Thursday, January 04, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #22

Thirteen Resolutions For 2007

1) Exercise: My number one goal for the new year is to start going to the gym at least 3 times a week. Ideally, I would like to run and lift weights 3 times a week, and then do a couple of yoga and/or pilates classes to supplement the cardio and weight training.

2) Drink More Water: I've become lazy in my water drinking habits. My nalgene bottle has become musky and I haven't gotten around to cleaning it, and I hate wasting plastic cups at work. The result has been that my water intake has plummeted. I need to get back to carrying around my water bottle and finishing at least a liter a day.

3) Write In My Journal: In the last couple of months I've written regularly on the blog (apart from over Christmas break), but have not written regularly in my journal. They are very different mediums and I think getting back into the habit of journaling, along with blog writing, would be good in terms of my emotional health and longterm planning. Whenever I journal regularly, I have a sense of knowing myself and being on top of things that I sometimes lack when I let it slide.

4) Sleep: I need 8 hours of sleep per night. When I get less than that I start to unravel in all kinds of ways. In order to take care of myself, I am going to try to get 8 hours regardless of work and social activities. Taking care of me should come first, no matter what.

5) Communicate Regularly With Friends and Family: My friends and family are the most important things in my life, but sometimes because of everything else going on I sometimes neglect them by falling out of touch or doing things like not remembering their birthdays (I'm horrible at that). I want to be a better communicator because feeling connected to them makes me happy.

6) Remember Birthdays: Thinking about how horrible I am at this, I've decided that it should be it's own resolution. It brings me so much happiness when my friends and family remember my birthday; there is no excuse for me failing to do the same for them, regardless of how stressed out I am.

7) Get A New Job: It's funny to me that this ended up as #7, and it makes me wonder if I'm prioritizing finding a new job as much as I should be doing right now. I've hated most parts of my job since three months after starting at the firm, as all of my friends can attest to. That was over 2 years ago. I've stayed for a number of reasons and have gotten a lot out of the experience, but I don't think I want to be here a year from now. Life is too short to spend most of my days in a place that I really dislike, and that brings me so much stress.

8) Stay Motivated: My work environment is demoralizing and oftentimes nasty, and it's hard to stay motivated to make positive changes. Monday through Friday I'm often functioning at one of two extremes: Either so busy I have no time to eat, exercise, or sleep or actively blowing everything off by looking at celebrity web sites because I'm so filled with loathing and/or exhaustion. I hate the pendulum swings and my inability to maintain a healthy, focused perspective. I need to carve out time to contact people about jobs and send in applications. I need to stay motivated.

9) Cultural Events: I'm reaching now, but I would like to spend more time enjoying the cultural attractions of New York such as museums, art exhibits, and various performances. I've only been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. Sacrilege when surrounded by so many amazing museums!

10) Develop My Friendships In NYC: This is not so much of a resolution as a description of what I've been doing more of since November. Since then, I've seen how many wonderful friends I have right here in New York, and I've also met a number of new people. I've been expanding my social circle, deepening my friendships, and having a lot of fun.

11) Meditate: I've been wanting to try meditation for over a year now. All it takes is sitting down, closing my eyes, and trying to clear my mind, and yet I have not made even 5 minutes for that. I'm going to start this weekend.

12) Clear Out Old Stuff: As all of my mover-boys discovered, I've been carting around boxes of stuff for years. I hate being attached to material things, but I have a tough time letting things go, including old letters and papers, old clothes, items given to me as gifts that I never use, etc. Since moving into my new apartment I've done a pretty awesome job - if I do say so myself - at downsizing. I've donated and trashed giant garbage bags full of stuff. My new roommate has been inspirational; she gets rid of anything she doesn't use after one year. Incredible.

13) Take Another Class: I had so much fun in my knitting class, I definitely want to take another class soon. I'm torn between something fun like belly dancing or something mentally stimulating like a language or art class. Talking with one of my friends last night about Dante I started thinking about taking a literature class to read some of the classics I missed when I was younger.

