1) My first resolution for this year is to go on one hike per month. I recently moved to the city after living in the suburbs for pretty much all of my life. I love the hustle and bustle of it and the amount of things to do. However, every now and then I feel the need to get away from it all and escape into nature. I haven’t gone on as many hikes as I’d like to last year, but the few times I have, I come back feeling completely refreshed. This year, I want to make a habit of regularly reconnecting with nature. In addition to hiking, there are a lot of parks and gardens around here. I’d also like to go kayaking at some point too.
2) My next New Year’s resolution is to read every night before bed. I already love to reading, especially fiction. Every now and then I like to read nonfiction as well, but I love the escape that fiction provides, and its ability to bring you into another world. I read a few books last year, but I found that despite my intention to read before bed every night, it was really a 50/50 chance if I would end up reading before bed.The nights that I would go on my phone instead, I would tell myself that I was too tired, or just too busy to read. What I realize now is that I was just too overstimulated. What I find, is that if I watch youtube videos as I am getting ready for bed, or worse, scroll through tiktoks, I have no desire to read once I actually get into bed. I am forming a habit now of not bringing my phone around with me after dinner time. I don’t watch videos as I wash the dishes after dinner or as I get ready for bed. This prevents my mind from becoming too overstimulated to enjoy reading. This new habit has already been working so well for me, and I find that I am excited to read every night.
3) My third new year’s resolution is to try one new restaurant per month. I love going out to eat, but I’ve noticed that after I find two or three spots I like, I tend to go to them over and over again. Now that I am in a new city, I want to make sure I am branching out and enjoying all it has to offer. This is more of a fun new year’s resolution, and I’m very much looking forward to it.
4) My fourth resolution is to master one new recipe per month. I must be a creature of habit, since, just like with restaurants, once I find two or three recipes I like to cook, I just make them over and over again. Finding and learning to make one new dish per month would definitely spice things up a bit and improve my cooking skills in the process.
5) New year’s resolution number five is that I want to Limit myself to purchasing one item of clothing per month. Lately I’ve been moving away from fast-fashion and trying to incorporate higher quality items of clothing into my wardrobe. Although these items of clothing are a bit more on the expensive side, I hope that they will last me for several years. I have really been enjoying this process, and sometimes I get a bit carried away, buying more than I need, and honestly, more than I can afford. This year, I want to treat myself to just one quality item of clothing or piece of jewelry per month. This way, I can slowly build a wardrobe I love, without breaking the bank in the process.
6) My sixth resolution for this year is to keep up with the news. I have gone through different phases in my life. There have been periods of time where I read the news every single day, and lately I haven’t been keeping up with the news at all. I want to find a balance this year. I want to be aware of what is happening in the world without feeling like I have to read the news every single day. One thing that has already made a big difference for me is subscribing to an online news source, specifically the New York Times. Before that, I used to check google news, but I found the very short articles unsatisfying, and the constant loading advertisements very distracting. I find paying a small monthly subscription price in order to have access to a reputable news source is very worth it to me, and encourages me to keep up with the news.
7) Another resolution (or hope) I have for this year is to start hosting at my apartment. Last year, for the first time in my life, I finally got my own place (I know that’s a bit sad, I’m in my mid-thirties). Before this, I’ve always lived with roommates or a romantic partner. One thing that I look forward to with having my own place is having people over at my apartment without having to check in with roommates or having to plan in advance. Although my apartment is a bit small, I think it’ll work just fine for hosting dinners and game nights.
8) Perhaps my biggest resolution is to go vegetarian for the entire year. I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now, but I haven’t fully committed to it. Commitment in general is something I struggle with, so I came up with the idea to commit to just one year of being a vegetarian (well, technically one year of being a pescatarian. I plan to continue eating fish). My hope is that this will be a success and that I will continue with this diet even past the end of the year. I just find the idea of fully committing to just one year of being a vegetarian a bit less daunting than altogether giving up meat, even if that is my ultimate goal. I don’t currently eat a lot of meat so I’m cautiously optimistic that this transition won’t be too difficult.
