As much as it hurts to say this, I haven't posted all year (get it?) but I'm hopefully going to be writing more regular posts as well as book reviews.
With 2016 having just passed, I've taken the opportunity of a fresh start to make some changes to my life. Not that how I was living was bad per say, but it just wasn't as healthy or as creative as I wanted my day to day life to be. So this year I've summarized my resolutions in three points. Be healthy, be creative and be happy.
The first one that instantly came to mind was definitely the "be healthy" point. Everyone tries this at the beginning of every new year and ultimately fails. I'm hoping this won't happen for me, because I've made a plan and this year I'm determined to make it happen. I've gotten into a bit of a slump with the start of high school, and all the sudden balancing school and friends and a good amount of sleep became more and more difficult until my own health wasn't first on my priorities. Of course I made sure to eat fruit everyday, and keep up personal hygiene and that kind of stuff, but my exercise and eating habits were unsatisfactory. I was eating far too many empty carbohydrates and not nearly enough fruit or vegetables, and I got in the habit of having carb based meals breakfast, lunch and dinner. This year I'm hoping to change this. I've done some research on healthy eating habits and was pleasantly surprised to find many healthy (and tasty) looking alternatives to my everyday snacks and carb monsters. Whether it was adding superfoods into my smoothies, or adding quinoa to my rice, already this year my family and I have both noticed a change in our diets, and a change in our usual staples at the grocery store. I know that this can be difficult to change habits set so in stone not only by your own behaviors, but my advertisements and media, but with the help of my family, we are gonna hopefully start a new year of healthy, REAL foods. Secondly, fitness. I don't look like I would be out of shape, but I feel like I am. Not like, "Oh I'm Fat" because I know I am not, but more like, "I wish my muscles were more defined." Over summers, I am usually very active because it is so easy to be outside and moving around, while in the winter and fall it is much more difficult. At first I was just trying to do random little exercises at home, on my own, just based off of the internet and social media, (we all know those fitness accounts). Though, the consistence and planning was terrible, and I found myself forgetting and then not keeping track and it turning into yet another failed attempt. Thankfully, my mom offered to help me out and help me find exercises I like to do, and how to do them to get desired results. Even though I thought I didn't want help with my at home fitness plan, it has been very beneficial in choosing what exercises to do and actually looking forward to my daily workouts and stretches in the comfort of my own home. I've just been working with standard things like sit ups, squats, wall sits, curl ups and more. Since I've been very motivated to work on my fitness, I have a feeling this is going to be a very prominent goal of this year.
Secondly, I'm determined to be creative. This refers mostly to reading, writing and art. I've always been a lover of reading, since I was young, but just now I'm having a sudden realization that with so much to read and all the obvious health benefits to reading everyday, I should be more consistent. Usually I read around 20 books a year, reading about an hour or two a week including books from school, and I've always felt unsatisfied with it. Knowing I could do more, this year my sister and I challenged ourselves to reading a total of 52 books, technically one per week. As of right now I am already 3 books into it and it's only the 5th of January! By following many book accounts on instagram and running a new one myself, it makes it much more motivating to read when you other people are encouraging you and everyone is doing it together and sharing their ideas. I figured this way I could get through my huge to be read pile, and expand my vocabulary and in turn become a better writer. Especially with the mix between modern and classic literature that I'm planning to read. Speaking of writing, I'm hoping to work on my writing skills by writing everyday. I'm determined this year to keep an everyday journal and keep up on my blog. This way I will be able to improve my writing for school, and have a good outlet/way to remember everyday things for later. Finally, art. I'm a lover of art for sure, and besides hoping to get to my cities art museum this year, I'm hoping to work on my own skills. I've found plenty of drawing exercises which is my favorite, in hopes that I will be able to improve steadily one step at a time. I'm hoping to practice my art through working on realistic drawings, different cartoon illustrations and also more technical/geometrical drawings. Hopefully through practice and persistence, I can accomplish all my creative goals for this year.
Finally, when I say, "be happy" I mean don't be stressed and don't worry about things that don't matter. This is a pretty short goal, and honestly through the completion of my other goals, I will be able to channel ideas better and work better with more focus so that I will not be so stressed anymore by school, which tends to be my primary stressor. Hopefully, I will be able to ease my stress this year and focus on enjoying everything and working on the things I love with the people I love.
In conclusion, 2016 is going to be my year to be healthy, be creative and be happy, and with the help of my family and our knowledge I'm going to make sure that by the end of this year, I am proud with the fact that I have accomplished my personal goals. Hopefully writing this extremely wrong post will encourage me to stick with my goals and stay motivated. I hope everyone has a great new year and uses it as a time to change your life for the better!
