Monday, January 2, 2012

New Years Resolutions

Happy 2012! I spent the holiday weekend traveling, so this post is slightly late, but I figure if I have 364 days left, that's still time for some resolutions.

Now, judging from my Facebook feed, a lot of people are resolution haters! I get it. We like to make a resolution that lasts about a week--maybe a month if we're really dedicated. We make vague, immeasurable goals that we either can't achieve or can re-define success around no matter what we do ("I only ate half a box of donuts. See, I'm eating better!") My favorite Cracked writer, John Cheese, has a good breakdown of these problems.

But I still like resolutions. January first is not the only time I evaluate my life and make changes, but it is nicely symbolic. Since this blog is about my attempts to juggle multiple dimensions of my life, I thought I should make some resolutions for the different realms as well.

Without further ado:

Personal
I've written before about how complicated my feelings about weight loss have become, but the one thing I am sure of is that I want to take care of my  body. To that end I have two personal goals:

  • Drink water as my primary beverage- I gave up soda as part of my attempts to rid my diet of artificial sweeteners (so no more diet soda) and high fructose corn syrup (so no more pretty much any other soda). I do occasionally have a cane sugar sweetened soda, but they're still loaded with sugars and empty calories, so those are limited. However, I have a hard time drinking water. I drink fruit juice way too often even though I know it's better to eat my fruit than to drink it. My goal is to have water with every meal and anything else only as a rare treat. 
  • Exercise more- I know, I know. That's one of those vague goals that are pointless. But I have a specific goal in mind that I want to increase as I go along. For now, my goal is to get 10,000 steps a day (through running and walking) five days a week. Once I reach that and can maintain it comfortably, I'll re-evaluate. 
Professional
  • Blog Redesign- While I know that this blog still has a very modest following, I love that I have readers, and I love writing it. It's a great outlet for figuring out things I would be trying to figure out anyway, and it helps me stay organized and focused. I want to redesign the layout and make it a little more user friendly.
Scholarly
  • Conferencing- My conferencing funds are a little low, but I want to present a paper for at least one conference this year. 
  • Paper Submission- I have this near-complete paper I've been meaning to revise and submit to some journals. It's happening. This year. Early this year. I promise. 
So, those are some of the things I want to accomplish in 2012. What about you?

1 comment:

  1. I am also not a fan of the resolutions. However, this year I vow to run. Maybe not like Forrest Gump run, but run nonetheless. At least a 5k. I commend you for giving up soda as I have done the same thing. It can be a very difficult thing to do.

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