It's almost 2015, and that means it's almost time to make at least one New Year's Resolution.
If you're anything like me, one resolution is never enough. I always end up with a whole page of resolutions and am confident down to my very soul that I can accomplish every one. Every new year, in my mind, comes with additional weekdays, with additional hours included; not to mention additional money to take additional classes to gain all the additional knowledge I will need for my legion of projects I'm simply sure will all be accomplished just because the year rolled up a digit.
My name is Jean, and I'm a New Years Over-Resolver.
This year I decided to do something a little different.
I spent the last several years living in South Korea. In South Korea they celebrate Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year, which was an incredible concept for someone like me. Lunar New Year gave me an second chance to make good on all of my new years resolutions. Two New Years=Two Chances to accomplish all of my insane projects!
Unfortunately one additional new year did not, in fact, give me all of the necessary tools to complete all of my wishes and dreams. But it did give me an idea.
What if I reigned in my annual resolutions to just 12 and started one every month instead of committing to all of them all year? Then I could keep the ones I liked, say goodbye to the ones I didn't, give myself a chance to commit to things for a shorter period of time and therefore increase my likelihood of success?
As I was making a plan on what I could narrow my choices down to I thought maybe there were other people like me, who overbooked and quit and would like a chance to try new things, push themselves a little farther, and maybe just succeed for once in a New Year's commitment.
This blog will be my digital accountability partner, and in addition, I hope, can be a place where anyone who wants to get involved with any or all of the mini-resolutions can jump in and out and, hopefully, chime in once in a while with what you are experiencing, how things are working out, and how these little changes all through the year are adding up to something pretty cool.
My ultimate resolution is to record here, bi-weekly, how progress is going. That one will be going all year round. But here is my schedule for the year. If you're interested, please join in! And please let me know how you're doing!
January--
Drink a gallon of water every day.
Materials Needed: I guess a gallon jug...or an app that will help you keep track of the water you're drinking...or a piece of paper :-)
Expectations: I realize that drinking a gallon of water a day is perhaps a little excessive, however I have a habit of drinking little more than my morning coffee and expecting that to sustain me throughout the day. I imagine that 30 days will be enough to level out some hydration levels and give me a chance to change some habits.
***Alternative: If a gallon a day is too much, if you started it and find it impossible, switch to a half gallon a day. The idea is just to be more aware of how much you're drinking and reaching a daily hydration goal.
February--
Be vegetarian!
Materials Needed: A grocery list and maybe a vegetarian cookbook.
Expectations: To learn new recipes and gain a new perspective-maybe even get a little healthier!
***Alternative: Maybe you are already vegetarian or maybe you think this is not possible for you. Maybe you could try
No Fried Foods for 30 days.
March--
Be gluten-free!
Materials Needed: I'm definitely going to need to do some research before hand and make sure that I have the necessary groceries.
Expectations: It seems to be working to make a lot of people feel a lot better; I know I can't commit to a whole year (or life) right off the bat, but 30 days might just be long enough to prove its benefits to me.
***Alternative: Limit your carb intake in some meaningful way. Maybe eliminate carbs from one meal a day or one day a week or something similar.
April--
Swap one unhealthy habit for one healthy one for 30 days.
Materials Needed: You know yourself. What are your unhealthiest habits? Can you swap one for a healthy one for just 30 days? Maybe it's sugar for sleep, or TV for walking, or complaining to being thankful. You choose.
Expectations: What's the point of replacing a bad habit with another bad habit? Or how can you expect to kick any bad habit without replacing it with something else?
May--1
0,000 Steps a day/5 Miles a day/35 miles on foot a week (or more.)
Materials Needed: some sort of pedometer.
Expectations: I don't imagine that walking 10,000 steps a day is going to make me a supermodel in 30 days but I do expect that it will make me more aware of my activity level throughout the day and will make me move more.
***Alternative: If you can't walk that many steps, then please just choose how many you would like to have as a daily goal and work to get those steps in. If you would rather do those miles on a bike, then just decide how many miles you want to accomplish and stick to it. The overall goal is to stick to it for 30 days-not to take on more than is possible for you.
