Resolutions (and some self-indulgence)

I have always been a fan of the New Year's resolution. Making resolutions that is, not always keeping them. When I was younger I tried to do too much and would resolve to change virtually everything. This of course, would lead to failure usually by 5 pm on January 1st.

The past few years, I have tried to focus on just one or two things which was much more successful. Last year, my resolution to have a better attitude actually stuck with me all year long! 

This year, I think I'm landing somewhere in between my two resolution strategies. My overall resolution is to "be better", but this is broken down into some very specific things that I hope I can tackle. 

1. Appreciate other people more. Quit worrying about whether they appreciate me. I know that I appreciate me, and that is all that matters. 

2. Do things when I'm thinking about them (this is kind of stolen from my friend Rachel). When I procrastinate, it just leads to more procrastinating and it ends in just feeling badly about myself. Doing the dishes when they need to be done is far less gross then doing them two days later when the sink smells disgusting. Blogging (ahh, yes, finally this post makes sense as part of this blog) immediately after finishing a book or a book club meeting is so much easier than trying to blog about something I read or met about months ago. 

3.  Write. This, you might think would also be blog related, but I'm really back to talking about life outside of my blog. I need to write a prospectus, a few IRB proposals, and a dissertation to graduate, and I need to write many manuscripts to actually get a job someday (and by someday, I mean next year... ahh, panic attack). I need to write more often and with less inhibition-- it doesn't need to be perfect the first time around, I just need to get it out there!

4. Be healthy. I had a lot of really goofy health issues in 2011 and I'm not excited about repeating them. I already feel like I live a healthy lifestyle-- I eat healthy and healthful foods, I exercise (though after the holidays and a month straight of an all Christmas cookie diet, this could definitely be improved upon), I drink water, and I sleep a LOT (I literally get 8 hours every night and not even a looming dissertation is going to change that) but things I maybe haven't done in the last year are take warning signs from my body very seriously. I need to speak up more at the doctor, quit reading WebMD and panicking over their bizarro diagnoses, and maybe I will even try acupuncture. 

In an effort to hold myself accountable, I am publicly (I use that term loosely since only like two people read this thing) announcing these... and since I'm on a roll I might even get around to blogging about the last two book club books while I'm at it! Happy 2012, kids.