Most people try to start the new year by saying they will be better this time around.
"I'll drink more water!"
"I'll lose the weight!"
"I'll rule the world!"
And these are great things to aspire to. New beginnings are a flame that set new hope ablaze. That is a great thing. Self improvement is important, otherwise we would never grow as people and we would be stuck in a never ending adolescence. Which sounds terrible to me. So even though each day is a new day, and we should never hold back from setting new goals for ourselves, I too have some ideas for this year ahead.
So this year, I have some very specific plans on how I want my life to change and grow, so that I can be better. Come September, I will be 25 years old. A quarter of a century. And these 25 years have been filled with my growth as a person, and I want that to continue for the next 25. I have a plan of action and I want to see it through. And though some of these resolutions are not directly attached to the plan, they will still help me on my way to being the person I want to be.
#1 Read or write for an hour every day
I have always loved reading. I've been back into it lately, thanks to more free time and some good books. I also joined GoodReads (https://www.goodreads.com/), an app that helps you keep track of books you've read and books you want to read. You can also set goals for yourself on there. My goal this year is to read 125 books. And I've already gotten a good head start, I've finished 8 books since the 1st! If you want to follow along with what I've been reading, join the app! Add me as a friend: Gretchen Collins
Writing I actually just thought of today (Better late than never). I have always loved writing. I used to do it regularly for school and on the side for fun, but I haven't for a while. I also used to keep a journal, which I didn't ever do with any regularity, only remembering to write 2-3 times a year. I did get better at it when I started therapy, it was recommended and it does make me feel better to document my life; from the fun and exciting, to the sad and mundane. So between here and my journal, I want to write more.
And a secret that the majority of people don't know is, I want to be a writer. It isn't practical, and certainly isn't something I can devote the majority of my time to, but it's something I've always thought of. Teachers from elementary to high school would always joke that I would be a writer someday. In fact, in 3rd grade, I got recess detention for a whole week because I wouldn't finish a writing assignment and the teacher wouldn't accept it unfinished. It's not that I wouldn't finish it. I tried! I wrote all through recess all those days, and when I got up to more than 20 pages, my teacher said enough and gave me an A. But I was more upset that I had to go back to recess instead of getting to finish.
I have a few ideas for books, ones that I have worked on over the years, some I've only written a few pages, but one I've been working on the longest has over 70 pages in MLA format. The only person who's ever read what I've wrote is my friend Anna, but I'd like more people to read what I have to say. I want to write a book so good it makes my reader sad when it's over. And hopefully someday I can do that. And reading and writing more can only help.
#2 Go back to school
I have had a hard time with education since leaving high school. I have changed my major, changed school, changed a lot, and still I haven't settled on anything. I have a vague idea as to what I would like my day job to be, but it involves a bachelors degree. Which I have always wanted anyway, but apparently not enough to achieve it by now.
The one class I really enjoyed in college was my Occupational Safety and Health class, which of course focuses on OSHA law and what we as a country don't allow in our workplaces. There are three different classifications you can go into to get this degree, but I have already eliminated one, safety engineer, which deals more with the mechanics of the machines people use. That is not for me. Which leaves the other two, both of which I could see myself doing, OSHA inspector or Health inspector.
OSHA inspectors go into workplaces and make sure conditions are safe for employees, which I am passionate about as an employee who has been hurt on the job far too many times. As for a health inspector, my mom use to be fish fry captain at our church when I was younger, so once a month on Friday, and every Friday during Lent, she would be in charge of cooking food for sometimes as many as 900 people, average about 600-700. So every year she would have to take a ServSafe class so that she knew how to do everything properly. The week leading up to Fish Fry, there was a lot to do, so I would get brought along to do my homework at an empty table in the kitchen and she would work, and I would ask questions. Learning about proper refrigeration and storage, about internal temperature and general food handling. And then when I was done with homework, I got to help, and I had to make sure I followed the rules too.
I like situations that have set rules, they help my anxiety, because I know what needs to be done. And I strongly believe that following the rules in the workplace to keep your employees and the community you serve safe is very important. And that's what I want to do.
#3 Save money
This was a resolution I came up with a few months back. Since I got hurt at work in October, I have been working a lot less, and things were tight for a little while, but we got through thanks to our savings and good credit, but now we need to rebuild for next time. I have a budget spreadsheet that I update about once a week, keeping track of which bills come out when, and what we need to make every month to cover everything. Then under that I have a place to keep track of how much we set aside each paycheck. Ben, my husband, and I get paid on different Fridays, so we will hopefully get to set something aside every week, and so far we have. Yay! Just got to keep it up.
#4 Work on our debt
As far as the terrible debt situation most people our age find themselves in in this country, Ben and I are lucky. We have debt, yes, but we can handle it, and that's a blessing. We already have plans to use our tax money to pay off our smallest bills, so we will owe to fewer people. And our car payment and mortgage aren't going anywhere for a while, but during our money trouble, we relied on our credit cards more, and now we need to work on paying them back. There's also a spot on my spread sheet for that. The plan is when our savings reaches $1,000, we will pay off a large chunk of the bill, but not all, because credit card companies don't want that, they want you to owe. But this way we will still get our rate down. And then the next time we reach $1,000 in savings, we will pay more to Ben's dad for his car (We had to get two new cars last year, ugh!). Then once Ben's car is paid off and our credit is back in check, we will apply this system to different things, like my student loan, my car, and then paying back the mortgage faster. Then we can start planning for some fun!
#5 Lose the rest of the weight
My last years' resolution was to finally lose weight. Anyone who knows me knows this has always been a problem. Fat kids grow into fat adults if you aren't careful. It took a while to figure out what I needed to do to lose weight, but I've got diet down now, and as soon as this injury is healed, I will get more active.
Since May 15th, 2019 I have lost 100 lbs. I gained a little back with the holidays, but who doesn't put on a pound or two during that special time of year? But I can happily say I am back down now. And on January 31st last year, I took a picture of myself to know where I started, and I plan to share my before and after on the 31st of this month.
I use Lose It! (https://www.loseit.com/) to track my calories and other things. It's set up kind of like Facebook, where you can add friends and follow each other's progress, but it only shares with others what you let it. I have been on there since 2011, but this year I paid for the premium that has many more features to really help myself, but even the free version is great. I'm Gretchen Collins on there if you want to add me.
A feature of the app is once you have tracked for 7 days (and remembered to slide over the "I'm done logging" switch) it will tell you approximately when you will reach your goal based on how you've been eating and exercising. For a while now it has been telling me that I should be able to reach my goal by September of this year! And I want that. So much.
So that's it, my resolutions! I hope they help me along this year so that come 25, I'm good to go. Comment what your resolutions are and how you're planning to achieve them down below. Thanks for reading!
-Gretchen
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