Before diving into some 2019 resolutions, let’s check back on those 2018 moonshots.
1. Read 52 books together with my boyfriend. He is a slightly more voracious reader than I so we agreed on a distribution of 31 to him, 21 to me. Inspired by a friend who writes down everything she reads, I propose we both keep a list. I read 16 books, I kept track. Stephen didn’t keep track of his but almost certainly didn’t read 31 because he had one of the busiest years of his life and sacrificed a lot of leisure time to other pursuits. I’d be shocked if he made it through 10. Poor Stephen.
2. Read the same book as my boyfriend for at least two books so we can have a few evenings of couple’s book club. We did not read any of the same books but recommitted to this for 2019.
3. Make sure several books on the list are set in Cuba, which we have tentatively selected for a travel destination for either Christmas 2018 or February 2019. No books were set in Cuba.
4. Save up for a trip to Cuba together. We did not save up for a trip to Cuba. We are no longer planning a trip to Cuba. For awhile it was Colombia instead and then my sister announced they are moving to Finland for a year starting this July so now we need to save up for a trip to Finland to visit them sometime in 2019. Which will be a lot more flipping expensive than Cuba or Colombia, sheesh.
5. Learn lots about Cuba. I read somewhere awhile back that anticipating and planning a trip in advance actually makes you enjoy it more. I like the idea of integrating that anticipation and planning into activities like the books I read, the media I consume, etc. Really made way too many resolutions about Cuba. Obvi did not do this. Watched some travel videos about Colombia though. So that’s…something?
6. Snowshoe and hike a bunch. I don’t think we snowshoed a single time in 2018. Maybe once in January? But I think we actually just hiked with micro-spikes. I cross-country skied once. We hiked very few times. Not zero but less than 10 for sure.
7. Climb a bunch. I was making a semi-decent effort to get back into bouldering in early 2018 and then I whacked my ankle on a hold really effing hard. It caused me to fall and twist said ankle. It was swollen for many weeks and I kind of lost my climbing mojo after that (but then got really into spin classes – so…?). Also my neck and shoulders and back in general are a mess and just, UGH. I’m not ready to throw in the towel on climbing but you know, maybe it just doesn’t fit into my life right now. And that’s ok.
8. Wear hats A BUNCH. I definitely wore a lot of hats in 2018. At least, more than I have in any other year of my life. Carrying this into 2019. I love hats.
9. Floss at least 200 times. (Don’t lie – you don’t floss every day either). Possibly place a calendar in the bathroom and place a sticker on each day you floss. Inspired by a friend who did this every time she went for a run. Ya I did this!! I floss all the damn time now. It only took 2 months of keeping track on a calendar before it was a firmly entrenched habit. Now I love flossing. Your teeth just feel so much more delightfully clean and fresh if you floss before you brush.
10. Get to know which hotel bars and lounges in Vancouver have the best cocktails, bartenders, wine list, gluten-free desserts, most comfortable seating, cosiest fireplaces, are most conveniently located next to other downtown locations I frequent (art galleries, various movie theatres, all kinds of theatres), etc. We visited two hotel bars last night on NYE so I’m calling that an in-under-the-wire success. Still going to carry into 2019 though.
11. Forge deeper relationships with some awesome people I’ve met in the past year. Not really. My social life was pretty pfft this year, but to be fair, I invested only a medium amount of effort. Maybe one of my coworkers counts? We have no relationship outside of work, nor do we desire one. But our professional relationship got so tight yo! We work really well together now and I’m so proud of the effort I put in to getting there. Also – my relationship with my sister and brother-in-law got stronger this year, I think. And my relationships with several friends who don’t live in Vancouver got stronger and deeper and more special this past year. (Spoiler – being vulnerable and supportive when others are feeling vulnerable is friendship glue). And Stephen and I are going strong and better than ever. So that is also very good.
12. Host a breakfast party and serve a variety of breakfast foods eaten around the world. Definitely did not happen but my kitchen is SO close to being “done” so maybe I can knock this one out in 2019 as a celebratory event.
13. Host at least one night of an articles club. Came so close to this and then it didn’t happen. There is still enthusiasm for it among a small number of friends so let’s try again for this in 2019.
14. Play Taboo more than once with a fun group of people. I can’t recall if Taboo got broken out more than once but I did play cards and other board games with folks more than once so SUCCESS. Including a “conversation game” I “invented.”
15. Stop making to-do lists. SUCCESS. I totally stopped! (See last year’s post on why resolutions do not count as to-do lists). On the other hand, my rationale for this goal was that it was robbing me of joy. And all the things I needed to get done each week definitely still weighed on me and robbed me of joy. So turns out, whether you write it down or not, stress can rob you of joy. Working on strategies to not let it is just the business of life I GUESS. So, working on this in 2019.
Without getting too verbose, here’s what’s on deck for 2019. (Starting with the carry-overs from 2018):
1. Read a book together with Stephen and talk about it.
2. Hike a bunch.
3. Keep flossing and wearing lots o’ hats.
4. Explore those hotel bars/lounges and other downtown haunts.
5. Host breakfast party with some round-the-world breakfast dishes.
6. Host articles club.
And the new ones:
7. Save up for and take a trip to Finland to visit my sister’s fam.
8. Keep getting better at not letting stress steal my joy. Helloooo therapy! (Sidenote: Therapy is awesome. I had so many great “AHA!” moments this year thanks to my counsellor that greatly improved my life. If you have means to access a counsellor and are not doing so, then you are, unequivocally, a damn fool).
9. SHINY HAIR. I have a fancy hairdryer and a hair cut SCHEDULE. I have pretty much hated my hair ever since I started growing out a super short hair cut nearly 3 years ago. I just want to love it and I don’t care if that’s silly and frivolous. I am resolved.
10. Possibly a sub-point to not letting stress steal my joy – but a major resolution is to maintain my workout schedule. Lately that has been Wednesdays yoga, Thursdays hot yoga, Sundays spin. Add for 2019 – minimum once a month hike? And also the exercise videos the chiro sent me to strengthen my core and shoulders so maybe I can stop hunching over my computer a la Quasimodo. Exercise-induced endorphins are a feel joy life hack but this has always been an elusive habit because my instinct when I’m stressed is to turtle/work furiously on the thing that is stressing me out until I crash. Perhaps I will employ a stamp on calendar method for this one.
11. VL and I started a monthly Skype book club. Keep that going.
12. Eat less meat. Partway through 2018, Stephen and I resolved to eat vegetarian Monday to Friday but pretty quickly fell off that wagon. Inspired by VL to try again.
13. Keep hosting fun stuff at my house, including a return of the “conversation game” I “invented.”
14. Spend more time with Ce and Yas and KS. They’re great people and I like ’em.
15. Most importantly: get my P.Eng. because if it drags on into another year I should probably just fire myself to save my boss the trouble.
Lord. Wish me luck. Also Happy New Year, everyone.
Girl Fight 