I know that you are probably sick to death with the #NewYearNewMe hashtags that seem to be flooding social media by the end of Boxing Day, so I promise to keep this relatively brief. Rather than buying into the naive hope that I’ll wake up looking and feeling like Beyonce come 1st January, I’m keen to keep up with some of the new things that I started in 2015. Often by the 2nd January, you hear of about a million diet fails, the downfall of military exercise regimes that were blatantly crazy to begin with (oh, so the 3 hour daily circuits didn’t work out then?!) and other overly ambitious tasks that just leave us all reaching for the whisky. That’s why I have heard that it is best to plan how you want to achieve your new goals to keep them realistic and also to consider starting them before or after the 1st January to avoid the unnecessary New Year’s Resolutions pressure.
Here are some of the things on my bucket list that I would like to achieve in 2016 (or at least, within my lifetime!)…
- Read more – I also read so much as a child and it is something I don’t do as often as I would like because I am always distracted by Netflix and boxsets. But I have never regretted reading or felt that it has been a waste of time.
- Continue with Duolingo in a bid to learn French – This is beginning to feel like my life’s work as I am still only as good as I was during school, but they say learning a language is the gateway to a new world (or something like that) and that sounds awfully appealing.
- Go vegan – OK, so this definitely has a touch of the #NewYearNewMe mumbojumbo. #Guilty. But someone once told me (after having been veggie for 4 years) that vegetarian isn’t going to save the world and as an animal lover and an interest in the environment this was only going to tug on my heartstrings. Who needs cake anyway? (crys). Providing I don’t fail miserably, this will mean that I can bake and review vegan recipes now, including vegan cakes!
- Continue with this blog – I started this blog because I wanted to explore things I love including baking, crafting and other creative activities and I have loved it. Even if I become the only person to read it, I have gained something.
- Travel – Yesterday I read a quote by the Dalai Lama “Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before”. I want to include travelling across the UK in this one and make it more than once a year. I say discover somewhere new every couple of weeks.
- Make the gym membership count – Again, this may sound like an unrealistic ‘go to the gym three times and only eat fruit in between working a 12 hour day, everyday’ kind of resolution, but I mean just making my gym membership worthwhile. What’s the point of going once a week, or skipping a few weeks then going twice consecutively.
- Keep in touch with old friends – After University and now starting full-time work means that it can be hard to fit in visits and calls to my old friends. Often I text them every couple of weeks, but it would be good to give them a call to show how much I appreciate them. Maybe I could combine this with travelling to new places by going to visit them?
- Save money for a rainy day – So tempting to cheat here as we live in England, but I mean keep some aside every month to put towards travelling or whatever else I want to do, though most probably travelling.
- Visit Alton Towers – I’ve literally wanted to do this for years and theme parks are my favourite place
- Watch the new Harry Potter spin-off ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ when it is out – no explanation needed, who wouldn’t want to do this?!
- Watch the entirety of The Sopranos – I have started this, but I need to get cracking if I have any hope of doing this before 2020.
- Watch the entirety of This is England including the TV series – ditto.
- Draw more – I absolutely love to draw, but I need to make more time for it and practice to get better.
- Drink more water – Our body is made up of roughly 60% water, so why do I always fill it with juice, wine, more wine, which is most probably like glue for my arteries?!
- Be more creative – I make lots of things for this blog, but this is something that I want to continue to do, because I love learning new things!
- Write a reading diary – How great is it to reflect on the books you have read and learn from them? It would be a kind of literary accompaniment to my life.
- Write more letters – the snail mail way! – The only post I get is bills, so it would be great to start sending (and possibly receive) some hand-written letters. It is so much more personal and thoughtful and it makes receiving post exciting.
- Try a new vegan recipe and post it on this blog – See step 3 and 4! I would like to broaden my cooking skills and try new things.
- Do more photography – I love taking photos on a proper camera, not just my phone. I find the whole experience really mindful, plus it means I come back with photos of my actual location, not just endless phone selfies that I end up deleting after.
- Write my diary more – I absolutely love writing in my diary, but it isn’t something I always make time for and I should. It’s therapeutic and fun.
- Visit three new places in my hometown – I’m relatively new to the area, so I should explore and get to know it better.
- Listen to new music – Listening to music you know is great, but when you want to concentrate on something else, like drawing, it is great to pick up a new album you’ve not heard before. This is how I discovered more of Bjork’s stuff. Totally worth it.
- Change my hair – I really love Christina Hendricks’ red look, which I’ve been meaning to try for a while…maybe 2016 is the year?!
- Borrow My Doggy – I have signed up, but haven’t yet applied to walk someone’s dog. It’s great exercise and I love pets.
- Try a recipe from my brother’s recipe book – My brother went on holiday to Sweden a couple of years back and made me a recipe book of traditional Indian cuisine (he was staying in a Hare Krishna village). I always meant to try some of the recipes, but I didn’t have the ingredients at the time. Time to get buying them!
- Take more baths (rather than showers) – There is nothing like having a bath with a book, candles and a glass of wine.
- Meditate more – Because it is amazing, but I need to find time to do it more regularly.
- Bungee jump – This is massive fear, but it has got to be done
- Complete a marathon
- Create a flower arrangement
- Kayaking (again)
- Climb a mountain
- Wing-walking
- Cook every dish in one cook-book – I’ll make sure it is a vegan one
- Go wine-tasting
- Go to a comedy night
- Get a tattoo
- Build a sandcastle
- Go surfing
- Have a white Christmas
- Give blood (again)
- Attend a TED talk
- Plant a tree
- Cuddle an animal
- Go to a yoga retreat
There are hundreds of other things that I would like to do, but these are a good start! I’ll revisit them later in the year to see how they are going!
Happy New Year!
Marriarty 