Happy New Year!! and My Top 5 Resolutions for 2019!

Yep, I’m climbing up on the new year post bandwagon for the first time.  This is mainly because if 2018 has done anything, it’s show me a few places I need to put in some work. Also because, you know, I haven’t posted anything in a while and…new year – new beginnings, right?  (Spoiler alert: this may or may not be on my goal list below….)

I am going to skip over the lose weight/eat healthy/exercise more-style resolutions (though that’s definitely on the 2019 agenda because who am I kidding?) in order to focus more in the mental health, happy mind/happy life direction because, well, it needs to happen.

So let’s get this little party started, shall we?

1. I resolve to be a better friend.

I will be making a more detailed post about this in the near future, but for now I will say that 2018 kind of kicked me in the face when it comes to the kind of friend I am.  Past hurts, anxieties, just being a general slug at friendship….all these things contributed to my failure at all things friendship, but it boils down to this….everyone has issues just like me.  Some less, some more.  The difference is that I’ve allowed mine to control my life for far too long.  I’ve used them as an excuse.  I’ve curled up and cuddled with them because it’s comfortable when I should have been waging war against them. 

Pardon me, but fuck comfort.  Because you know what came slapping me in the face in 2018?  That comfort isn’t quite as comfortable as I’ve made it out to be in my mind.  It’s lonely.  It’s sad.  It’s defeating.  It’s an excuse to be lazy because quite frankly, I’d given up.

So 2019 will start with me giving some apologies to friends that deserved better.

2. I resolve to keep a gratitude journal.

I picked up this cute little planner at TJ Maxx a few weeks ago for less than $10.  You can’t tell in the picture but the stars are gold and they shimmer when they catch the light and I thought that was perfect considering in 2019, the sky is the limit!  (So cheeeeeesssssyyyyyy!!!) 

My fixation with a planner started with these amazing little bullet journals I’ve been obsessed with for the past few months. 

What is pictured above is not mine.  (Check out @journalwithpurpose on IG for most of those!)  For those of us a little less artistically gifted who want to be a part of this whole journal life, might I suggest something like the planner I picked out.

This little planner includes motivational messages at the start of each month beside the month-at-a-glance page that I plan to fill with my daily fitness achievements (because this isn’t a healthy living post, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have plans!).

Most importantly, it includes a neat little pre-boxed area for each individual day.  This is where I will write all about my gratitude.

People do these journals for lots of reasons.  I chose gratitude specifically because I’m working on living a more happy, kind, and positive life. 

For about six months now I’ve been posting daily quotes, images, and motivation on Instagram (follow me by clicking on the link provided!) so that’s where it originally started, and I’m trying to build on that with the journal.  It’s a great way to focus on the positive things going on in my life as opposed to the negative.  Let that negativity float right on by!

3. I resolve to write more.

Writing is something that has been difficult for me.  It’s something I want so badly to do, but I just don’t force myself to sit down and do it.  Instead I tell myself it’s hard because I have writer’s block and I eat a twinkie.  Or something like that.

Whilst picking out my sparkly new planner at TJ Maxx, I happened upon a few notebooks I thought should belong to me and so now they do.  (I’m telling you, if you’re in the market for a planner or a notebook, TJ Maxx is the place to go.  The smaller notebooks were $5 and the larger was less than $10!)

These will be filled with something.  I’m not quite sure what yet.  Stories?  Journal?  Affirmations?  Free thinking?  I’m baby-stepping my way through this one resolving to put words to paper.  That’s my goal.  I have lots of papers.  I need lots of words.

4. I resolve to blog more.

You want to know something I discovered in 2018?  It’s kinda hard to have a blog without actually blogging!  (I know…what a year of revelation.)  One reason for that is because I haven’t been doing anything noteworthy.  No traveling, no exercising, no personal development.  I mean, it’s sad but true.

So along with my resolution to blog more, I guess I should add that I will also be doing more, because in order to blog I must do.  Life is kinda funny like that.

5. I resolve to take more pictures.

I bought a brand new camera last year (that I saved up credit card points to purchase for somewhere around 14 years) and no living person knows about this because it has sat on a shelf since it arrived.  The absolute fail in that fact alone is astounding.

So this year I’m going to break out the ol’ (brand new) Canon and I’m going to go some places and I’m going to take some pictures of those places!  I’m going to do some things and I’m going to take pictures of those things!  Then I’m going to share those things with you guys, hence helping me to achieve Resolution #4.  It’s a win-win!

And to prove the camera does, in fact, exist, below are a few of my favorite pictures from the lone trip Mr. Canon got to take.  Maine!