Resolution #5: Keep up the good work.
I think it’s safe to say that last year’s gym/weight-loss resolution was, by far, my most successful. However, it was a huge financial burden for us. So, now that we have pretty much reached our goals (and since we can’t afford the gym anymore with the wedding coming up) it will be up to us to keep it up ourselves, in our own home, without the gym and without the trainer.
Does that mean no more chocolate cake?
This will be a true test for me since I have never been this fit before and I have always let my weight creep back up in the past. But not this time. This time, I resolve to keep it down and if anything, to help it to fall even further because I’ve got a wedding to look gorgeous for and I have already ordered the wedding dress! It’s gotta fit, so I gotta stay slim. Pretty serious motivation, I’d say.
Well, that brings us to the end of my 2010 Resolutions overview. Here’s to good luck on all our resolutions, whatever they may be.
It’s still time to stop falling asleep with my makeup on. Resolution Number 4 of 2010.
“wah-wah” says the sad trombone.
As you’ll recall, this was one of my resolutions last year that I utterly failed at. Blarg. I just couldn’t seem to stop with the go-go-go early enough in the evening to get ready for bed properly, rather than just collapsing in a giant heap in the bed when I was too tired to even think about standing over a sink for 5-10 minutes.
So this year, I’m gonna try again. I think that this resolution may actually tie into the previous one about staying on top of things, because theoretically, if I can keep everything under control then there will be fewer nights where I drive myself to the point of being just so tired, and more nights where my poor skin can go to bed happy, actually able to breathe a little.
…and instead, put my life on a successful and fulfilling career path. That is Resolution #2 for 2010.
I’ve mentioned many a time how hateful I find my current job. Over the past year I must have applied for 50 jobs. But despite my education and work experience, nobody is hiring in this economy, not even entry level positions with salaries that would leave me barely able to pay the rent. It’s depressing. I should know, because I let this apparent failure on my part depress me for a good chuck of last year. I felt like I had no options available to me, like I wasn’t even hireable for the crappiest crappy job that was really no better than the crappy dead-end job I currently have. Worst was that few of the jobs I was being rejected for were even things that I really wanted to do.
So I started thinking real hard and doing some soul searching. After a while the answer became so clear that I wondered how I couldn’t have known what I wanted to do with my career the whole time. I’m going to be a Professional Organizer and Interior Decorator.
I’ve always been madly obsessed with organizing and making things more useful and functional. I’ve also always had an eye for aesthetics and seem to know when things go together and when they don’t. Looking at catalogues or magazines, I put together possibilities in my mind’s eye. In every room I enter, I look at what works and what doesn’t and how it could be made better. It’s what comes naturally, and what I should be doing as a career.
So that’s my second resolution for 2010: to stop being afraid, to take the plunge into doing what I love and to work at it every day until I have successfully established myself in the field. It’s gonna take a lot of hard work, maybe some night school, and a lot of believing in myself even when I have nothing to show for it. But if I’m ever gonna have a career it has to be started now. I just gotta remember to take baby steps until I get there.
…let the Year of Change begin!
How did 2009 go by so fast? Wasn’t it just summer? Didn’t we just move into our new apartment? The Year of Freedom turned out to be nothing like I expected it to be. Yet, it was definitely a year of growth. Looking back, I know I am not the same person I was a year ago. And I can honestly say that the differences are all for the better.
I have already dubbed 2010 The Year of Change, and so it shall be. There are two babies scheduled to arrive in our families come April. I’m going to become an Aunt (for the first time) twice in the span of one month. Exciting! Plus, of course, I’m getting married. By this time next year I’ll be a wedded woman, with a completely different last name. That thought is still taking some getting used to. If it felt like 2009 went by quickly, I just know that 2010 is going to go by even faster.
