Where would this blog be without my ambitious annual resolutions posts? As much pressure as I put on myself with both publishing them and trying to keep them, I truly do look forward to writing them and love looking back on them.

With the setbacks I dealt with this year, it was very disheartening to realize I was not keeping my resolutions that I was so excited about at the beginning of the year. Still, in light of all the good that happened, despite all the bad, I have to just dust myself off and try again.

Here’s the short and simple list of resolutions I will be keeping in 2019, with my long-winded explanations to come in a follow-up post later this month. I’ll try update this list at the end of year to see how I did with these resolutions, too!

(Note: I would like to add a little more polish to this post as well, so stay tuned for some spiffing up here and there.)Word of the year: Present, as in being present.

Measurable, concrete resolutions:

1. Read 30 books
2. Work out at least 3 times a week
3. To be determined fitness achievement: pull-up? # number of push-ups/sit-ups? #-minute plank? #-minute mile? that full split that has haunted my resolutions posts for years?
4. Watch at least 2 movies a month
5. Start journaling
6. Start meditating
7. Write at least one piece of snail mail a month
8. Spend less than an hour on my phone a day
9. Do at least one new New York thing with Ben every weekend we are in town
10. Cook one new dish a month

Less measurable, abstract resolutions:

1. Control my temper
2. Get my mental health in check
3. Keep in touch with my old friends in the DMV
4. Deepen relationships with my friends in New York
5. Make new friends in New York
6. Deepen my relationships with my family members
7. Improve my relationships with my future in-laws
8. Be mindful of my spending and personal finances
9. Cook more and eat out less
10. Talk less (is it kind, true, or necessary)
11. Speak up about what I want and don’t want
12. Try a few month-long challenges outside of Lent

Also, inspired by the Local Adventurers’s resolution to donate money for every resolution not completed, I will think of some kind of penance that will correlate with the number of resolutions I have not achieved. (While I like the idea of donating money, I can’t help but think I’ll just start allowing myself to not do things in the name of altruism…)

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Do you have any goals for the new year?

Any suggestions for good month-long challenges I can try out in 2019? A few that I’m considering are:

• Any junk food I eat I must make myself from scratch
• No social media
• No meat
• BEDA (or blog every day a different month 😅)
• Work out every day

Past resolutions: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 concrete + abstract | 2014 | 2013