EXTRA:
I'm going over 13, but I have to mention my resolution to be an awesome Auntie. I'm already an honorary Auntie for some of the special children in my life, but in April, for the first time I will be a "real" Auntie when Bean gives birth to a baby boy. I am so excited for Bean and her growing family, and I'm so happy to be a part of it.
What's your #1 resolution for 2007?





The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

All wonderful things to aspire to! Good luck. :)

Mine is getting healthy and dropping some weight. Another less vocalized one is to try to find my niche and a social life.

Anonymous said...

For #6, may I suggest BirthdayAlarm.com? It is an awesome website that sends you a reminder before your friends birthdays. It has been a huge help! Also, it won't spam you or your friends. :) I highly recommend it.

Chickadee said...

These are great resolutions. I too keep a journal and I have been terrible about writing in it. You're right...you do get to know yourself better and it's a great outlet.

My 13 is up.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the well wishes Buttercup...we'll cheer each other one with all of these, deal?

Just because of you, I went and bought myself some water. Your resolutions are good for me too!

Take care

Anonymous said...

It's hard to get rid of your old junk. I have so much stuff that I just can't bear to throw away. Every now and than I manage, mainly just to make room for more junk.

My 13 are up.

Anonymous said...

Communication is actually difficult sometimes isnt it? We want to attend more Chinese things here to get us ready for our trip to China. Good luck with those this year

Anonymous said...

Ani's new one is more like her newer stuff, I find kind of quiet and slower than her older stuff. But if you get it listen to it a few times, at first I filed it with her other new stuff that was ok but not great, but for some reason I ended up listening to it a few times and have found I really like it a lot.

Anonymous said...

You inspired me to try my own Thursday 13!!!!! Though I couldn't do resolutions... I never seem to keep them!!!! I totally agree with most of yours though - the exercise in particular... that always seems to be top of my list, and never seems to happen! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm right there with ya on #7 and #12.

Anonymous said...

Make a budget and stick to it. Not the easiest thing for me. But it will reap bountiful rewards.

I think belly dancing would be great fun. I took dance for years (5-17) and while I wasn't the best in the class, it was something I loved.

Bellezza said...

I'm not going to join you in exercise :) but I will join you in clearing crap away. Also, blogging does interfere with journaling a bit, doesn't it? Of course, I'm not quite so personal in my blog, but I've noticed I journal less since I began my blog. Maybe we can drink more water as we write!

Anonymous said...

Neat list -- I really like the part about making friends. That was one of my worries when I was thinking of moving to NYC; how would I make friends when there are SO many people there?

Good luck with the rest of it. All of it. Enjoy the museums; I wish I could go to those with you.

Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

My #1 resolution for 07 is to get all of our bills paid off. I can always find other uses for our tax return and this year it's going to our bills!

Good luck with your list.
Misti

Anonymous said...

Great list! Sounds like you are really motivated to make some changes!

And congratulations on becoming an aunt! It's great fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

Great goals!
I never remember birthdays..

Anonymous said...

you know, you can create a private journal on here, that will just be yours, if you find it easier to journal while doing other things, though if its for mental health, what good is doing other things.

How about Gatorade for Water? (thats what Im doing to change my habits in 07)

Raggedy said...

Those are some wonderful goals and I hope you meet them all!
Good list!
My TT is posted

alisonwonderland said...

my TT is things i want to do in 2007 - not exactly "resolutions" per se, but i did include your #2!

best wishes with your goals! you've got some excellent ones!

happy TT!

Anonymous said...

well u have taken up pretty positive resolution for this year....all best wishes to you...regular communication with friends and family and staying motivated are really nice and important practices....well all the very best to Bean and her family....u can drop by My Friendship blog sometime....hopefully u r going to like it...!!!

Anonymous said...

I hadn't realized you'd been there two years already. You sound so miserable. If you're that miserable, now that you're settled in your new apartment, you should start looking for another job, I think.

Don't stay just because you think you might get more experience. I did that over and over at my last job and I was so miserable and in the end, I just got burned. I had a horrible experience with my supervisor and to this day, I think I worked in an abusive work environment though I didn't know it then.

I'm going to keep you in my thoughts and prayers.