But I can’t just let it fly past. I need to have a direction and a plan for this year so I can tackle all the wonderful changes as they come. Which leads me to New Year’s resolutions. Everybody has an idealized conception of the person they could be if only: If only they weighed less, ate better. If only they were more spontaneous, or more organized, or more motivated, or more something. But is holding onto this ideal so wrong? I don’t think so. (Unless the goals are ridiculously unattainable and/or unhealthy, that is.) I always make New Year’s resolutions, and this year I’m spurred on by last year’s resolution successes.
I think it’s healthy to see yourself as a work in progress. To know that every morning, or once a year, we have a chance to make a fresh start. It’s a chance to get one step closer to that ideal person we wish we could be, knowing that having an ideal is not necessarily the same thing as having an end goal. Ideals change and grow just as we do as people. So though they can never be completely reached, they are always good to have.
So yeah, I think I’ll do the same thing for this year’s resolutions as I did for last year’s resolutions review — one a day for five days. Sound cool? Okay, then check back here tomorrow for the first of my 2010 resolutions!!
This is it, the end of the line. The last look back at 2009 before looking forward to the new year ahead.
My last resolution of 2009 was to get a “financial” life. And how did I do? Well, not so good. But not for lack of trying!! I reconsolidated my student loans (but they’re still there, looming). My employer put a pay freeze in place for 2009 (which meant no raise for me). And the gym/trainer turned out to be a huge financial investment (though WELL worth it). So, as you can probably guess, there really wasn’t any extra money floating around last year.
Still, I didn’t give up and I not only reduced my credit-card debt, but I cancelled my crazy high-rate card and switched to one with a much lower interest rate. Less interest means debt gets paid off faster! So I guess I will have to call this one another tie. I may not have gotten all the way to my goal, but I was able to make some progress.
Final Tally: Sarah – 3, Bad Habits – 2.
Well, it looks like in the grand scheme of things I was able to kick more of my bad habits than not last year, and to make some good progress on a couple more. Yay! I think I would call 2009 a successful year, resolutionarily speaking. (Is that a word? Probably not. Whatevs.)
And I’m looking forward to 2010. I’ve already decided on my resolutions for this year, but that’s a post for another day.
This brings us to my penultimate resolution of 2009: To join a gym and get in shape. So, how did I do?
I am more than proud to say that despite how may times I had made and failed at this resolution in the past, in 2009 I finally succeeded. For those who know what this gobbledy-gook means, I reduced my total body fat by almost 10% and my overall weight went down by 15lbs. So if you remember that muscle weighs more than fat, you can understand what a drastic change this has been for me.
I’m a tiny person (5′ 1″) and to drop two whole dress sizes in less than a year has been huge. And to be able to look this way on my wedding day is going to be just the best feeling in the world.
Sarah – 2.5, Bad Habits – 1.5. Score one for me!
Tomorrow we come to the end. My last resolution of 2009: Get a financial life.
My third resolution of 2009 was to take more pictures.
I think I started out strong with this resolution, but midway through the year my vigour wained. There’s probably a direct correlation between my lack of photos and my amount of stress at work, leading up to the Month of Freedom. After that, the rest of 2009 moved by in a speedy blur and just as I started wanting to take more pictures again, I realized that my good camera had broken (most likely during the move) and all I was left with was a crappy point-and-shoot that couldn’t take a sharp photo to save my life.
It was excruciating, and I tried to make it work, but it didn’t really. So I finally gave in and got my first DSLR at a Boxing Day sale. Hopefully, this means I’m gonna be taking copious amounts of photos in 2010. Just oodles and oodles.
But for the purpose of tallying my 2009 resolutions, I’d have to say this one’s a tie. Sarah – 1.5, Bad Habits – 1.5. Hmm…we’re neck and neck it seems.
Coming down to it now. Tomorrow, Resolution #4: Join a gym and get in shape.
Okey-doke. Moving right along. How did I do on my second resolution of last year, namely:
2. Stop falling asleep with my makeup on.
Wah-wah. That’s the sound of the sad trombone. Here, I am sorry to say, I was a total failure. Total. So total, in fact, that I’m putting that sucker right back on my resolutions list for 2010. With the wedding coming up, I really need to get my skin in better shape and this is definitely Step 1.
