New Year's Resolutions (That Don't Involve Losing Weight!)

New Year's resolutions all seem to follow the same pattern, don't they? Exercise more often, drink more water, lose ten pounds, save more money...they're all very hard to stick with and quite frankly, I wouldn't accomplish any of them. If you have any of these goals, perhaps you feel differently and I wish you the best of luck! I happen to have just a slight tendency to be lazy, so lazy in fact that I haven't had any resolutions for the past couple of years, so please don't take my pessimism out on yourself if these are things that you want to accomplish.

However, there are a lot of areas of my life that I think need improving. Some of them I have already started working on, others I'm going to be saving for the moment the calendar is flipped, and all I have included all of them below!

1. Eat vegetarian once a week
I really admire people who can go vegetarian or vegan. I think it shows a lot of willpower (if you don't like meat and animal products, that is) and it's generally better for the environment, better for animals, and sometimes better for your body. I'm a very picky eater and I don't think a completely vegetarian diet is practical for me (I would literally only eat carbs and chocolate) but I am capable of doing it once or twice a week for sure! Just cutting back on meat would help over time, and perhaps I could extend that to three or four days a week or becoming a pescatarian, a vegetarian who also eats fish.

2. Swim once a week
I swam competitively for nine years but since I graduated high school I haven't been in the pool a lot. I still love it, so I need to work harder to fit it into my schedule. I actually work at my University's pool so maybe before or after work would be the best time! It's amazing how quickly I get tired from swimming now, I used to do 4,000 yard workouts and sprint 200 IMs and now just a warm-up is exhausting. I'd like to be able to do 2,500 yard workouts by the end of the school year.

3. Don't skip class
In my second semester I developed a bad habit of skipping class at least once a week, and I really need to cut it out. I'm taking harder classes this semester and I may not be able to afford it. Which leads to the next resolution...

4. Get all A's
I've always been a good student but my first year of college I got a few B's. Last semester I did really well so I'd like to continue that!

5. Utilize social media
It's no secret that social media can have a huge impact on your blog. I have most of the accounts set up, but I feel like I don't use them to the fullest extent. I often forget to share posts to all of my accounts, I tweet only on my personal account, and I haven't posted to Pinterest once. I haven't even set up a Facebook page! I'm definitely going to try to increase every aspect of social media.

6. Use eye cream
I have an eye cream, I just don't use it regularly. I'd like to be preventative with my skincare so I need to incorporate it into my daily routine. At the moment I'm using one from Elf but I'll try to get a better one when it's used up.

7. Increase my Australia fund
Ask anyone who has ever spoken to me, my biggest dream is to go to Australia. I have a little mason jar fund with around $200 in it, but this year it seems like I've only taken money out and never replenished it. I'll try to have a set amount for it, like $5 from every paycheck and all of my spare change or something like that.

8. Read more often
I love reading! I try to read for about an hour before bed because it helps me sleep, but sometimes when I get home late I'd rather catch up on my YouTube feed or watch Netflix which only makes me stay up later. I'll track how many books I read and try to increase it each month, and order something new every once and a while along with reading my old favorites.

9. Donate
This is one resolution I've already started. Each month I'll pick one or two charities to donate to, whether they are close to home or for emergencies around the world. I've made a monthly donation to Planned Parenthood since the election (I have a feeling they're going to really need the funds over the next four years, and I believe very strongly in women's rights) along with contributing to the crisis in Aleppo and a friend's fund to go on a school trip. In the future I think I would donate to Malala's fund, animal charities, and any city or country that is devastated by a natural disaster in 2017. Comment any good charities below, I would love to have more ideas!

10. Bullet journaling
And finally, how am I going to organize all of these goals? Bullet journaling! If you haven't seen this trend yet, a bullet journal is sort of a DIY planner that you make yourself and therefore can include anything you want it to. I have a list for blog post ideas, books I want to read, goals for January, quotes from my favorite books that give me writing inspiration, a goal tracker, shopping list, and the first week of January planned. I'm new to bullet journaling so it's been a learning process, but I like the idea of it and I already use a planner so I should be able to incorporate it into my routine. Plus the notebook I found is SO PRETTY. Let me know if you'd like a starting a bullet journal/beginners guide or that sort of thing, although I'm still figuring it out for myself!

Perhaps at the end of the month/year I'll do an update on this post to see how I'm coming along! Do you have any resolutions?

Xx Katie