Tag: new years

Why New Year’s Resolutions don’t work

Published on by AliciaLeave a comment

We’re just about finished with January and almost everyone has already given up on their New Year’s Resolutions. Whether you made a resolution to eat better, lose weight, read more, go to bed early, etc. most people [80% of us] have already given up on our resolutions.

I think resolutions are funny. I make them, I won’t lie, but year after year we fall short on achieving our New Year’s goals for a variety of reasons. There are simpler ways to reach these goals, but people think just because they write them on their whiteboard above their desk that they will achieve them. Whether you’ve made no progress on your goals or have decided to give up completely, here are a few ways to actually achieve your goals, whether you start today, February 1st, this next Monday, or in 2021.

  1. Set attainable goals: A goal to write a book when you’ve never written more than 5 pages for a school paper is not realistic. Setting smaller, more attainable goals like writing a short story or planning out that novel you’ve dreamt of writing allows you to still make progress on your lifelong dream but they’re less daunting and you can 100% complete them and be happy with your success instead of being upset that you fell short on writing a whole novel.
  2. Don’t make tons of resolutions: The biggest mistake I used to make [2018 Alicia was far too ambitious] was to make 8-15 resolutions for the New Year. I could only focus on one or two of these resolutions and would get disheartened when I would fail the rest even though I was making progress in some areas of my life which was in fact, still progress.
  3. Make a plan on how to achieve these resolutions: Making a resolution to “Go Vegan” is so unrealistic it’s not even funny. I remember when I went vegan, it was hard. I ate fruits, veggies and protein bars [and Chipotle] for the first few months because I had no idea what I was doing. After hours of research about going and eating vegan, I was able to incorporate a variety of vegan foods into my diet. For larger and longer-term goals [getting healthy, learning a new hobby, etc.] you have to research and make a plan to achieve these resolutions if you want them to work out.
  4. Check-in on your goals every so often: Ever two weeks I have an event in my calendar that says “Resolution Check-in” where I look at what I’ve been doing, see if it’s working or not, make changes and sometimes even change the resolution as a whole. You won’t be the same person in March as you were in January and it’s okay to make those changes accordingly.
  5. Realize it’s okay to have setbacks: When you’ve been eating unhealthily or drinking soda or whatever for YEARS, you are going to have a setback or two. Realize that it’s okay. Don’t beat yourself about it and try to not do it the next time you’re tempted.

Finally, remember that completing a New Year’s Resolution doesn’t occur overnight. So many HUGE resolutions will take months if not the entire new year. Take it slow and you can [finally] achieve your New Year’s Resolution[s].

❤ Alicia

New Year’s Resolutions Update

Published on by Alicia2 Comments

Hi everyone, the year is somehow already ⅙ done and I really wanted to see how on track I have been with my resolutions to see if I have to make any improvements or to see if any of you have forgotten about your resolutions and to kickstart the both of us. Let’s see how I’ve done

  1. Blog consistently: I am doing rather well with this one. I have posted on average one post every other day, and if not one every three days, which is really an improvement for me.
  2. End the year with at least double the posts I have now. This is my 30th post of the year so hypothetically if I continue at this pace I am at, I should surpass my goal of 143 (the number of posts from 2016) with flying colors.
  3. Connect with more Bloggers: I haven’t been fabulous at this but I definitely have met more people which was my goal
  4. Take quality pictures: The posts that I have used pictures in have been good, but a lot of my posts haven’t needed photos so this is one I’ll have to come back later for.
  5. Read: I have started reading every night before bed instead of scrolling my phone so I have read quite a few books this year and I am super proud of myself for that
  6. Learn something new: I still don’t know what and I don’t know when, but I will learn something
  7. Move into the basement: Our basement flooded so we had to tear up our carpet, and under our carpet we found asbestos tile so we have to get that removed but once we do that, we are getting the basement recarpeted and then I will move down there, although it will be sort of pointless since I’ll be leaving again but whatever.
  8. Volunteer:  SOON
  9. Create a budget for myself: I haven’t done this.
  10. Choose a college: Haven’t done this either
  11. Get a job: I have a summer nannying job and once I get back from Peru I am going to start looking for something on the days that I don’t have to babysit
  12. Clean: I have been keeping my kitchen, living room, and my room fairly clean so I’d say that this is a win
  13. Get on a solid sleep schedule: I have been going to sleep at about 10 and waking up at 6 during the week so kudos to me for getting my nocturnal ass in the loop with every other human.
  14. Exercise: I have been doing insanity and running in the morning, so I’ve been doing at least some sort of physical activity almost every day.
  15. Create a skincare routine: Check out my Tarte skincare review for my skincare routine
  16. Be one of ‘those vegans’: I have been eating pretty healthily. I ate a box of Thin Mints for breakfast the other day though, so… Balance.
  17. Drink more water: Some days I’m really good about this and other days I’m not, so I’m halfway there.

All in all, I have been doing pretty good. There are some items that I will definitely have completed/closer to completing by the summer I’ll update you all then. Until then, I have some spinach that needs to be put in a smoothie and a book that needs reading

Alicia

Maybe next year

Published on by AliciaLeave a comment

Something that always gets me is when people think that a new year is basically just the only time you can restart yourself or make goals for yourself or make any sort of change. Today, I was browsing facebook looking at the damage control on our country from the last 24 hours, hoping to see at least one cute dog photo in that time, and I stumbled upon this photo of a tweet that said “January was a free trial… I’ll start my new year February 1st”

The person shared it and was like “Time to restart my resolutions.” It’s funny to me that people feel the need to make goals on only the first of the year. I’m not saying that New Year’s Resolutions are overrated since I made a resolutions post but most of these Resolutions are things I had been working on before, however, these people can’t just decide they want to do something and then just do it. They have to wait 29 days or hell 10 months before they can start a new goal.

