Most people I know make New Year Resolutions. I'm no exception to that. I'm always full of good intentions whenever a chance of a new start rolls around. Which means that throughout the year, I make a lot of resolutions. After each birthday, at the start of the summer, sometimes even after Easter...I'm always striving to make major improvements to the way I live my life. And they always fall flat. Every time, without fail. The only resolution I have managed to keep was when I stopped eating seafood at the age of fourteen. And even that is a resolution I regret sometimes, but am too stubborn to break.
I know loads of people who vow to "work really hard" and "do all their essays way before the deadlines" at the start of every term. It doesn't happen. So I'm hoping that by writing this blog post, I'm giving myself an incentive to keep them. Resolutions are all very well in your head or in a private diary, but if you don't keep them, you're the only person who knows. Instead, I'm making these very public (to all of my hundreds of readers, obviously) so that when I come to give you updates on how I'm doing, it will be that little bit embarrassing if I've been awful at keeping them!
Here we go:
- Motivation - university work, gym sessions, keeping on top of my reading; you name it, I need to more motivated towards it. Gone are the days of getting home from a lecture and getting straight back into bed with a cup of tea and my laptop. Even if I'm writing a blog post rather than doing work, at least it's productive.
- Healthy lifestyle - this consists of eating well, drinking less alcohol and more water, going to the gym (as mentioned above) and getting more sleep. The last point is the most difficult one. While I have a fairly healthy diet, always keep a bottle of water in my bag and go to the gym more often that most people expect me to, I have such issues with going to bed early. Living with your friends makes it tough to be the one who goes to bed at half ten while the others sit up in the living room, watching 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' (don't judge) and chatting. So I just need a little self-control.
- Organisation - I'm the girl who 'invests' in colourful folders, Post-it notes, hundreds of pens to colour co-ordinate things...and then never gets round to doing anything until the week before exams. This term, I am determined to keep all my notes neat and in order so that revision and essay work is ten times less stressful. Also, it looks so much better than scrappy bits of paper with half-scrawled lectures on them.
- Detox my life - this isn't just a health kick, despite my decision to drink more water and eat more fruit and veg. I need to detox my entire life, specifically my bedroom. As it stands, I have two good-sized rooms (one at home, one at uni) which are both absolutely stuffed with well, stuff. Stuff that I hardly use, hence why it spends half its life in a place I don't live. But eight months from now (SCARY), I'll have to condense all this stuff into one bedroom at my parents' house. That is currently an impossible task. So I need to start weeding out my stuff from both rooms.
So, wish me luck! I'm going to need it. I'll probably do an update at the end of the term to see how I've been getting on. If you're starting a new school or university term, let me know your resolutions in the comments! You can let me know how you do with keeping them, and then we can all wallow in self-loathing at our lack of control/celebrate our wonderful achievements together!