10 New Year's Resolutions

A part of me has always felt that New Year’s resolutions are overrated and a bit performative, which is why I’ve never taken sticking to them seriously. But there have been several things I’ve been wanting to do for a while now that I just haven’t done yet for whatever reason. This year, I thought it’d be helpful for me to write them down to keep me accountable and not keep putting them off. Without further ado, here are my 10 goals for 2023.

HOLD A HANDSTAND: I’ve been a dancer for most of my life and learned a handful of acrobatic moves, so I think I have decent body awareness. I can still do moves like front and back walkovers pretty well. One thing I never mastered was holding a handstand. I think it’s an impressive 👏🏼 indicator of someone’s body awareness and balance, and I want to be able to do it myself. I’ve always sporadically tried practicing holding a handstand but I’ve never stuck with it. I recently started trying again and I want to see this goal through.

GO BACKPACKING: I love hiking 🥾 and camping 🏕, so the natural progression of these two activities is to try backpacking. I’ve been wanting to try it for a couple years now but I just haven’t had the opportunity to try it with someone who has done it before and I don’t want to do it by myself. But I’m planning on visiting several national parks this summer 🌞 with company so I think backpacking will be very doable this year.

RUN 10 MILES (16.1KM) WITHOUT STOPPING: I don’t run 🏃🏻‍♀️ a lot and honestly, just running, probably isn’t even in my list of top 10 favorite physical activities. I’ve never seen the appeal of running long distances. Running has always felt like a monotonous, high impact sport and I quickly lose the motivation to keep going after about 1 - 3 miles (1.6km - 4.8km).

But I admire people who can run long distances because I know at some point, they constantly chose to not take the easy way out. (Something I’ve found quite difficult to do for this sport.) I’ve also heard about the ‘runner’s high’ 😁 many runners eventually get which helps make running more enjoyable. (I think I’ve experienced this a couple times whenever I’ve been a bit more consistent with running.)

Despite my dislike for running, I still think it’s the most important and fundamental form of exercise a human can do and I want to get better at it. So to prove to myself that I can bear to push through a bit of discomfort 🥵 and build more stamina, I’m going to run 10mi without stopping by the end of the year.

ICE SKATE ON A FROZEN LAKE: It has been about 3 years since I’ve ice skated and I really want to get back into it this year. But my main mission is to ice skate ⛸ on a frozen lake. I’ve seen so many beautiful videos of people ice skating on natural ice and I can only imagine how amazing it is to not be confined to an ice rink. I don’t have a plan on where to do this but I’m open to go just about anywhere as long as it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

READ AT LEAST 10 BOOKS: I think reading 10 books 📚 in one year is a pretty low bar for any bookworm. I’m not a bookworm though. I’m the kind of person who’s constantly finding excuses to not read, whether it’s scrolling endlessly through TikTok 📱, watching YouTube, or some other way of wasting time. (It’s terrible.) I want to read more and not feel restless whenever I try to.

So as low of a bar as this goal is, I just need to hold myself accountable and read 10 fucking books this year. (I would gladly take any recommendations you have. I’m not super picky. I just like good and thoughtful writing.)

GO SKINNY DIPPING: I don’t know how to explain this one without sounding like a hippie so I won’t try to not sound like one. I’ve just always wondered what nude swimming feels like. I can only imagine it’s a very liberating and slightly exhilarating feeling. Sure, wearing a bikini 👙 is like practically wearing nothing, but I think the tiny patches of fabric and straps still make a difference.

MAKE MONEY OFF OF A SIDE PROJECT: Whether it’s this blog, a vlog channel, my art, or something else, I want to create a stream of income 💵, no matter how small, from something that originated from me. Aside from monetary gains, this goal is also meant for me to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the idea that our 20’s are for taking risks and trying new things.

FIGURE OUT WHERE TO LIVE/MOVE OUT: For the last 1.5 years since I graduated college, I’ve been going back and forth from living at my parent’s house 🏠 to working seasonal jobs. And even during college, I had spent almost 1.5 years doing school remotely at home due to the pandemic.

I’m really grateful for the stability my parent’s house has provided me over the last few weird years and through my whole childhood, but I think it’s time that I finally move out. The South Bay just isn’t for me anymore. I’m currently planning a road trip 🚗 this summer to try and figure out where I’d want to live instead. (More on that later.)

DO AN INTERNATIONAL TRIP: I haven’t traveled ✈️ outside of the U.S. in over 4 years now but I used to about every 1 - 2 years. I don’t have a specific country I want to visit but I just think it would be nice to go somewhere outside of the U.S. to get out of my bubble and experience a different culture. I’d be down to just go to Mexico or Canada. I don’t need to go super far.

SAVE $XXX: I like to believe that I don’t need a lot of money to be happy. I don’t care to eat at expensive restaurants, buy luxury items, or live in a huge house. And though the lifestyle I want doesn’t require a lot of money to maintain, I want to be financially stable 💵 and prepared for emergencies. I want to be able to afford to do fun things and go on trips without worrying about not having enough money or ‘going over budget.’ To me, having enough money means having the freedom to enjoy life, which is what I’m ultimately after.

So I want to save a certain amount of money this year, but I don’t want to say what that number is yet. The thing is, since I’m planning on road tripping this summer and I’m not sure where I’ll end up after that, it’s a bit hard for me to gauge how easily I’ll find work and how much I’ll be able to make. And without having a gauge on what I might earn this year, I’m not sure what’s a reasonable goal to have that I’m comfortable with making public at the moment.

So I have a number in mind that’s a slight reach but potentially doable, and I’m going to try my best to achieve it.

Happy New Year! :)