I don’t think I have ever really kept my New Year resolutions. Honestly, I never write them down so I tend to forget what they even were by the end of the month. I would imagine that all of them probably had something to do with eating more vegetables and less candy or working out more but I am DONE making those kinds of resolutions because I will never ever ever stop eating candy. Never.

It’s kind of like we can’t start a new year without telling ourselves or other people that we are going to eat better and exercise more. Have you noticed that? I say enough is enough. Just keep eating your Oreos. No one will judge you for it. I certainly won’t, considering the fact that when we do have them in the house, I eat one every time I walk into the kitchen. Also, unpopular opinion but the golden Oreos are better than the original ones. 

I have a couple of things in my head that I want to try out or do more of this year. The only reason why I wanted to wait a little bit after the New Year began to post about them is because I wanted to see how they were holding up. Let’s just say, they’re holding.

So, here are some things that I am looking forward to doing and trying in the New Year: 

Reading more 

When I was younger, my favorite place to go on the weekends was to the local Borders with my dad. We would get a hot chocolate from the Starbucks downstairs and then go look for some books and sit on the carpeted steps in the children’s area. I used to read SO much but as I’ve gotten older and that thing called college happened, I haven’t had the time. THAT will change. Mark my words. How? Because I am keeping myself accountable through the new 2021 READS tab on my website, which shows every book I read this year. So far, I have three down. I know that once I get back to school it will be harder, so I am cramming in a bunch right now. Follow along with my progress on the website and leave any recommendations for me there!

Learning to meditate and actually giving it time to work 

I am not someone who has a lot of patience. Because of this, I have never given meditation a real chance. I’ve either tried it once and couldn’t focus or just gave up on it entirely after doing it for two days in a row. I now realize that I just never gave it time to do its magic. This year, I really want to focus on being in the present and not worrying about things that happened or could happen. So, I want to get into meditation. I did it for three nights in a row the other week and then just stopped doing it, but let me tell you, I could already feel the progress in my head during the sessions. I just have to stick with it. If I can spend x amount of time watching Love it or List it, I am pretty sure I can set aside five minutes each day to just breathe. 

Spending less and saving more 

I have always, always been a shopaholic. I like to treat myself to some alone time while treating myself to some new goodies. I also like being able to make my own money and spend it. For example, I work at a clothing store in Boston while I’m at school and I am super lucky to get an employee discount. How great, you might think. You must be saving so much money! HA! No. I’ve probably barely made a profit considering all my money goes back into the store. The moral of the story is, this year I want to spend less money on clothes and things that I don’t REALLY need, like everything I own from Homegoods, and start making a list of some nicer things that I want to put my money toward. I am an adult now. It’s time to save up. 

Cooking new things 

When I am at home, I make myself peanut butter toast, eggs or a green smoothie. When I am at school, I make myself peanut butter toast, eggs or a green smoothie. For dinner, I rotate between the same three meals of orzo with vegetables and meatballs, rice with vegetables and falafel or taco bowls. It is TIME to switch it up folks. My poor taste buds are probably screaming for something new and exciting and not so bland. My goal is to start looking up recipes and making more complicated and different things for dinner. I am an adult now. It’s time to chef up.

If you have any easy recipes that don’t include cheese (I hate cheese) send it my way. 

Starting a dream journal 

I am someone who dreams a lot when I sleep and I have always been interested in what my dreams mean, so starting a dream journal was something I wanted to do this year. Ideally, I would’ve purchased a really cool notebook and decorated it and made it all pretty, but when I wake up first thing in the morning, I don’t have time to go get my notebook. Dreams go away fast. So I just write them on my phone. Sometimes, the more I try and remember a dream the faster it leaves my mind and it is SO FRUSTRATING. Sometimes if I wake up at 6:30 randomly and had a dream, I will write it down and go back to bed. I even had a dream that I was writing down my dreams. Who knows how long I will keep this up but for now at least, I want to document them to see if there are any patterns. I also hope to get a dream specialist on the podcast one day...a girl can dream! (ha ha)

Spending less time on social media 

The only social media that I enjoy using these days are my Twitter and my Operation Happiness Instagram. Honestly, my regular Instagram just makes me feel, bleh. So, those will be the two that I keep up with. Everything else, peace out Girl Scout. Who knew that when you don’t spend all your time scrolling, you actually have time to do things like read a real book! 

Growing even more! 

In terms of where I want this blog to be in a year from now? I am super happy with the growth over the last year - I more than doubled my readership! I am going to put these numbers into the universe so that they happen this year: I would love to see 10,000 visitors and 20,000 page views. I would love to sell 200 stickers / stress balls. I would love to hit 2,000 listens on my podcast and 100 ratings/reviews. IF nothing else, just some good old natural progression would be lovely and perfectly fine with me :)

These really aren’t super difficult or time-consuming things, but they are things that will make me feel better and give me some more ‘me time’, which is the best kind of time in my opinion. What are some things you want to do in the new year for YOU?