Friday, January 1, 2016

2016 New Year's Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions are the best. When do we ever get the chance to make dramatic statements about the course of our lives? I revel in the corniness of over-the-top proclamations about the future.

Say Yes More
2015 got a lot of no from me. In January I moved across the country, and once I got settled it seemed to be that I would say no to anything that involved getting on a freeway… for good reason! But screw comfort zones, I’m tired of feeling like this was my last years’ resolution.


Leave LA a Lot
I think there’s a tendency to feel like LA is this giant, soul-sucking hellscape that drags on for hundreds of miles with no boundaries and you’re just stuck here sitting in traffic for the rest of your miserable existence and… where was I going with this? Oh yeah. I want to travel more. Writers need new experiences, and nothing promotes personal growth more than travel. There are a billion places left to for me to see! I’ve never been to Idaho!



Get A Mentor
No one makes it in LA without a mentor guiding them. As the capitalists say, it’s the number one way to get ahead in your career. My goal by the end of the year is to find someone who is doing what I want to be doing and to learn from them. We all know what happens to those who aren't properly mentored.



Learn A Language
I’m giving myself until midnight to decide… but by the end of the day I want to have taken the first lesson of Duolingo for a new language. Italian is calling to me like an ancient mother tongue, but Spanish literally comes up every single day in my life. Plus it's always been a secret dream of mine to learn Hawaiian.



Make a New Best Friend
This is a no-brainer. I feel like I include this on every New Year’s Resolution list I make, because making new friends is good for you! But what I found in moving to the West is that you need friends who are physically with you to make it in this cruel world. I want a support system to really make LA feel like a home and not “the loneliest and most brutal of American cities” (Jack Kerouac). And to all my friends back East… it’s a tier.



Running out of ideas… okay what did we learn from the events of 2015…

Pursue Your Passions
If One Direction can take a break to chase their individual dreams, so can I. And I have hobbies! I can do this. Obviously this involves writing more, and I like photography! And maybe I'll even try to get back into the YouTube stuff. I'm hip...



Volunteer
I tried reading lists of major world events from 2015 and I highly discourage it… that is some depressing stuff. I need to be grateful for what I do have, and give back to those who don’t. And maybe if I don’t have the money, at least I have the time and the energy to help out in some way.

Shut your whole face Zayn we haven't forgiven you yet.


Cook
I am not the worst chef in the world! I love the adult feeling you get when you’re in your apartment in your underwear, holding a glass of Chardonnay while stirring something in a pan… and Partition is playing…



Yoga
Let’s face it, I ain’t going to a gym. That is not new year, new me. But I do like yoga a lot and I think I need it for all the driving I’ve been doing for Lyft. I feel like the Tin Man before they invite him to join their squad.



Find My Fashion
2014 was the year of plaid for me, and 2015 was the year of solid colored dress shirts. My closet went from a young Ennis Del Mar’s dream (minus the denim) to basically the entire X-Small Extra Tight Fitted stock at an Express store.



Read

I know I know I’m hitting all the clichĂ©s, but I do need an excuse to read more! And not just every A-list celebrity’s memoir like I did last year… real books about real things! Maybe a classic or two.


That's all. Just some nice things to try to keep plugging along on this journey. Hope everyone enjoyed this post and came up with some of their own!

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