New Year Resolutions

New Year Resolutions have never been my thing. The older I get the more I start to see that new year resolutions are not there to make you look back at your failures. Most of the time I would set an unrealistic goal that I knew would take a longer than just a year. For example, I started working out, not consistently but I wanted to gain muscle. That was never going to happen until I started to be more consistent.

This year I set two important goals for myself:

• Read 40 books.

• Work out at least 5 days out of the week.

So far, I have read four books and started on book five. That means I am two books ahead of schedule and 10% done with my goal.

I have also worked out every day since the first of January, no breaks.

This has not been easy. I wake up early not wanting to grab a snack and work out. I wake up lazy, tired, and unmotivated. I look to my right and see the two goals posted on my wall and it is a constant reminder that I must wake up every day ready to work out and read.

During this pandemic it has been harder to detach from the social media and the internet in general. I got COVID-19 during Christmas which was shocking because I truly am staying home. The only time I am not home is when I work and even then, I am usually the only one who is on my floor. I was sick for almost a month and I decided that during quarantine I needed to do something else that helped me feel better. Reading has always been something that I loved to do; I just never made the time to do it enough. I had the time but I spend most of that time on social media or surfing the web, it can be very consuming. Before you realize it, two hours have past without a break or fresh air.

I decided that I needed to do something that seemed more productive. I was complaining everyday about my body, looking at all these Instagram models that is honestly very unrealistic in my eyes. I do not want to look like them, I want to look like me but I want to be happy with it. I decided I was going to work on my physical health. Instead of spending time sulking being unhappy so instead I decided to do something about it. Now this does not mean that I will look how I wish I did in a short amount of time. Progress takes time and I am motivated to continue this.

I have decided to read 40 books because reading takes time away from being distracted on things that do not matter. First and foremost, I enjoy reading very much I have since I was in middle school. I chose the number 40 because I felt that it would was a realistic goal and a very educational goal. I am currently going to grad school which is difficult but I needed to do something for fun that was not all school and most importantly not going on social media.

Seeing people post about going out or post about their “fun” life gets exhausting. Constantly feeling like I am comparing myself to these beautiful people even when I try not to. I have set these goals to make myself more present in the real world. In a world where I feel better about myself and my life. In a world where I wake up every day ready to see small achievements.

They say it takes only 21 days to create a habit. I hope that is true because it has been 26 days.