Not gonna lie, 2017 was a lovely year.

There was a lot of change, some new people and I learned a lot about myself. So when seeing posts online about New Year’s resolutions there seemed to be a lot of negative stuff out there. Lots of joking about how we set these big shiny goals (true…) and then about a week later go back to what we were originally doing (sometimes true).

But, this isn’t always the case. Often we keep up really good habits, have a week or month where we go back to the older, less productive ones, but then switch back into gear and continue forward. And that’s natural.

As important as it can be to catapult ourselves into this new year, I say that we should also take the time to reflect on what went well this past twelve months and when making a list of resolutions there should be a good mix of new and old things to do and maintain.

This being the first blog post of the year, here are my New Year’s Resolutions for 2018. 

1. Read. Read. Read. Last year I read some really great books after having a long break without reading, and it felt awesome to get back into it. My goal is to pick up a book when I’m bored or would otherwise rely on my phone for entertainment. For those of you who aren’t a big fan of reading, the thing that has always worked for me is chipping away at it each night (or day depending on your style). One or two chapters a night and you can sometimes finish a book in less than two weeks. Also you don’t have to read books, it can be magazines, blogs, the back of a cereal box, whatever you’re into.

2. Exercise. After I had finished playing a team sport two years ago, I went about finding another way to keep fit and healthy in 2017 and after trying some new things I finally found a routine that exercised most of the different areas I wanted to work on. Thinking about what kept things consistent was that I didn’t have to get myself to the gym as I could do everything at home, and I made sure to workout as early in the day as I could, that way I didn’t have to think about it later on. So this one I’ll make sure to keep up with for 2018.

3. Focus. This is a newer resolution for the year and I’m applying it to a few different areas of my life. Sometimes we can get a bit lost in what everyone else is doing and forget what we actually want and what is good for us. So whilst this is a pretty non specific one, overall I’m going to try to notice when I’m getting too caught up about something or someone and take a step back. Plus with university starting again in a couple of months, schoolwork is another part of this resolution. To work hard and to try to be as consistent as possible, which I’ve realised is as simple as changing my attitude towards what is in front of me.

4. Take some risks. This was something that whilst I did earlier on in the year, it began to drop away towards the end. So this resolution is to say yes to more things and to organise more. Even if plans fall through or get changed around, that’s ok. Sometimes you just have to give it a go.

5. Schedule time to chill. Finding a way to be calm and relax for a day is an ongoing pursuit for me. On the one hand I can be very relaxed listening to music for hours on end, then the next minute I’m desperate for complete silence. So whilst they might not be the same rituals each month, I’ll try out some different stuff and see if it creates enough zen for one day. Although I don’t by any means have a jam packed schedule, overall I think its good to make time to just zone out and recharge. Because sometimes it can make the biggest difference to the day or week after.

6. This Blog! I am going to write an entry each week for this whole year and figure out if blogging is for me. Which so far, its been pretty fun to work on…

And those are my resolutions! what are yours?

xxx