I Resolve...

Monday, January 6, 2014

There are people who refuse to make resolutions for the new year and have lots of reasons for that. I respect it (and even get it to a certain extent) but I am not one of them. Yes, I'm one of those people that makes resolutions every year. And yes, every year I forget at least a few if not many of them. But that never deters me from making them. I like the exercise of having a "clean slate" (although everyday is arguably one) and writing down my yearly goals to becoming a better person.   

I remain on a quest to become an early riser, to drink more water, read 20 books and buy more fresh flowers, but on this first Monday of the year (first Motivation Monday, if you will), I'm going to share a few of my main resolutions of 2014 from the list of nearly 20 I've scrawled in my notebook.


Be on time. I'm notoriously infamous for being late. I've embraced it as part of me because it's always been who I am, but honestly, I don't like it at all. When it comes to professional things, I really need to embrace the concept that "if you're 5 minutes early, you're on time." And personally, it's definitely a funny joke between my friends and I, so I don't hate it entirely. But I can't knock the feeling that I'm letting people down when I show up late. I'll probably always struggle with this in one way or another, but this year, I'm trying at least.

Continue to build my blog & have the courage to publicize it. I have been blogging for, what, 5 months now and I have yet to tell most of the people in my life about it. My boyfriend knows and 2 of my closest friends read it occasionally, but that's it. Sometimes, I'll post related things on both my blog and my social media accounts (i.e. you'll probably see one of these photo quotes on IG/twitter today), but I've never connected them. Whenever I see an IG post captioned with "check out the new post about ______ on the blog", I silently wish I could just do that. It's just a pretty big deal for me to put myself out there like that for people that I know in real life. It probably makes no sense, but writing is kind of an intimate part of me and for some reason, it's a lot easier to expose to the general internet. But sometime in 2014, I'm going to have a captioned pic and a blog link in my IG profile, damn it!
I also plan to continue to build my blog actively. I'm going to focus on 3 posts per week (like MWF) and really concentrate on the content I put up here. Although I loved Monday Morning Motivation and Friday Favorites posts last year, I don't think I'll be doing it weekly this year. There may be posts that are also motivational on mondays (like this one, sort of) or related to my favorite things on fridays, but they won't be a simple photo kind of post. It feels like cheating. If it's a quick photo post and really nothing else, they'll be "add-ons".


Become a runner. Disclaimer: I'm not someone who's always wanted to run but never thought she could do it. Granted, I probably can't, for the record. But I actually hated running for like ever. I have nightmares from my gymnastics training days about running around the track and my dad chasing behind me on a bike yelling "move faster". It's a strong word, but I hated it. Strangely enough, at the end of 2013 I began running on and off, and I've found that I actually enjoy it. Tides change. I'm slow as shit though, of course (I can hear my father yelling on that grandfather bike now).   

Love the home I live in. You've already read about how I need a cleaning schedule to prevent my apartment from descending into total disarray. It's such a task, even more so in the city. City apartments are small. And when I say small, I mean, take the normal idea of small and think ⅓ of that. We live on top of one another in cupboards of apartments with running water than is at times far too hot and radiators that are far too cold in the dead of winter. I'm making the city sound so unattractive right now, but I love living here, as I've said a million times. I want to love my home too, which requires that I really streamline my possessions (the tinier the space, the quicker it becomes a mess), conform to a cleaning schedule and decorate to turn my apartment into my itsy-bitsy castle.

Stop being afraid to be a "writer." It's not as if I haven't written about this, so this is a continuation from the progress I made last year. Late last year, I finally found the courage to post some of my fiction, but I'm still not completely confident in being a writer. Sure, I can tell my friends that I write, but I'm not at the point where I can introduce myself as "Kari. Attorney and writer." Part of the reluctancy is my lack of "credentials" for lack of a better word. Graduating law school serves as my credential for my first title. But for the second, what? I like to write? I'm still figuring it out, but I figure that taking a writing class could be a good start to answer this question. And always carrying a good pen. Because anyone who walks around with a fancy pen must have it to jot down brilliant prose, right? Right.

The notebook that I've written these resolution in has this quote on the cover. I'm obsessed.
Travel more (as always). I'm sure this is on everyone's list for 2014. I spent a single weekend outside of New York last year. One. And my poor wanderlust soul is screaming "let me out" because of it. It would be heaven to get out of the country at least once this year (I haven't left the U.S. since the summer of 2012), but I'd also settle for a few weekend trips. I've always had this urge to adventure and discover, and I want to do a lot of that in 2014. "London, Paris! I'm talking about you two beauts!"

Fall in love with my life. This is pretty much the theme of 2014 for me. Live. I want to live a life that I love. A few weeks ago, my Instagram feed was flooded with "Best Moments of 2013" videos. Almost instantaneously, I felt like my "best moments" weren't enough. I've accomplished quite a bit in 2013 for sure, yet I viewed my year as quite - I'm just going to go ahead and say the thing you're not suppose to say - boring. I'm being dramatic (& maybe I'm letting social media factor in too much), but I don't want to be bored with my life.

