Last year, I made nine awesome new year "re(vo)lutions," as I called them. These were not "do or die" resolutions, I-must-do-all-of-these-nine-things-to-their-fullest-potential-or-I-will-not-have-succeeded resolutions. Just nine goals to structure my year around, nine things I wanted to accomplish, and if I didn't, it wasn't a big deal.
Here were my 2013 re(vo)lutions:
- I will find time to take dance classes
This did not happen at all. It's still something I want to do, so maybe it's something I can work towards in 2014?
- I will balance my theatrical life with my home life and not overdo either side
In 2013, I returned from a long theatrical hiatus to participate in 5 full productions and a bunch of smaller individual projects. I have felt artistically revitalized and fulfilled (most of the time). There were definitely moments where I felt overwhelmed or about to burn out, but as was my goal, I continued to negotiate my theatrical life and home life until I think I've reached a successful equilibrium. It's still an ongoing conversation, but basically I'm very happy about where I am on this particular point.
- I will try hard at my day job
This year, I successfully maintained--and thrived--in my day job. It's not my passion nor my focus in life, and maybe I'm not making a ton of money, but my boss(es) love me, I get along and work well with my coworkers, and most importantly, I feel confident and successful. Even though, as I said, this office job is not what I would like to be doing with my life 5 years from now, even in just a year and a half it has taught me so much about being an actual adult in the actual world. I'm so thankful for this job and who it has helped me become, and for what it has helped me realize about myself.
- I will exercise—not to lose weight, but because it makes me feel really effing good
Yep, another one of these that I hardly touched. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately, exercise, and something I've been wanting to do. Maybe the new year will help me get a jump start.
- I will take a moment to think before putting food in my mouth
Especially in the last few months, I have been really conscious about what food I'm putting in my mouth. I'm not necessarily trying to limit or control what I eat, just noticing--and attempting to make choices based on what I actually want and need at the time, not impulse. I have been toying with the idea of going vegetarian--or at least pescatarian, I could basically never give up fish--and I've actually been doing a pretty good job of leaving red meat out of my diet. I would like to continue this line of eating into the next year.
- I will bring a healthy lunch to work as often as possible because it will make me feel MUCH better than eating a burger
This actually happened a fair amount! I would like to keep packing lunches for myself--not just for the health benefit, but also for the benefit of my wallet.
- Whenever I look at myself in the mirror, I will say an awesome affirmation
This didn't explicitly happen, but I have really been focusing on body positivity this year. It's been difficult at times, but overall I think I've been successful...and I hope to continue my work in 2014.
- I will trust my instincts, because they’re damn good
I would say this is the thing I worked the most on in 2013. And I am very pleased with the results. I love being able to trust myself, to feel confident in my decision-making. It's a pretty great feeling :)
- I will forgive myself
This, of course, is an on-going, life-long lesson sort of thing. It's always on my mind, and I am constantly working on it.
Because it was so successful last year, I'll probably make some more re(vo)lutions for this year. But I'm not feeling particularly inspired right now. I was very inspired last year when I wrote these re(vo)lutions, which caused me to remember them all year. So I think I'll wait until I'm feeling a bit more focused :)