On progress I’d like to make in 2015

The beginning of a new year. The time where you reflect on the last twelve months and catalog all of the good and the bad. You examine your flaws under a microscope and endlessly list the things you don’t like or want to change. We (I) forget the GOOD that we did in the year that has past (in most cases) and only focus on the bad. In the past week I’ve seen a lot of posts about people not needing the start of a new year to make improvements, and I agree with that and it’s great… but if it takes a new year to spark people into trying to correct a bad habit or make a change then let’s let them do it, because it’s better than never.

This year, let’s consider the good and the bad. Let’s try to continue or even improve our good habits, and let’s work on that other pesky stuff that’s itching at us.

I have a post half written on keeping goals and successful habit forming, but I spent approximately three hours today archiving/tagging/highlighting/etc articles for it and haven’t finished writing it yet, so for now I’ll go into the list of the (many many) things I’d like to change and the rest will come later (This also led to a half-written post on time-management and finding time for things, but I’m not complaining about more content inspiration!).

Back in mid-November I made a list of “Things I’d like to change,” it was as follows:

Goals and new habits for 2015

1. Yoga 2-3x/week, increase slowly until achieving daily practice (if not in a class then at home, don’t use no time for class as an excuse not to practice).
2. Stretch daily (related to yoga, but this is referring to more pre-contortion type stuff).
3. Maintain aerials classes and practice 2-3x a week.
4. Continue working actively towards contortion (see #2).
5. Build a lightbox for photography.
6. Make an effort to cook more at home, start slow 2-3x a week and work up to daily/almost daily.
7. Pack lunches (I am really into these trendy mason jar foods).
8. Take (good) photos of food made to inspire more cooking.
9. Blog regularly (huzzah!) – figure out my content and goals.
10. Read more.
11. Make art daily. Even if it is something small. “Create something everyday, even if it sucks.” – I forget who said this.
12. Submit skillshare projects.
13. Outline and record Skillsare class(es).

Some additional items I came up with since then:

1. Own art by all of my favorite artists (including my artist friends).
2. Do a thorough Friendventory and decide who I want to keep in my life in 2015 (I do this every year and the list gets smaller and smaller, not a bad thing).
3. Spend more quality time with friends and family.
4. Look into taking a Transcendental meditation class.
5. Walk AT LEAST 3,000 miles.
6. Learn to run/Start running.
7. Watch as many sunsets as possible (and sunrises!?)

I was typing that and wondering if I should update it and add anything but honestly that seems like enough. I started implementing some of these things (cooking, stretch class) in November but Thanksgiving and other Holidays kind of blew me out of the water (mostly on the cooking and packing lunches thing) and I need to work harder at getting back to it.

Like I said, I’ll get into some detailed ways I intend to hopefully keep these habits, but the tl;dr version is that I am going to do something I never do and take baby steps. Implement small changes rather than trying to change everything at once. Again, I started doing some of this in November and by working slow and focusing on my progress rather than just on getting everything done ASAP I ended up being a lot more successful. Slow and steady wins the race.

What are your goals for the new year? Do you have a plan on how to successfully achieve them? Comment below, I’d love to hear what everyone else is working on this year!

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Now that I’ve gone over the things I’d like to change, I’m going to follow my own advice above and highlight some things I DID change or achieve in 2014, rather than focus on some of the sadder events (breakups, etc).

1. I spent all of 2014 working on building up my website/portfolio, so that I can work on leaving my science career for something more creative (I felt that I needed to have something to show to potential employers before I started the application process). While doing this I honed a lot of my curation and photography skills.
2. I finally signed up for a Deep Stretch class. I complain constantly about my too-tight hamstrings and general lack of bendiness at my Aerials classes but never do anything about it. I finally joined this class and am making progress… very slow progress, because that’s just how stretching goes, but progress none-the-less.
3. I performed in my first ever circus show (sidenote: some of this may be NSFW, no nudity but implied sexy scenes). I have pretty bad anxiety and stage fright so this was a big deal for me. I am really proud of myself and had a ton of fun doing it. Not to mention I got so much stronger in the process.
4. I started focusing more on my mental health, finally agreeing to take medication for my ADD/Depression and anxiety (I am going to write about this eventually) and also seeing a therapist. It was hard to convince myself to go because it felt like admitting weakness or failure, but I moved past the self doubt and started taking proper care of myself, and I’m a lot better for it (my therapist recently told me I’ve made “significant progress” since starting a few months ago). Shoutout to my friend Mike for finally convincing me to go.
5. I read 56 books! I am pretty proud of this considering I started in May (after realizing I hadn’t completed a single book in 2013).
6. I started journaling everyday and stopped being self conscious about the things I was writing (causing me to become more introspective and leading to even more productive writing practices).
7. I went out of my comfort zone and expanded my social circle, going to instameets (six total last year!) in both Philadelphia and NYC, meeting a lot of e-friends and other super talented, inspiring people.
8. I did a lot of networking for potential jobs in other fields.
9. I went on a handful of job interviews. I came REALLY close to getting two jobs but because of things outside of my control I didn’t get them. I did, however, get a really motivating call from a Senior Director at one company I applied at telling me he was personally really impressed with a presentation I gave during my interview and with me as an individual. So I didn’t get the job, but I made an impression and got some really positive feedback.
10. I came up with new, creative ways to express myself.
11. I walked 2176.04 Miles! Slightly more than my 2131.11 miles in 2013! (This is an estimate because of lost steps in the shower/etc).
12. I started this blog.

That feels like enough. Y’all get it. And now that I’ve spent the last ~4.5 hours researching, drafting, and writing blog posts, it’s time to go spend some quality time with family :).

Feel free to also share anything you achieved last year in the comments!