Why have we as a society, decided that people can’t have ambitions 365 days of the year? Why are we limited to 5 days or so throughout the year?

When we break a resolution (me for example and my sleep schedule haha) I had still been getting crappy sleep so last Wednesday, I was like ‘you are waking up at 8 am tomorrow and liking it.’ I didn’t need to wait until February 1st or even the next Monday to do it. I had something I wanted to accomplish, I had a goal, and I went for it. And hey, almost a week later and my sleep schedule is getting back on track.

Basically, what I’m saying is that is you have a goal jotted down on a sticky note for the start of the month, or next Monday or whatever, start it now. Start it now! And then next month you’ll be happy you did.

Blogmas photo set

Published on by Alicia3 Comments

Good morning friends (if I ever get good enough wifi to post this), I am with my family and a friend up in Wisconsin to ring in the New Year but I still have time to blog, considering only my mother, dog and I awake right now. I’ve decided I wanted to document Blogmas in photo form. I write day in and day out on this blog and I wanted to switch it up by just showing my entire month of Blogmas in photos (and captions of course…alas… I am still a writer) Let’s get to it.


That was Blogmas.
Alicia

17 in 2017

Published on by Alicia10 Comments

Hi everyone, something I always struggle with are new years resolutions. Everyone always makes them, follows them for a week, and then make the same resolution the year after. When I used to go to the gym right by my house, my dad and I would go the weekend on New Years and there would be so many people you couldn’t get a machine. January 5th came, and the gym was basically empty again. However, I do have a few goals for not only myself but my blog in 2017 and I thought I would share them with you all. Let’s get started.

  1. Blog consistently: Last year started out rough, there were some months that I had 16 posts and other that I had only 1. Hopefully after doing NaBloPoMo AND Blogmas, the art of consistency will stay with me.
  2. End the year with at least double the amount of posts I have now. As of me righting this post I have 143 blog posts in 2016. I would like to end the year with writing at least 143 more, maybe even more than that. I know it will be easy for the first half of the year with no school and such, but I will persevere to the end of the year. Maybe I’ll start writing 2017’s Blogmas posts now 😉
  3. Connect with more Bloggers: I always go through my Reader and read and like people’s posts but I really want to comment on more and connect with more of the people I follow.
  4. Take quality pictures: I always talk about things while I’m writing but am running behind on posting (last night for example and my 11:13pm post time) so I forget to take pictures. I just got an iPhone 7 (hello fab camera quality) so I’m going to work on taking all my own pictures and posting them mainly because it’s nice to have your own content on your website, but also because it probably takes more time finding a photo in good lighting, good background, etc than it does to get my item and take it.
  5. Read: I have so many books just waiting from to read them in my room and I have so many books I want to read and have yet to buy
  6. Learn something new: I don’t know what and I don’t know when; but I want to learn how to do something
  7. Move into the basement: I was supposed to move into the basement in August but my basement is a mess so I tentatively will be moving into the basement in January but I’m not sure.
  8. Volunteer: Something I really want to do is volunteer abroad. I am trying to go to Lima, Peru for 4 or 5 weeks. I am totally going to fund it myself… I just have to convince my dad. Since I want to teach English abroad when I’m older,  I really want to test it out by going abroad and seeing if I like it  before I devote my life to something. Because if for some reason I hat traveling abroad or something I would like to know before I major in it.
  9. Create a budget for myself: If I want to go to Peru, and I also want to visit some of my college friends, I need to stop spending money on lipsticks and food and create a monthly or weekly budget for spending so I can do the things I really want to.
  10. Choose a college: Obvious reasons for this haha
  11. Get a job: I need money and to get that, I need a job. Depending on if/when I volunteer will dictate what sort of job I get, so we’ll see.
  12. Clean: Since I am home daily, I sometimes spend the day sleeping or watching TV, when I could be cleaning all the dishes i don’t use. I also need to keep my bedroom clean. Right now it’s a mess because I am going through everything I own in preparation for moving to the basement but once I get a new and bigger room, I will maintain a clean room.
  13. Get on a solid sleep schedule: Nighttime is when I spend my time writing blog posts, reading blog posts, etc. So, when it’s all of a sudden 3 am… oops. Just because I’m home doesn’t mean I can be nocturnal. I need to develop a solid sleep schedule and put my electronics down, which is a lot easier said than done.
  14. Exercise: I am planning on starting Insanity when I get home from Wisconsin. Something to keep me active and exercising does help maintain a solid sleep schedule.
  15. Create a skincare routine: I have had eczema my whole life, and sensitive skin to top that off, so my skin hates me. I need to develop a skincare routine so my skin can love me again. Also one that isn’t uber expensive and easy(ish) to maintain.
  16. Be one of ‘those vegans’: I drink a solid one kale smoothie a week. When I have a mid life crisis at 2 am and decide I need to get my life together, which lasts about 2 days until my next one the following Sunday. I am trying to be one of those vegans who drinks kale smoothies and posts acai bowl photos on Tumblr… Okay not that extreme but I don’t want to be a vegan who eats a row of Oreos and a bag of popcorn for dinner.
  17. Drink more water: water is literally the holy grail of our body. We are over 75% water and how much we drink makes or breaks us. I have a 40 oz water bottle and some days I drink 2 of them but also some days I fall behind on my water consumption and I really can’t do that.I’m being very hopeful with these resolutions and I know some of them might not come true, but here are my aspirations for the year 2017, I’ll check back in 6 months.

    Alicia