2018 Goals/Resolutions

There’s something about the phrase “new year’s resolution” that makes me nervous. It always feels like there’s a lot of pressure. Besides, I make “resolutions” at all times of year, and when I don’t name them as such they seem a lot easier to keep. I don’t like this attitude of looking at all the things you don’t like about yourself or about your life, and deciding that this year you’ll somehow magically fix them all. It’s nonsense.

That said, I do love a good goal. Something to steadily work towards and that can be renewed appropriately whether or not I succeed. If some of these goals just happen to sound suspiciously like resolutions, so be it. I don’t make the rules.

So, having given it a little (but probably not enough) thought, here are my goals for 2018.

1. Learn to drive. This is the big one. The one I know I’ll probably fail at because, honestly, I don’t really want to drive. I don’t want to own a car and I like my commute. Walking is good for me. However, for the few days each year when it would be handy to be able to hire a car and go somewhere or move something, I should probably do it. Ugh.

 

Image credit: Pixabay

 

2. Walk more. Yeah, on the subject of walking I’m not doing nearly enough of it these days. My new job (which I love) sees me sitting at a desk pretty much all day every day. I need to get my daily steps up. To achieve this I plan to leave the office at lunchtime every day for a quick wander around Edinburgh. That should get me comfortably back to 10,000 steps a day. Maybe I’ll aim for 12,000 or 15,000 once that gets too easy.

3. Clear my overdraft. I made good inroads here in the last quarter of 2016 and I have every intention of keeping it up (in spite of the dent that Christmas shopping made). I think I can do it by July so I’ll give myself some wriggle room and aim to have it cleared by August.

4. Sort out my wardrobe. I have a very small and compact capsule wardrobe for work. To be honest, I could probably do with just a few more items to tide me over on those days when I simply cannot face doing the ironing, but it does the job. Meanwhile, my non-work wear is getting tired. I’d like to steadily update, upgrade and refine this by swapping the older pieces for capsule-suitable investment pieces but I also don’t want to wear the same 5 tshirts every time I’m not in the office. This needs some more planning but we’ll see how it goes.

 

Woooosaaaaah

 

5. Reduce my stress levels. In general I’m a very happy person. I have a good job, a great relationship, a home I like and friends I couldn’t live without. I don’t see my family as much as I’d like but I always have a good time when I do. For some reason I’m also a bit of a stress head these days. I overthink everything and worry about every possible scenario that could evolve out of every action I take. If my home isn’t tidy I struggle to sit still. I need to calm down. I have no idea how to do this but I might start by trying to notice the early warning signs that I’m stressing out and to give myself time to stand back from whatever the cause is. Again, we’ll just have to see how this goes.

Other stuff:

• I loved doing the garden last year but I was clearly the world’s most amateurish rookie, so I’d like to do more this year and to do it better
• I’d like to finally finish the main storyline of The Witcher III and play at least one of the long-ignored games in my Steam library
• I’d like to pass as many exams as possible when they come around in October so I can progress in my career
• I badly want to go see more live music, which will mean paying attention to listings and also listening to some musicians who aren’t long dead
• I still want to find a new fitness class and I’ve finally spotted one in Falkirk that might fit the bill. Watch this space.

Finally, as always, I’ll be working hard to chip away at my massive to be read list. I always find the Goodreads challenge to be handy for this. Last year I set myself the goal of reading 45 books and, if I do say so myself, I smashed it. Given that I’ll have those professional exams coming up in October, so I don’t want to go too nuts, but I’m aiming for 50 – one book per week with two weeks off seems about right.

Now, if that isn’t enough to be getting on with for one year I don’t know what is.

What are your goals for 2018? Feel like joining me on Goodreads? Can you recommend any way to motivate myself into learning to drive? Have you found any good techniques for reducing stress? Whatever it is, let me know in the comments!