Well, 2017 has flown by- LITERALLY FLOWN BY. I guess that’s kind of a good sign, usually good things go by quickly. While 2017 was not without it’s struggles, I’d say it has generally been an extremely successful year for myself in so many aspects of my life. Just to recap- here’s where I’m at with the resolutions I made myself last year for this year:
-LOSE WEIGHT: This resolution was actually a pretty huge success. I’m down almost 30 pounds from the beginning of this year which is pretty awesome! I didn’t hit my goal weight of 125 (I usually sit between 129-135), however, I feel and look great and EVERYONE has noticed. Definitely a successful resolution
-Get Organized: I did my best with this one lol. In my studio (when I lived alone) I actually had EVERYTHING organized to a science, I downsized the vast majority of my belongings, revamped my wardrobe to only include things I actually will wear, and had a pretty solid cleaning regimen down. However, after G-Unit moved in, things got a little less organized. Then we moved to a bigger apartment which started out beautifully organized, but quickly got less and less clean. Overall I’d give myself like a 6/10 in this category.
-Be Consistent: As far as my weekly schedules, this category has been a huge success. I moved to a sister restaurant from the one I worked at in 2016 (the one that I said made me want to kill people lol) that I absolutely love working at, and my manager is SUPER chill about scheduling. I’ve had a very consistent schedule in terms of days and shifts/hours for the majority of 2017. In addition, I picked up a second job as a Graduate Assistant at my University, which provided a very structured schedule as well. And of course my graduate cohort has been consistent since I began, so most of the time I was pretty positive ahead of time what my work schedule would look like exactly. In terms of being consistent in terms of sleeping, eating, cleaning, etc.... kind of didn’t happen how I wanted it to (hence the 4:30 AM tumblr post). However, I definitely think having my schedule be so consistent helped a lot with my anxiety in general, although I did feel overwhelmed at times, ultimately knowing what to expect on a weekly basis helped a lot.
-Lock down a skincare routine: Definitely a work in progress. I found products/a routine that works well for my skin, but again, the consistency on my end wasn’t there. My skin has generally either stayed the same or improved a little, and definitely hasn’t gotten any worse than before, so that’s good!
-Find a job that doesn’t make me want to kill people: HUGE SUCCESS! Ever since moving from the bar I had previously worked at to the location I’m at now I have felt so much happier and more appreciated and genuinely enjoyed going in to work. My coworkers are fun, I’m respected by my bosses, and as an added bonus the money is SIGNIFICANTLY better than my previous job (2-4X as much per shift ON AVERAGE). My current boss gives me kick ass schedules and sections, I feel extremely comfortable to be myself and don’t feel judged like I had previously, and I think my work performance reflects how happy I am at my new location. In addition, I picked up a second job in July at my University as a Graduate Assistant. While the title sounds pretty prestigious, I was essentially a glorified TA, in charge of grading student assignments, proctoring exams, tracking attendance, and holding office hours for tutoring/editing student papers. However, I honestly could not have been happier with the experience and look forward to continuing to work in my position next semester. Having a job in a more professional field has been a huge confidence boost, given me a great sense of responsibility, will look awesome on my resume (not to mention an awesome learning experience), and of course has padded my monthly income substantially. Both of my current positions make me feel so grateful because I know I’m genuinely liked and appreciated and FOR SURE not like I want to kill people (at least not for real (; )
-Work on being a cleaner person: I will say I definitely have tried with this, and in general I think I clean more than I have in the past. But in all honesty- a slob is a slob is a slob. It’s my nature and it’s a really hard nature to break lol but I will definitely continue trying to rectify this moving forward
-Say NO more and not feel bad about it: This is something I still struggle with. I still don’t like to say no to people as it makes me feel awkward, however, I’ve gotten a lot better at recognizing when I’m being taken advantage of and standing up for myself. I’ve done this professionally and personally, and I think this is definitely a skill I want to continue to practice and grow. Being a pushover sucks, but I think I definitely improved greatly this year.
-Drink less: Honestly, this category was probably my biggest success of the year. I cut drinking TREMENDOUSLY, to the point where I can recall being actually DRUNK only about 4-5 times the entire year. That’s CRAZY to me, because even in the past when I’ve been very focused on my goal, that is the lowest I think I have ever been able to honestly report. Granted, I still would have maybe a cocktail or 2 here and there every once in a while, but in general, I almost eliminated drinking alcohol from my routine. And, when I would grab drinks with friends after work or something, I was EXTREMELY responsible and able to limit myself to only 1 or 2 drinks and then call it a night, something I have NEVER been successful with. Eliminating the binge alcohol consumption has been AMAZING for my mindset, the way I feel, and how much I was able to accomplish in my life this year. Alcohol has DEFINITELY held me back in the past, and without it this year I flourished.
While my resolutions kind of speak for themselves, I want to break down all the aspects of my life and point out where they stand today at the end of 2017 and any major things that occurred this year:
Personal: My personal life is very low-key at the moment. There were MAJOR changes this year with who I interact with, how frequently, and how I feel regarding these interactions. The more this year went on, the more I was able to cut negativity out of my life and really focus on myself. I truly believe that the people in my life who are true, genuine supporters of me and real friends will respect this and understand why I had to make this decision, because I was being drained by people all around me. I also have noticed that there are a lot of people who still feel they can take advantage of me, and I think going forward this is going to be something I will definitely address.
Romantic: My love life did a full 180 in 2017. G-Unit and myself did rekindle our relationship back in January, and ended up getting engaged to be married in April. I am over the moon and definitely could not be happier with how this year turned out in this part of my life. Moving forward, I want to continue to grow with G-Unit and keep working together with living together, creating coping skills to work through arguments in a healthy way, and to generally fall more and more in love with him.
Professional: Professionally, I KILLED IT in 2017. I worked more hours this year than I have worked in any other year of my entire life. I think earning money and working hard has done wonders for my self esteem, financially I love being able to pay for things on my own and not rely on anyone else to supplement my bills, and I just generally feel like working hard has taught me a lot about drive and dedication that I wasn’t expecting. Professionally, this year was one of the best.
Financial: Financially speaking, I definitely killed it again in 2017. I have more money in savings presently than I have had at any point in time EVER in my life, which is incredible. I make enough money monthly to afford all of my living expenses on my own (G-Unit and I split them of course, but if we didn’t I could still pay it alone which makes me extremely proud of myself). In addition, I make enough to afford ANYTHING I want to buy virtually at any time, which is a position I haven’t really found myself in before. I’ve gotten pretty good with budgeting and sticking in the general realm of my budget (you know +/- $100 here or there). The financial security has helped a lot with my self esteem and anxiety as well, so this year has been spectacular for that.
Educational: I’m doing extremely well educationally. After a somewhat rocky start to graduate school, I’ve really pulled it together. This year, I finished with a 3.3 GPA and am currently sitting at an A in the class I am in. I didn’t take any time off from my program and expect to complete it on time, which is completely amazing!
Emotional/Psychological: I definitely feel like the life changes that occurred in 2017 for me have had a really positive effect on my self esteem and confidence, and ultimately lowered my anxiety a lot. I still have periods of pretty severe anxiety, and definitely some bouts of depression here and there, but NOTHING like I experienced in 2016.
Physical/Health: I feel really great ending 2017 in terms of how I look. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight which feels really good, and I generally feel really healthy and happy!
This form of new years resolutions has been really awesome to look back on, so I will definitely be posting my 2018 resolutions out to the universe very soon! So thankful and grateful for the overall success I experienced this year, and can’t wait to see what blessings next year has in store :)
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