9) My next New Years Resolution is to ask for help when I need it. This one may seem relatively straightforward and pretty obvious, but I really struggle asking for help. I like being able to do things on my own and I absolutely hate inconveniencing people. For this reason, if there’s absolutely any possibility that I can do something on my own, then that’s the route I take. While a little bit of independence can be a good thing, never relying on your social support is stubborn and a bit silly. As long as you are being respectful and reciprocal in your relationships, I find that asking for help can even strengthen your connections. This year, I am going to ask for help when I need it.
10. Another resolution I have is to keep up with my exercise routine. Recently, I have gotten into the habit of exercising every day, and it has really improved my life. Before, when I was exercising sporadically, I actually dreaded my workouts quite a bit. Now that I keep up with my workout routine, I often crave my workouts, especially my runs. Running has always been my main form of exercise, and I do that most days. Lately I have enjoyed alternating in yoga videos a few days a week along with a pretty nature walk just to get out of the city. I try to make sure I move a bit every day.
11. Next I want to compose every day (and by every day I mean Monday- Friday). The reason I originally wanted to become self-employed is so that I would have more time to work practice piano and compose. However, between my teaching schedule, learning and recording accompaniments, and just basic “adult” things I have to do, it’s hard to establish a regular composing routine. When things get busy and I don’t have enough time for everything, the first thing on the chopping block is always my composing time. I think part of making sure I get in my daily composing time is making sure I don’t become too busy and over-schedule myself, which actually goes hand in hand with another resolution of mine.
12. This year I want to Adapt a more minimalist lifestyle. Although I enjoy nice things and doubt that I’ll ever be a total minimalist, I want my focus this year to shift away from acquiring “things” and towards accumulating experiences. There is only so much time in the day and I realize that the more money I spend on things (my particular weakness is clothing), the more time that I need to spend working. I don’t have any plans to stop shopping, but I am limiting myself to fewer higher quality items, ideally one per month. I find I tend to get stressed when I have too many things so I also plan on getting rid of old items of clothing as I bring in new ones. I’ve accumulated a lot of books over the year and I plan on just keeping a few of my favorites and giving away the rest. In the future, I will try to check out more books from the library instead of purchasing them.
13. This is kind of a frivolous one, but I want to learn how to use chopsticks. I’ve been wanting to learn this for a while. It seems like so many times I will go out for sushi, or go to a Chinese Restaurant and I’ll either have to struggle with chopsticks or use a fork. If I go out to eat in a group, someone will always explain to me how to use the chopsticks and I might make just a little bit of progress, but by the time I go back, I will have already forgotten how to use them. I finally just bought some chopsticks and I’m just going to try to use them at home every now and then. If nothing else, they will be a good excuse for me to treat myself to Publix sushi every now and then.
14. This year, I want to take a up a “social hobby.” By social hobby, I just mean a hobby that involves seeing other people. I mentioned before that I recently moved to a new city, so I think this would be a great way to meet something in addition to being something fun to do. I’ve been really inconsistent in the past with this kind of thing. I’ve always wanted to have a hobby like this, but I think my main issue was I spread myself a bit too thin. I’d sign up for a combination of classes and social sport clubs and then get overwhelmed by a combination of social anxiety, me being super unfamiliar with whatever dance class or sport it was that I signed up for, and the business of my schedule. This year, I decided to pick just one hobby, which is a weekly dance class with occasional social dances that go along with the class. So far I’ve been pretty consistent, so I really do think that the key was to just cut down on how much I signed up for.
15) My next resolution for this year is to plan a solo trip. I love to travel, but I’ve always been overwhelmed by the thought of actually planning a trip from beginning to end. For this reason, I tend to be the person who tags along on trips. I’ve actually been on a couple of great trips this way including one with my sisters to the Virgin Islands, and a few to Europe with my ex. I feel like it would be so empowering and such an adventure to plan a trip just for myself. I think I would definitely want to travel within the U.S. for my first solo trip. Some ideas I initially came up with were Charleston South Carolina and Savannah Georgia. I do live on the East Coast though so I think if I am able to find a good deal on a plane ticket, I might want to travel out West, maybe to California, or to the Grand Canyon.
