Happy 2018! I hope everyone enjoyed their celebration. I got to ring in the new year warm and cozy in pjs with my family. I’m not one to party, so I couldn’t have asked for anything better.
There’s something different about this new year, though. Something inside of me tells me that 2018 will be filled with great things. I can’t explain the feeling, but it warms me inside and makes me feel hopeful. I don’t know if it’s because of all the negativity I experienced in 2017, but whatever it is, I’m liking it!
New Beginnings
I never liked the whole “New Year, New Me!” mentality. I’m not turning into a new person – I want to continue to grow and improve. I was also never into the idea of making resolutions because they feel like temporary goals that are meant to be broken. The new year shouldn’t be the only time where we seek self-improvement, it’s something that we should do year-round. But I get why it’s so exciting to think of the new year as the prime time to improve ourselves: it’s a new beginning.
Cheesy wooden sign I found at Hobby Lobby. Kinda rolled my eyes at it at first, but then I realized it had a point.
January 1st, 2018 is the beginning of our new adventure. We’re starting with a blank slate – our mistakes from 2017 are irrelevant now. I want to take this fresh start to continue my growth without the new me and resolution gimmicks.
Eighteen Promises and Goals for Twenty Eighteen
So what’s the alternative to resolutions? Promises and goals.
Promises are sacred – you can’t break them (anyone else feel immense guilt when you break a promise???). And goals are more attainable than resolutions since they (most of the time) are planned out with a finite end result. I make these goals as promises to myself – breaking them will only hurt myself.
Here are my 18 goals for 2018:
Be kind to myself
Take better care of myself (physically + mentally)
Lose 10% body fat
Eat less carbs, more proteins
Drink a gallon of water a day
Spread more positivity and encouragement (and focus on that positivity)
Be more active on Instagram and my blog (no more long periods of silence).
Make posts in Spanish (it is my first language, after all)
Be better at replying to messages (I’m truly sorry if I’ve ever accidentally ignored your message)
Go back to school (whether it’s grad school, postbacc, or med school)
Learn to reach out to people when I need help or someone to talk to
Study for the MCAT (this time I will reach my ideal score)
Get a job closer to home (I love my current job, but the commute is killing me and my wallet)
Learn conversational Polish (I encounter a lot of Polish-speaking patients at my job and feel terrible since I can’t effectively communicate with them)
Find a consistent wake-up time and bedtime.
Meditate every morning
Read books (still on chapter 4 of No Apparent Distress *cries*)
Reflect on this list and make a post about it at the end of 2018
It’s a long list, but I have an entire year to get it done. To make sure I don’t break my promise-goals, I broke them down and set smaller goals within them. 2018 will be my year.
What are your 2018 goals? Let me know in the comments below!