Sarah – 1, Bad Habits – 1. Blarg.
Next, Resolution #3: Take more pictures.
So, two weeks into the new year and the question still remains: How well did I do with 2009′s resolutions? Let’s break it down, one a day for the next 5 days. Before I delve in though, how about a recap?
Sarah’s 2009 New Year’s Resolutions
1. Clear my inboxes down to zero and then keep them clear.
2. Stop falling asleep with my makeup on.
3. Take more pictures.
4. Join a gym and get in shape.
5. Get a financial life.
So, after a year of working at it, how well (or poorly) did I do in these 5 areas? First up, my inbox.
Well, I’m proud to say that my struggles with overflowing email inboxes are over and my work at this resolution has been a total success. After years and years of feeling overwhelmed by hundreds and hundreds of emails just sitting there yelling at me, I finally took the bull by the horns. I developed a better labelling and filing system for my email, did a lot of kamikaze deleting of old stuff and unsubscribed from A LOT of useless newsletters. After that, it was all about slowly but surely reading through more emails every day than I received, till I had finally whittled it all down to zero.
And this doesn’t mean that I’ve become a compulsive email checker, either. I don’t answer every email as soon as it hits my inbox, or anything crazy like that. Instead, it’s more of a once or twice a day thing, generally morning and evening. And if I notice things starting to pile up, I nip it in the bud before it can balloon into an even bigger problem simply by blocking out some time and dealing with it.
So I guess that makes the score so far Sarah – 1, Bad Habits – 0. Not a shabby start.
Tomorrow, Resolution #2: Falling asleep with my makeup on.
It’s the last day of the month, and what a ridiculous month it was. Have you ever thought your hip was broken? And been under the age of 65? No? Now imagine how I felt when, at the ripe old age of 28, the doctor told me that I had a fractured hip. Yeah, exactly. Thankfully, it was a false alarm, but you can see why I’ve been a bit distracted from my blogging lately.
But it’s amazing how freeing and motivating it can be to find out that you don’t need surgery. Tomorrow, Dave and I go for our gym orientation, which means I can cross another goal off my New Year’s Resolutions. I’m actually really excited to go and start working out. I just wanna sweat, you know? I wanna burn up a bunch of calories getting my heart rate up, then go home and take a hot shower and relax.
Oh, by the way, I’m up for my dream job! After two interviews, I’m waiting to hear the final (?) word whether or not I get the job. I’m trying to think really positive thoughts. But truly, I feel like this job is mine, like this job and I were made for each other. It’s almost more excitement and anxiety than I can bare. But patience is a virtue, so I just need to stay calm and wait a few more days. Six at the most. It seems like a long time, but will probably fly by considering I have a lot of catching up to do around the house. There was a lot of stuff that sort of fell by the wayside when I though my hip was broken. Now that I know it’s not, it’s time to pick up all those dropped balls and get back on that horse! (Can you say “mixed metaphors”?)
 Man, a girl decides to take on her first freelance copyediting gig and, poof, all her lists and schedules go up in smoke! I’m sorry I disappeared, but those were two crazy, work-filled weeks. Lots of 13-hour days, not lots of sleep, and then lots of recovering; you know how it is.
Well, with that all done for the time being, I’ve had breathing room enough to take a look around. And what do I see? For starters, Month 1 of The Year of Freedom is already over. Most of it was spent playing catch-up and getting back in touch with my life. Lots of cleaning and stuff-purging and lots of getting together with people I hadn’t seen in months. There was a lot of thinking about the future going on, too.
February is shaping up to be just as busy. But this is a really good, new kind of busy. The busy of outings and social gatherings, of fun times and hard-won sleeps. Much better than the stress and strain of essays and exams, readings and homework.