16) This next resolution I am very excited about. I want to make an effort to go to more concerts, plays, and festivals in my city. It seems like during the summer, there’s always some sort of festival going on. There are music festivals and even better, there are food festivals. I want to stop letting these pass me by and actually go to more of them this year. Last year I was able to make it to Oktoberfest and “Veggie” fest which was a festival for either Vegan or vegetarian food, I can’t quite remember. There were so many great festivals I missed, so I want to make more of an effort this year. During the cold months, there aren’t quite as many events but there are still so many plays, comedy nights, and concerts to go to. I already bought myself tickets to see the ballet, Cinderella, this month and I’m really looking forward to it.
17) This next resolution is going to take a lot of will power, but I am really hoping that I am able to follow through with it. I want to get into the habit of unplugging from devices for the hour before I go to sleep. I have gotten into the habit of watching youtube videos, or tiktoks soon before I go to bed, which makes it really difficult to transition into reading. I absolutely love to read, but I find it so difficult to go from something that’s so visually stimulating, like tiktok, to reading, which requires more concentration. If I don’t have to make this transition in the first place, it’ll be so much easier to pick up a book before I got to bed. While I don’t plan on cutting back on my youtube time, I want to watch videos earlier in the day and really just unplug from everything before I go to bed.
18) Next, I want to wakeup by 7:30 am on weekdays. I am pretty good about this most days, but there are just some nights when I stay up too late and it throws off my entire sleep schedule. It an be a bit difficult to get out of bed some days since I don’t really “have” to be up for work. I am really big about my routines though and there is a lot of “work” that I like to get done before I officially leave for work and if I wake up late I always fall behind and miss out on something, whether its practicing accompaniments, composing, getting in my work out, just chores/ everyday kind of things that I need to get done.
19) This one I think is going to be the most difficult for me, I want to trade being “nice” to people for being authentic and real with people. Being nice may not sound like an issue, but there are a lot of problems that arise when you are nice all the time. One is that you disconnect from your real feelings. If all of your attention and focus is on keeping the peace in every situation, and how your responses might potentially trigger or upset the person you’re talking to, you probably won’t have any energy left over to tune-in to how you are actually feeling about a person or a situation. Another is that after a while, your relationships begin to lack depth. If you always react to everything in this nice predictable way, then nobody can really get to know who you are. You just come across as this nice, bland person, with no strong opinions or convictions, even if that’s not the case. I think if, like me, you struggle with being too nice, the first step you can take on getting rid of the habit is to discover who you truly are, even if that means filtering out the opinions of others. What do you like and dislike? What kind of behaviors are acceptable versus unacceptable- in friendships? in relationships? at work? This may seem a bit obvious, but after you really know yourself, it is easier to show up as yourself in relationships. I think the second step in the process is becoming comfortable with a bit of discomfort. Like anything, this requires practice. Try speaking up when you would normally let things slide. Create distance from someone who is constantly draining you instead of jumping to the rescue. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
20) My final resolution, and this one I am excited about, is to give myself Sunday afternoons “off.” I am self-employed and work six days a week at the moment. My main source of income is teaching piano lessons, but I also do some accompanying as well. When I first moved, around a year ago, my main goal was to take on as many students as I was able to in order to make sure that I was financially secure. I think that initially I was too motivated by fear, and ended up over-extending myself in order to make sure that I was able to make ends meet. My move came at the same time as me taking on some new financial commitments, such as paying for my own place and taking out a car loan, so financial security was definitely my number one priority. Now that the dust has settled on my move, it would be nice to actually have a life as well as time to rest and recuperate for the week. I do technically have Saturdays off already, but much of this time is spent working on accompaniments that I don’t have as much time to learn during the week.
Being self-employed often means being on a different schedule from most of the rest of the world. While I absolutely love having my mornings free, it is hard being occupied on both the evenings and the weekends, especially as I’m trying to branch out and meet new people. Giving myself Sunday afternoons off will allow me to get on a somewhat similar schedule to the rest of the world and will give me time to rest and recoup for the week ahead.
