I believe in New Year’s Resolutions. I believe in fresh starts and new beginnings. One year has passed and no matter how wonderful it was, there were always lessons to be learned along the way. When a new year is upon us, I always take a solid look at my life, my attitudes, and my behaviors and think about what things I’d like to leave in the old year for the good of the order. I make promises to myself to change things that I don’t like or that I don’t think suit me and my life anymore - and I when I make promises, I make damn sure to keep them.

This year, my resolutions to myself come in two sizes and levels of importance. There are a few smaller, less significant ones that I’d just like to incorporate into my daily life, and one large and very important goal that I’m setting for myself to improve the general quality of life for me and the ones I care most about.

To start, I thought I’d share some of my smaller goals for the new year. Maybe some will inspire you to make some healthy changes around you, too. Let me know below -

1. Get back into the habit of doing Blogilates at least 4 or 5 times a week. I felt so much healthier and happier when I was getting regular exercise. Plus, who doesn’t like fitting in their clothes a little better, too?

2. Floss more often - at least a few times a week!

3. Drink more water. I’m way behind on my 8 glasses a day. I’m aiming for water to be largest portion of liquid in my diet by this time next year.

4. Be generally more patient - in crowds, lines, and conversations.

5. Keep this blog alive and well and hopefully continue to grow my audience. I have so many goals for myself with this one already set and I won’t give up on them in 2019.

6. Keep doing regular meditation and other self-care things that I love and enjoy, like bubble baths, and listening to the Harry Potter audio book.

7. Get back into learning German. I really would like to finish the entire Duolingo course by the end of the year.

My final and largest New Year’s Resolution is one I’m quite proud of. Last year, I aimed to give new things a try and expand my horizons. That’s why, since I was in a lovely new relationships, I decided to make my resolution to try everything that Ethan introduced to me, even if it was something I wouldn’t have normally done. With this mentality, I experienced so many incredible things and discovered all kinds of new favorite foods, restaurants, and more that I wouldn’t have ever given a second thought before him.

This year, along the same lines, I want to try and get out of my own head a little and grow as an adult. This has been the year of overcoming things - anxiety, fear, change, and worry. But I still feel like my past experiences with food, activities, and social interactions have seriously limited my happiness and the list of things that I can truly enjoy today.

So, with that all being said, my 2019 New Year’s Resolution is to give everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING, a second chance. Be it people who have hurt me before, or food I thought I didn’t like when I was younger, or even silly things like going out drinking on the weekend, which I wrote off during college. I am promising myself that if I decided before now that I wasn’t a fan of something, and the chance to try and experience it again comes around, I’ll give it a second chance to change my mind.

I imagine that there are a ton of things that I once had a negative opinion of that 25-year-old me would have a completely different opinion of now. Who knows, maybe you’ll find me in shoulder pads this time next year? But either way, I’m going to find out.

So, there you have it. The goals I’ve set for myself in the coming year. I know I won’t be able to accomplish everything I aim to do between now and 2020, but I believe in the power of setting goals for yourself.

What about you?