2014 was quite the year. It saw me step into this weird thing called "adulthood" while realizing a dream I'd had for my entire life. I was unemployed on two separate occasions, but I managed to survive and even met a handful of my athletic heroes while I was out of work (see here and here) so it's hard to be too mad about that. 2014 was a year of transition; lots of great moments but certainly not without some angst, and I really feel like I've started to figure myself out. Life? Eh, not so much. But I know how I operate, which is a pretty cool thing. Also, I watched about a zillion hours of Sochi Olympics coverage, so that was pretty great!
Anyway, onto those resolutions I made!
1. Get a freaking job. Success! TWICE! Okay, both jobs I got have been temporary, but I'm pretty thrilled with employment of any sort. Especially because it means I was hired by the United States Olympic Committee TWICE this year. :)
2. Purge & refresh my room. This became a moot point, as I moved out of my parents' house about three weeks after making this resolution and am no longer living in my childhood bedroom. However, I was in the process of getting this done, and got rid of so many garbage bags of crap. So I'll call this half a success, since I moved back to Colorado before getting the chance to finish.
3. Get active again. Success! I wasn't as regular with this as I probably should've been, but after not working out for basically all of 2013, even sporadic workouts were a HUGE step in the right direction. Anyone else use the Nike Fit app? Those four-week workout programs were lifesavers. Kicked my butt AND kept me accountable and on-track!
4. Get out of the house. Again, kind of a moot point for most of the year while I was getting out every day for work. But while I was unemployed this was definitely a thing. I could've done better and did spend a lot of time at home, but I made regular plans with my friends and did some solo adventuring around Colorado. So this is another half success -- a definite step in the right direction.
5. Read more. Success! I read all sorts of Olympic books this year (see here and here). One of the good things about unemployment? Lots of time to read!
6. Work on the blog. Success! In June I started phasing in an editorial calendar, and now I consistently post three times a week. I started Miracle Monday, and contribute to Travel Tuesday just about every week. 2014 has been my blog's most successful year so far, with numbers consistently trending upwards, which is PRETTY awesome!
7. Put leisure time to good use. Success! Sports movies? Check. (Still need to see Chariots of Fire, though...) And I've also spent a good amount of time poking around in Photoshop. I'm still no expert, but I'm now at the point where I regularly make things that I like. So I'm pleased. :)
8. Chop off my hair and get new glasses. Success! Did this right before I went back to Colorado way back in January. All within about an hour, too. Talk about an appearance overhaul!
9. Stay on a normal-person sleep schedule. Success! Would you believe it? I went from getting out of bed after noon on weekends, to getting out of bed by 9:30 on weekends. Still pretty late by some people's standards, but this is a pretty big deal for me, guys. I'm slowly transitioning into a tiny bit of a morning person.
10. Make myself a schedule & stick to it. Again, this was a moot point except while I was unemployed. I did stick to a schedule, though never the one I planned out for myself. I always try to get myself up and productive in the mornings, but that's just not how I'm wired. I started most of my days slowly, with a smoothie and a book and some coffee and blog reading, and then I was ready to tackle some tasks. So there WAS regularity, and I DID do everything that I needed to do on any given day... so, another half success.
11. Stop being so hard on myself. I honestly think this'll always be a work in progress. But honestly, I did REALLY well with this during my second stint of unemployment. I had my strugglebus moments, but for the most part I was positive and confident in myself. It was unexpected and... kind of amazing, actually.
12. Floss every day. SUCCESS! I'm so proud of myself! It was kind of hard to remember to do it at first, but it became a part of my routine and now it's second nature. It's also kept me from ever skipping brushing my teeth (don't even pretend you've never done this!), so I feel pretty good about the state of my dental hygiene. And we all know how I feel about my teeth.
The verdict: I actually stuck to every single one of my New Year's resolutions in 2014. Is that even possible? What the heck? High five, 2014! I think we kind of rocked it!
Since this year was so successful (seriously, what the heck), I'm thinking about mostly just sticking to these same resolutions. I feel like having these small, manageable goals helped me make conscious decisions that helped me improve myself this year. But I guess that means they're not really resolutions anymore, and have become just a part of life and my thought process. That being said, here's what I want to add for 2015.
- Get better at communicating. Strange, since communicating is what I do for a living. But I'm terrible at responding to Facebook messages and personal emails, and I get really nervous about checking and sending professional emails, and I'm just really bad at keeping in touch with friends! I need to change all of this!
- Go adventuring again. When I was studying abroad, I was so great about getting out and exploring and discovering cool places. Why am I so lazy about that in America? Colorado is an awesome place and I need to see more of it. And if I end up moving somewhere else, I need to explore there too.
- Get a job that doesn't have a built-in end date.* (2015 is the year, guys. It's time.)
- Keep flossing every day. ;)
I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve! Go forth and kick 2015's butt!
Love this list, Darci! I thought that my year 2014 was a bit boring, but your list made me realise that the small victories are also victories. Yay for reading more and blogging and flossing more! I love this!
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