Happy New Year!

It’s that time of year again, welcome to 2018 and Happy New Year to you all! I don’t do resolutions because honestly I don’t really believe in them. I have, however, come up with some things that I want to work on this year and I thought that if they were public I’d have to at least make some effort or else people would think (know) that I’m a quitter. Here they are then…

Be less awkward

I’d love to be able to go for a coffee with a friend and when the person taking my order says “are you together?” (meaning are you ordering together) I’d like to not reply with “no we’re just friends” without thinking. Also I’d love to not panic and say normal milk when asked what milk I want with my drink. While we’re on the topic I’d love to be able to order food in the café in our office building and not involuntarily look at my name tag before replying when asked for my name.

Get back in shape

When I lived in the UK I used to go running before work 3 times a week and at the weekends I would often go on 15-25 mile hikes without even feeling it the next day. I’ve let both of those things slip since moving to the US and I’d like to get back in shape as I’m not getting any younger. Admittedly I have the excuse that going outside at the moment is like walking into a freezer that has a built in wind tunnel but eventually (in like 4 months) it’ll thaw and I’ll be able to get back on the road.

It’s pretty cold here at the moment

Write that novel

While this year’s NaNoWriMo was about as well planned and executed as a Presidential tweet and thus a disaster I like what I wrote last year and I want to rewrite it from the beginning and make it into something acceptable and then publish it. I’ve always wanted to self-publish something I have written. Why do I need to rewrite it from scratch you ask? Well, it turns out that writing 50,000 words in a month encourages quantity more than quality. Who would have thought it?

Go on more adventures

I used to be fun and do fun things at the weekend and do a lot of travel. Last year was not a good year for that and I aim to go on some adventures and rectify that. Admittedly the US is not known for its generous amount of vacation days so it’s not all my fault but I can definitely do better. I want to go to some new places and have some big experiences in 2018.

Do more self care

I’m really bad at taking care of my needs when it comes to happiness and I’d like to get better at that. This year I want to work on being more contented and being able to take time to myself and avoiding my phone  and being away from the world when I need to. I’d also like to go to evening classes (maybe coding or learning a new language) and expand my social circle which right now in the US is very small!

So these are some of my aims for 2018 and hopefully I’ll be able to actually do some of this stuff. What are your aims for the next year? I hope it’s a good one!