Goals for the New Year

It may be 20 January, but I’ve thought about these goals for a while now. Many people call them New Years Resolutions but I’m not a fan of that word. Given its definition, “a firm decision to do or not do something”, it’s too rigid. Too formal. Too succinct in its meaning. I much prefer the word goal, “an object of a person’s ambition or effort”. It’s a word that seems like there’s more to work for. It’s not about simply starting or stopping something, it’s about working towards something. That’s why I’m choosing the word goal over resolution. I’d rather work towards something than simply start or stop something. It just sounds better and will make me more motivated to follow through.

The great thing about blogging is that these words are online. I’ll be accountable for this list. I’ll be more motivated to accomplish my goals. In years before, I would simply think about what I should do in the new year, and either forget about them eventually, or not have the resolve to carry them out. Whenever I write things, I tend to be more prone to complete them. That’s why to-do lists are my life.

Goals for 2015 (in no particular order)

1) Travel Europe

• I’ve started this one already, having visited a few different areas in France, several places in England, traveled all over South Wales and gone to two cities in Italy.
• This spring, we have a five week Easter Break (which we are meant to spend studying, but why study when Europe is at my doorstep?!), and my friend Siobhan and planning a whirlwind of an adventure around Europe. I’m SO excited. We are also hoping to take a couple weekend trips either in summer term (depending on when exams are) and I’m hoping to take a few more day trips outside of London!

2) Eat Healthier

• If pastries were considered a vegetable, I’d be the healthiest person in the world! But really, while traveling it’s so hard to eat healthy, especially with so many delectable foods to enjoy! I’ve been better about this in London because French pastries aren’t readily available but it can sometimes be hard to resist the desserts at my dorm’s dining hall every night!
• I’m generally a pretty healthy eater but I want to really focus this year on eating healthier overall. (I just might make an exception when I visit France again this spring. Because who can resist those pastries?!)

3) Become Better at Managing my Anxiety

• For those who don’t know, I suffer from anxiety disorder. I’ve always had it, I just didn’t realise it until last fall, when I was having several panic attacks and was too anxious to eat. I’m much better now but still have panic attacks and some bad days where I just feel anxious for no reason.
• I have my coping mechanisms, some of them might be considered weird, but this year I want to find more coping mechanisms for certain triggers and improve my overall well being. Maybe I’ll even be able to fly on planes without panic attacks!

4) Exercise More

• Finding time to work out is really hard, especially because gyms here aren’t free (yay, Davidson bubble!) and I have such a large work load. I walk 1.5 miles to class each way and I walk pretty much everywhere I go (my family can attest to that) but I want to do more than that. Especially for my health and my anxiety. It will be easier when I’m back at Davidson and when it gets warmer outside (then I can run outside) but I need to start now with the other exercises haha. And get over my gym anxiety (so many worries about where to look, where to put things, what to do!).

5) Increase my Blog Readership

• This blog has been one of the greatest things to happen to me. I love writing and sharing my experiences and I love having a way of expressing myself. I look forward to writing posts and writing them is a great stress relief. Even when I’m no longer in Europe, I plan on keeping up with my blog and hopefully increasing its readership and hopefully making it better than ever!

6) Get a [Paid] Summer Internship

• This is a big one. Because I was studying abroad in Paris last summer, I was unable to get a summer internship so I really need one this summer so I can hopefully narrow down what I want to do with my life. A paid one would be preferable. I just have to convince internships to let me possibly start late since LSE exams can go into June :(

7) Explore & Get Out of my Comfort Zone More

• It’s hard for me to get out of my comfort zone. I have a tendency to remain where I’m comfortable because I like it and don’t want to feel anxious or be disappointed by what I’ve discovered. I’m not taking this goal as a “go crazy every weekend” or “let’s go skydiving!” type goal but more of a “instead of staying inside and watching Netflix all day, get outside and walk somewhere new” type goal! I haven’t been disappointed when I’ve done it before, so I’m looking forward to doing it again.

• Living in a digital age, with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and news websites at my fingertips, it’s incredibly hard to stay focused and productive at times. One moment I’m checking my email and the next thing I know, it’s an hour later and I haven’t accomplished anything! With the amount of work I have this term and the theses I’ll have to write senior year, I’ll definitely work on my time management to become as productive as possible.
• A great resource I’ve found is the app called Pocket (it’s free!), which lets you save articles to read for later. So perfect for when I come across something on a study break but don’t want to get caught up in an article storm!

9) Finish up a Fantastic Year at LSE and Have a Smooth Transition back to Davidson

• I’ve had a wonderful first term at LSE and Lent Term is back in full swing. It’s filled with essays and readings but my classes are great and living in London is fantastic and I don’t want to leave! However, I do need to graduate university so I will inevitably have to head back to Davidson and transition back to US-style university in a small city at a small school. Yay change!