And how are my New Year’s resolutions looking after this first month? Well, some of them haven’t been started yet (Good Life, you and I have a date next week.) and some of them, particularly my email mission, haven’t been going so well. Probably because I’ve barely looked at my email at all in the last two weeks, but still. I’ve got about a hundred extra emails in my inbox than what I reported having last month. I know, I know! Bad, bad!
How do people do it, not getting swamped under the landslide of emails that come in every day? Seriously, if you know some magic secret that I do not, help a girl out! I’m all ears.
Now, we all know that I love lists. I just can’t help it. It’s built into my genes like brown eyes and left-handedness. And what time of year is the ultimate list-making time of year? New Years. I know, I know. I’m a week late, but you can’t blame me because I was sick, remember?
So I’ve been thinking about what my resolutions should be this year. I don’t always have the best success-rate with my New Years Resolutions. There have definitely been times when I’ve fallen back into old habits. And other times when I really have followed through, like that year I promised Dave I would stop smoking and did. (Thanks for helping me do that, hon!) This year, I’m gonna post my resolutions here so I can hold myself accountable for keeping them. I’ll have something to look back on and remind myself of my goals.
I had to limit myself to only 5 things. Like I said, I love my lists and if I want these resolutions to be important and meaningful I need to stick to a manageable number. I’m also gonna be checking back in on these every month or so to make sure that I’m sticking with my follow-through. But in the words of Thomas the Tank Engine, “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can!” So, without further ado, here they are:
New Years Resolutions ~ 2009
1. Clear out my inbox (all the way to zero) and then keep it cleared out.
I am THE WORST at keeping up-to-date with my emails. My inbox is generally in a state of overflowing and I almost never return people’s messages in a timely fashion. I know, horrible. Now, I’ve already started working on getting things under control and have my inbox down to around 325 unread emails. (Don’t look so shocked. A couple months ago it was around 1600!) My plan of attack? Process all emails that come in every day plus a few of the extras hanging around and slowly but surely that number will keep going down. Let’s see how it goes.
2. Stop falling asleep with my makeup on!
Seriously. Every night I’m always go-go-go right until the last possible second when I’m so tired I can’t even drag myself to the bathhroom to wash it off. I usually just end up flopping in my bed, eyes still plastered with mascara and shadow, only to wake up with zits and raccoon eyes in the morning. Not cool. Time to start working some relax-time into my evenings so I can leisurely get ready for bed instead of frantically trying to cram a zillion things into my evenings.
3. Take more pictures.
I have two cameras that I’ve finally begun figuring out how to use properly, so my goal for 2009 is to work my way up to taking at least one picture a day. But taking pictures is harder than you might think. You have to keep yourself in that “seeing” mode. I’ve been in it before and when you have momentum it’s easier to maintain but putting your mind into that space when you’re out of practice takes some time and some effort. Good thing I’ve got a whole year to work towards this goal.
4. Join a gym.
And actually go! To my great shame, I’ve never been one for regular exercise. Not like I’m against it or anything, I’ve just never really had time for any sort of regular routine, what with everything else I used to have balanced on my plate. Now that the Year of Freedom is here it’s time to get into shape and lose those 20 extra pounds. Dave and I have resolved to do this together. I think with a gym partner it’s a lot more fun and you can guilt each other into going when you really don’t feel like it. Ha!
5. Get a (financial) life!
Being a university student can really put a damper on your retirement savings plans, let me tell you! But now that school is over and I’m not having to come up with another couple thou every few months I think it’s time I start taking matters into my own hands. I’m gonna find a financial advisor, start tackling my school debt and saving for a house and for retirement. I’m not getting any younger, people. Living from paycheck to paycheck just doesn’t cut it anymore.
So that’s it! What do you think? Are any of your resolutions the same as mine? Let me know, because maybe we can form a little support group!
|
Copyright While they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, please remember that all content on this site is my sole intellectual property. If you would like to use any of the words or images on your personal or professional site please contact me at: sarah@tomorrowortoday.com
© 2009-2010 Sarah Jenkinson
|