-Lily
With 2016 having just passed, I've taken the opportunity of a fresh start to make some changes to my life. Not that how I was living was bad per say, but it just wasn't as healthy or as creative as I wanted my day to day life to be. So this year I've summarized my resolutions in three points. Be healthy, be creative and be happy.
The first one that instantly came to mind was definitely the "be healthy" point. Everyone tries this at the beginning of every new year and ultimately fails. I'm hoping this won't happen for me, because I've made a plan and this year I'm determined to make it happen. I've gotten into a bit of a slump with the start of high school, and all the sudden balancing school and friends and a good amount of sleep became more and more difficult until my own health wasn't first on my priorities. Of course I made sure to eat fruit everyday, and keep up personal hygiene and that kind of stuff, but my exercise and eating habits were unsatisfactory. I was eating far too many empty carbohydrates and not nearly enough fruit or vegetables, and I got in the habit of having carb based meals breakfast, lunch and dinner. This year I'm hoping to change this. I've done some research on healthy eating habits and was pleasantly surprised to find many healthy (and tasty) looking alternatives to my everyday snacks and carb monsters. Whether it was adding superfoods into my smoothies, or adding quinoa to my rice, already this year my family and I have both noticed a change in our diets, and a change in our usual staples at the grocery store. I know that this can be difficult to change habits set so in stone not only by your own behaviors, but my advertisements and media, but with the help of my family, we are gonna hopefully start a new year of healthy, REAL foods. Secondly, fitness. I don't look like I would be out of shape, but I feel like I am. Not like, "Oh I'm Fat" because I know I am not, but more like, "I wish my muscles were more defined." Over summers, I am usually very active because it is so easy to be outside and moving around, while in the winter and fall it is much more difficult. At first I was just trying to do random little exercises at home, on my own, just based off of the internet and social media, (we all know those fitness accounts). Though, the consistence and planning was terrible, and I found myself forgetting and then not keeping track and it turning into yet another failed attempt. Thankfully, my mom offered to help me out and help me find exercises I like to do, and how to do them to get desired results. Even though I thought I didn't want help with my at home fitness plan, it has been very beneficial in choosing what exercises to do and actually looking forward to my daily workouts and stretches in the comfort of my own home. I've just been working with standard things like sit ups, squats, wall sits, curl ups and more. Since I've been very motivated to work on my fitness, I have a feeling this is going to be a very prominent goal of this year.
Secondly, I'm determined to be creative. This refers mostly to reading, writing and art. I've always been a lover of reading, since I was young, but just now I'm having a sudden realization that with so much to read and all the obvious health benefits to reading everyday, I should be more consistent. Usually I read around 20 books a year, reading about an hour or two a week including books from school, and I've always felt unsatisfied with it. Knowing I could do more, this year my sister and I challenged ourselves to reading a total of 52 books, technically one per week. As of right now I am already 3 books into it and it's only the 5th of January! By following many book accounts on instagram and running a new one myself, it makes it much more motivating to read when you other people are encouraging you and everyone is doing it together and sharing their ideas. I figured this way I could get through my huge to be read pile, and expand my vocabulary and in turn become a better writer. Especially with the mix between modern and classic literature that I'm planning to read. Speaking of writing, I'm hoping to work on my writing skills by writing everyday. I'm determined this year to keep an everyday journal and keep up on my blog. This way I will be able to improve my writing for school, and have a good outlet/way to remember everyday things for later. Finally, art. I'm a lover of art for sure, and besides hoping to get to my cities art museum this year, I'm hoping to work on my own skills. I've found plenty of drawing exercises which is my favorite, in hopes that I will be able to improve steadily one step at a time. I'm hoping to practice my art through working on realistic drawings, different cartoon illustrations and also more technical/geometrical drawings. Hopefully through practice and persistence, I can accomplish all my creative goals for this year.
Finally, when I say, "be happy" I mean don't be stressed and don't worry about things that don't matter. This is a pretty short goal, and honestly through the completion of my other goals, I will be able to channel ideas better and work better with more focus so that I will not be so stressed anymore by school, which tends to be my primary stressor. Hopefully, I will be able to ease my stress this year and focus on enjoying everything and working on the things I love with the people I love.
In conclusion, 2016 is going to be my year to be healthy, be creative and be happy, and with the help of my family and our knowledge I'm going to make sure that by the end of this year, I am proud with the fact that I have accomplished my personal goals. Hopefully writing this extremely wrong post will encourage me to stick with my goals and stay motivated. I hope everyone has a great new year and uses it as a time to change your life for the better!
-Lily