Resolutions & Predictions

This is something I do annually with my best friend. (The list from last year can be found here.) My best friend and I grab some pizza and talk through the previous year. We talk about what we've accomplished, if it met what we hoped and expected, what the big things, whether they were good or bad or something that happened. We list out our resolutions and predictions for the coming year. It's therapeutic. It's a reminder. It's something of a guideline. It's how we can see potential in the next year. And well, it's tradition.

Here is mine for 2019.

PREDICTIONS

1. You'll get more tattoos.
2. You'll recommit to yoga and movement.
3. You'll see more of the world. 
4. You'll learn what it means to take better care of your body.
5. You'll find a job worth staying at for a while.
6. You'll laugh more and worry less.
7. You'll find art again.
8. You'll stay single. You'll fall in love with yourself.
9. Your health will deteriorate. It'll be OK though.

RESOLUTIONS

1. Stop living in fear. Stop living in this mindset of lack, of absence. Start living with the mindset of plenty, of abundance and bounty.
2. Live for yourself for once. Your existence shouldn't be an apology. Your life wasn't meant for chasing others. Please internalize your value. Let it glow.
3. Figure out your relationship to your lupus. Whether that is through writing or art or therapy. Please stop hating yourself.
4. Move towards a waste-free lifestyle - as much as you can.
5. Come home to art.
6. Travel. Open your eyes again. Open your heart to the world.
7. Reassess your relationship to alcohol and weed. Learn what it means to live with yourself without apologizing, without so much fear and anger.
8. Save $15,000. Have a total savings of $30,000 by the end of the year.
9. Pay back the kindness you've been given. Save a bit of money each month to do something nice for the people in your life; an experience to share. 

GOALS

A new edition this year. Goals are different from resolutions because whereas resolutions are overall life habits and thought patterns that can be changed, I think of goals as tangible things, events and decisions I can and will apply to my real life. 

1. Try the complete Whole30.
2. Make it through two 30-day challenges.
3. Make reading before bed a thing.
4. Produce at least one piece of art a month.
5. Find a community or a circle or event outside of what you know now. Meet new people.
6. Get your license.
7. Plan two big trips and some small trips.

Resolutions & Predictions

I've been doing this thing with my best friend for the past few years. At the end of each year, we do a round-up of the year. We put together our resolutions. Pretty typical stuff. We also do a predictions list- what are the good and bad things we think will happen to us this year. Here's mine.

PREDICTIONS
(This year, I decided to be more optimistic with my predictions. The key is to start the year off with some optimism. This is also part of my resolution this year.) 

1. You'll get more tattoos. 
2. You'll recommit to yoga.
3. Your body will continue to deteriorate.
4. You will get a job at an agency. 
5. You'll continue to prioritize travel in your life. You'll travel more. 
6. You'll meet someone worth dating. He'll be good for you.
7. You'll take better care of your body. 
8. You'll find more light in your world, and in yourself. You'll change your thinking/perspective.

RESOLUTIONS

1. A ride-or-die love.
   To stop settling for love/relationships that are anything but extraordinary. To stop letting loneliness and boredom dictate the level of love I feel I deserve. To quote, "There are so many mediocre things in life. Love shouldn't be one of them."
2. No fast fashion.
   See how long I might last with this challenge of no new clothes. See how I might react without this avenue of stress spending; reaction. I am still allowed to shop vintage and/or local. Some exceptions to this rule: jewellery, shoes and homeware.
3. Try Whole30 once. 
4. A year-long commitment to yoga (and meditation).
5. A commitment to health, and taking better care of this body.
   I want to cut out the unhealthy junk I put into my body. I want to learn how to manage my gut health. To drink more water. To manage better sleeping patterns. I want to try a less meat-heavy diet.
6. Learn not to overextend myself.
7. Be more conscious of the negativity I put into the world.
   How do I think more positively?
   How do I become a better source of light?
8.  Take a trip. Take trips. 
9. Don't forget your friends.
   Maintain your relationships despite your busy schedule. Put time aside for the people in your life so they will stay people in your life. Make time. Place value on these relationships.
10. Move towards vegetarianism. 
11. Control your drinking habits. Reassess your relationship with alcohol. 

New Year Resolutions [DRAFT]

1. A ride-or-die love.
2. Stop shopping fast fashion.
3. Try Whole30 once.
4. Learn not to overextend myself.
5. A year-long commitment to yoga.
6. A commitment to health.
7. Take a trip. Take trips.
8. Don't forget your friends. 

Writing Prompt

1. What's one thing that's happened to you that has made you a stronger person? 
2. What's one thing that's happened to you in your life that made you feel weak? 
3. Where is one place you feel most like yourself?
4. Where is your favourite place to escape to? 
5. Who do you think has had the largest influence on the person you are today?
6. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? 
7. If you had one day left to live, what would you do first?
8. What decade do you feel you most belong in?
9. Who are you closest to in your family? Why?
10. Who is the one person in this world that knows you best?
11. What is your favourite quality about your best friend?
12. When you were younger what did you think you were going to be when you grow up? 
13. If you could identify with one fictional character (from a book, show, or movie) who would it be?
14. Do you easily accept compliments? Or do you hate compliments?
15. Is your favourite attribute about yourself physical or non-physical? 
16. What is your favourite physical attribute about yourself?
17. What is your favourite non-physical attribute about yourself?
18. Do you believe in love at first sight?
19. Do you believe in soulmates?
20. How seriously do you take horoscopes?
21. Have you ever been in love? How many times?
22. What makes you fall in love with someone?
23. What does vulnerability mean to you? What has the ability to make you vulnerable?
24. What's one thing you're scared to ask a man, but really want to?
25. If you were a man for a day, what would be the first thing you do?
26. What do you find most attractive about each sex?
27. What's one thing you'd love to learn more about?
28. What is something you've never done that you've always wanted to do?
29. Why haven't you done it yet?
30. If money didn't matter, what would your dream job be?
31. If you had today off from work, what would you do?
32. What was the last thing that made you cry?
33. What was the last thing that made you laugh? 
34. What is your favourite memory?
35. What's the last thing that really embarrassed you?
36. What is your biggest fear?
37. Do you have any regrets? What's your biggest one?
38. What is the craziest thing you've ever done?
39. Would you have a conversation with a stranger?
40. What's your favourite joke?
41. If you could be any animal, what animal would you be?
42. How do you think your parents would describe you as a child?
43. If you could go back to any age or time of your life, what age or time would it be?
44. What's something you believe in that not everyone else does? 
45. What's one thing you would say that makes you unique from other people?
46. What is one thing you feel your life is missing? 

Outgoing and Incoming

Here is a collage of some of my favourite things and people in 2015.

 

And here are my resolutions for 2016:

1. Start a 'peaks and valleys' practice for each day.
2. Practice yoga more consistently.
3. Learn to be more patient. Continue to learning kindness.
4. Continue my creative endeavours.
5. Travel.
6. Surround myself with The Good People.
7. Save more.
8. Minimize my life.
9. Meet people. Be honest with them.

Included in the above are photos from the past year. Mishi, Griffin, Sarah, Charlotte, Evasha, Devonte, Nefisa, Sierra and myself are all pictured. Other things pictured are: a sunset from my favourite park, my alma mater, our 247 house, and another sunset from the balcony of my brief May fling.