12 edited by me, 34.  

Got any goals for 2014? Tell me about them in the comments!

19 comments:

  1. These are great resolutions! I always make a list of things I'd like to work on or do in the new year. It's probably my favorite. I adore having a fresh start. I wish you luck on all of these!! Have a great year, Kari! You deserve it!

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  2. These are wonderful resolutions! I too am on a quest to travel more. And I learned to fall in love with my life this past year and it was truly one of the best years I've ever had. Good luck on your goals!

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  3. I love the new blog name, Kari! I'm a resolutions person, too. I look forward to writing my resolutions at the end of the year. I'm happy to say that for the most part, I end up accomplishing at least half of them. Except for last year. I don't even know what happened to 2013. It just went by way too fast! Anyhow, I love your resolutions. Might just share mine on the blog, as well.

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  4. I feel the exact same way about my blog too - it's scary to think about publicizing them to all the people in my life. I mean, there's a few of my close friends who know but the majority…not so much. It's scary! It's not quite AS scary when it's people you haven't really met…but ahhhh! It gives me anxiety! But I want to join you on this resolution - I need to work on it too!


    Girl, go on with your bad self and getchur running game on! That's so exciting to hear! Get it!


    Awesome list of resolutions - probably the most legit ones I've seen so far!

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  5. These are such great resolutions! I'm also on a quest to become a runner. Since I used to play soccer, I did a lot of it but I've found that running all over a field for 90 minutes is a helluva lot different from hitting the pavement solo! I also want to travel more! Here's to more running and adventures for the both of us!

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  6. i love fitness but i hated running. tried it just to add some variety to my fitness routine but hated road running and dreaded running days. however, it wasn't running that i hated, it was ROAD running - but put me on some trails and i can run 10K+ no problem. on trails for 2hrs+ in -5C weather? no problem! i LOVE me some trails! the hillier the better. so running isn't so bad; but it's the environment in which you run that makes the difference (in my opinion).

    kathy
    Vodka and Soda

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  7. Going on a trip somewhere is definitely on my list. And so is becoming a runner. I loved that quote on the picture! And I loved the one of "love the home I'm in". I definitely want to try harder at this, seeing as I'm still living at home with the parents. You best believe that getting my own place is on my list for 2014! Happy New Year!

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  8. I love reading about your goals Kari! Also love the new blog name and layout, it looks wonderful. I totally relate to what you said about feeling weird telling people in real life about your blog, and ESPECIALLY about not connecting Instagram to the blog! A few months ago, I was in the same boat 100%! Then when my home tour came out, everyone at work found out about my blog, and even though it felt a little weird for like, a day, ultimately people were complimentary about the blog and then pretty much forgot about it. It's scarcely been mentioned since then...so it was sort of something I blew up in my head and it turns out, nobody cares that much! And it does feel good to be able to link an Instagram post to my blog without feeling embarrassed or strange about it. So go for it girly :)

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  9. These are some great goals, Kari! I love the running one. I was the same way. I hated running all my life. Mostly, because I thought I couldn't do it. Once I started last year, I realized that I really do enjoy it. I am still slow and learning but it doesn't matter. At least I am trying do it.


    OH!! I love the new look here!!!

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  10. Thank you. With your new blog, I'm sure a bright 2014 is in your future as well. A fresh start/new year is such a blessing - like any other opportunity to get things right :)

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  11. Well, I sure hope to be like you. I'm trying to make 2014 and epic year.

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  12. Thanks, Mae. Writing my resolutions is always a treat to me that I usually buy a new notebook to put them in :) & yes, please share them on your blog. I'd love to read them.

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  13. Let's debut these awesome blogs together, lady! And running is kicking my booty for real, but I'm glad I'm working towards something.
    You always know just what to say, dear Mear :)

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  14. Right before a meet in gymnastics, we'd have to go through 10 routines on each apparatus and then do 50 of each move me messed up on before completing a mock competition. The stamina that's required for that always made me think I could run a mile pretty easily. Ummm, no. I feel like dying around minute 2 ha!
    & cheers to us running around the world!

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  15. I completely agree. I realized that I hated running on a busy track by the River where I had to be careful of bikers and cars, and felt insecure as thin runners sprint past me. I much prefer being on my own treadmill because it's like I get tunnel vision. But I do aim to get the confidence to sprint with the runners outside by the time the sun comes back out.

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  16. You better blog about all the moving and decor when you get that apartment! Happy New Year to you too.

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  17. Thank you, thank you. It's good to know I'm not the only one troubled over it, and I really hope to get the same responses you did. I'm fully expecting my law school friends to be like "really", but you know what, it really doesn't matter what they think. They're boring attorneys anyways :) I'm going for it... eventually!

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  18. I'm sure that once I finally tell one person, I won't be able to shut up lol

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  19. Thanks, Tabitha. No matter how slow you go, you're lapping those on the couch! Bible :)

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