely to take my camera on all of these trips that I want to make, so I guess you will find out when I do it on here. I've also got two trips planned, maybe three, so I am very exited for hopefully loads of pretty photography happening on here this year. Get exiteeeed!
14 Live in the moment
I am one of those people that always gets exited about thinking about her future and planning things, but I often forget to live in the moment and live every day as if it's my last one. Yes, you should think about your future in life, but we should all never forget that one it will be to late to do all of those things you want to do.
15 Worry/Stress less, enjoy life
Last but not least, I had to make that part of my goals. I stress myself a lot, especially when it comes to my time management. I really need to stop doing that because it only puts my mood down and stresses me out so much. I also worry about a lot of things like whether I said the right thing to someone, sometimes even whether I used the right emoji or whether I am buying the right bunch of sausages, and if not, what will the other person's reaction be. It's ridiculous, and I need to stop that because it really puts me down quite often. So here's to doing that differently.
16 Learn and use more vocabulary
I don't know how much it's noticeable in my posts, but I am often stuck for better words so I keep using the same ones. My English isn't horrible, but I definitely want to learn some new vocabs and also make use of them, especially on this blog, because I think that way I will be a lot happier with the stuff that I talk about and it might also help me in school.
I do realize that these are quite a few goals, but I guess some I could have put into one point, but there's a reason I didn't do that, because that would give me excuses not to do certain things and do them exactly the way I don't want to do them.
I also want to eat more healthy but I didn't think it is that necessary to put onto this list because apart from the weeks close to Christmas I don't usually eat that horrible. Bet you, next year it will be back on my list because I kept eating shit in 2017 or something haha. I love the motivation everyone finds to better themselves as people and make themselves happier by making these resolutions at the beginning of the year.
A lot of resolutions won't be completely followed, but if you even followed one, whether you realized it or not, I think that's amazing and prooves that they actually work.
If you have not set yourself some goals for this year, even if it's just one simple goal like taking more care about yourself or something, do it now. Now is the the time to do it. Not because this is like a big cut in your life but because a new year still is kind of an opportunity for a new start, and at this time you will not only find the most motivation yourself, but there are also many other people out there that are wanting to achieve the same, or at least similar, things to you.
Do you have any New Year's Resolutions? If so, I really hope that they work out for you. I wish you the best of luck. I wish everyone an amazing 2017. Let's make it a good one.
Lots of love,
Jacqueline Xx