June--
Try a class in ANYTHING for one month!
Materials Needed: Just choose a class and do it for one month. If you like it, keep it, if you don't, quit, it's only 30 days! Check online, or Groupon or whatever, some places will give 30 day trials for free!
Expectations: Just pick something you've always been interested but don't be hard on yourself about not committing to it for the rest of your life. Just be a tourist in a classroom and see what sticks!
July--
Put pen to paper for at least 10 minutes a day.
Materials Needed: Pen and paper. Maybe you'll want to get a special journal just to make yourself more excited to use it.
Expectations--With technology improving (or encroaching upon) our daily lives maybe you can't remember the last time you actually put pen to paper. Surely some people couldn't write for even 10 minutes without getting a hand cramp :-) Writing something by hand is a dying past time but it could be argued that putting pen to paper provides more careful and more cathartic results. No matter what, just try it and see what happens. Learn about yourself. Write letters. Write lists. Whatever you want to do; just do it on paper.
August--
Use your phone as a phone for one month!
Materials needed: Maybe a paper calendar and quick refresher in having face-to-face conversations :-)
Expectations: I am certainly very reliant on my phone to be everything to me. It's my access to the world, my company when I'm bored, my memory when I want to fact-check something, and a way to avoid uncomfortable silences. Once upon a time I had devices of my own imagination to solve all of those problems. It would be nice to look up once in a while and see what's going on around me.
September--
Read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book this month.
Materials Needed: At least two carefully chosen titles, they can be ebooks or paper books as long as they are books.
Expectations: Maybe that's too much reading but it's only 30 days. See what happens, right?
October--
Try to reduce waste/be more aware of the waste you create.
Materials Needed: This one will definitely take forethought. In order to reduce waste meaningfully you will have to think about what groceries you will buy, where you will buy them, where you can recycle things, and how you can dispose of food waste. Maybe you can exchange paper napkins for cloth ones, bring your own containers when buying meat at your grocery store, and taking more care in what can/can't be recycled.
Expectations: This will be in tough one (perhaps impossible) but I hope to understand just how much garbage I make in one month and get an idea of how much waste the average individual creates. I'm sure it will be quite shocking. But it's not forever! It's just a month!
November--
Cook/Make something new at least three times a week!
Materials Needed: New recipes and plenty of ingredients.
Expectations: I'm planning on working through a Korean cookbook that I bought while in Korea and trying to video blog how to make the food, a little bit about Korea and how food ties in with culture and ties in with memory.
Alternative (insane) Assignment: NANOWRIMO! Will actually send you a cool badge or something if you take this on/complete this. Maybe together, this can be our year!
December--
Volunteer.
Materials Needed: This is the time of year when people perhaps feel the most generous and there seems to be the biggest spotlight on need. It shouldn't be difficult to find a place to volunteer. My goal is to commit to volunteering at least one day a week, or four days this month, hopefully more. Maybe it will be one place, maybe four. Let me know what you decide!
Expectations: I always want to volunteer, I always tell myself I don't have time. I'll bet I'll be surprised to find out how many chances there are to volunteer and just how much time I actually have. 'Tis the season after all, right?
The point of this challenge is not to perfectly accomplish every single goal. The point is to make a real effort to expose yourself to new things and put yourself in situations that maybe you haven't before. The overall resolution represented in this list is to try new things, and not give up.
So, what do you think? Do you want to join me?
We will get started January 1st with at least two entries per week.
If you want to join, just tell me what you expect for each mini resolution as they come up and how those expectations compare with your results. Send comments, send pictures, send anything!
This year you don't have to be mad at yourself for 365 days because you bit off more than you could chew and now can't make yourself commit to anything because you can't promise to be faithful to it for the rest of your life. Just make 2015 the year of trying new things and giving yourself more chances to learn, and more chances to be successful!
And if you have any other ideas, please let me know ^^
