I'm never one to shy away from an opportunity to make changes. I love setting goals, I love fresh starts, I love feeling like I'm making tangible progress in my life. And although I constantly set new goals for myself, that doesn't mean I'm above tradition. No sir. Love me a good New Year's Resolution.

These are mine for 2016.

1. Maintain Perspective

Just with everything. Every single aspect of my life. I'm pretty good at rationalising things and dealing with stress, but I'm also an extremely dramatic, excitable person with a very vivid imagination, and prone to anxiety as well as becoming slightly manic with enthusiasm, so ya I guess u could say keeping myself in check is a necessity. I'll let you know later on in the year when I've figured out how best to do this, but essentially I'm just going to try and be conscious of when I'm getting carried away, in good and bad ways. And make sure I'm doing all the things I should be doing. Just keeping my head on straight. I'm explaining this terribly but I know exactly what I mean (I picture the inside of my head as a clear blue sky w/ bird sounds if that helps) and that's what counts.

2. Write More

Dedicate more time and energy to writing creatively and working on bigger projects, which I really neglected in 2015.

3. Keep Exercising, Go To Classes

2015 saw the unexpected beginning of my life as a person who exercises, and while I don't see myself ever going back to the sedentary life I do also want to keep moving forward and pushing myself, and I especially want to start going to classes to keep things #phresh. Sack yoga here I come.

4. Put More Energy Into Music

This is something I've done on and off throughout my life, and I've realised that although sometimes working on music is all I want to do there are also times I really let things slip, so it'll take conscious effort to keep that level of work consistent.

5. Go Screen-Free Once A Month

A few years ago my godmother wrote this book about going completely screen free - so no computers, TVs, phones etc - for six months, and although the limited exposure I had to that experiment was more than enough for me at the time, the concept has stayed in my mind. Every so often I like to rip myself away from technology for a bit just to clear my head and keep my priorities in check, and I want to make an effort to do that at least once a month this year.

6. Make Active Steps Towards A Career

As a classic INFJ (Myers-Briggs haters u can fight me) I'm one of those people who wants to do so many things that they never really make any tangible steps towards any of them, and that is ending now. I'm never going to just choose one, because there are a lot of things that are genuinely very important to me, so I'm just going to have to work out how to do them all. It's going to take a lot of effort, but I think I can do it. Building a career that suits me personally is something I regard as incredibly important, and that's not going to happen on its own. So let's get a wriggle on.

7. One Big Monthly Goal

Every month I want to pick one thing I've been putting off out of fear and do it. I mentioned this concept in more depth in this post, and I'm really looking forward to challenging myself to get out of my comfort zone as a regular habit.

8. Finish What I Start

I am such a massive procrastinator and perfectionist by nature that actually getting things done is something I've really struggled with, but I made some big steps in 2015 to move past those instincts and I really want to solidify the good habits I've been working on creating in 2016.

9. Set Regular Goals & Stay Accountable

Big fan of using specific, achievable weekly/monthly goals, as well as daily to do lists as a way of keeping track of what I should be doing vs. what I actually am.

10. Make Time For Little Things

There are a lot of important smaller things like reading and meditation that I tend to forget about, so I want to incorporate them into my daily routine.

11. Do Not Base Decisions On Other People

This is a big one for me. I obviously don't mean this in a selfish, insensitive way, but more in the sense that I do have a tendency to tailor my decisions to the needs of other people. Especially boys. And I do not wish to do that as a functional adult.

12. Finish At Least Half My 25 By 25 List

My 25th birthday is terrifyingly now two years away so I'd say this is pretty fair. Once we've moved I'm going to print out the list and hang it in our new place so I stay motivated, especially since there are quite a few long-term goals on there that will require consistent work.

13. Sort Out My Diet

I don't want to GO on a diet or make any huge drastic changes, I just want to be more consistently aware of what I'm eating so that I can make sure I'm balancing out things I love with all my heart (mac & cheese love u boo) with slightly healthier options that I also love but tend to forget to have in the house. In 2015 I sorted exercise, in 2016 we'll get nutritionally responsible. All about feeling like I'm taking care of myself properly and staying accountable.

And not dying of cardiovascular disease at the age of 32.

So those are my resolutions, gang. There are obviously a lot of other things that I want to do, like traveling to specific places and working on new projects, but I know I'll do them regardless so they seemed like a bit of a cop out to put down. I like my resolutions to be geared towards genuinely helping me develop better habits and grow as a person, rather than things I can fail just by having an off week. Are you the same or do you prefer having one or two specific, strict ones? Hit me up, especially if you've done a post or video on your resolutions because as I said, I'm always up for a goal or two. 

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