Sitting here, full of all the Christmas goodies, this has got to be one of my laziest weeks so far in 2018. Yet now the festivities have all surpassed *cries*, I have had ample time to reflect on the year gone by, mostly with fond memories, but naturally with lows too. Yet a New Year brings a fresh start and with that a bunch of cliché resolutions.
A lover of lists, and a motivational quote or two (no shame), and being someone always open to self-improvement, of course it’ll be of no surprise to you that I’ve complied some resolutions, instead of doing uni revision!
Read, Read, Read…
Maybe surprising considering I’m a humanities student but reading for pleasure is sadly not something I often find time for. Perhaps reading chapters of academic literature each week is something of a deterrent, who knows? Yet last term I picked up a copy of ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine’ in my local Waterstone’s, and from the first page I was hooked.
Absorbed into a world completely unknown to daily, standardised student life, I found solace in reading albeit for 30 spare minutes each week.
So, I’m resolved to continue working my way through my bedside pile, to make some me-time each day, and to get lost in the wonder of words.
One A Day
My 20thin October, marked not only the demise of my adolescence, but also the start of a year-long project, videoing one second of every day – to remember the start of my new decade.
However aptly gifted a 5-year diary for Christmas, with the premise of writing a line a day, for (you guessed it) 5 years, I figured this would complement my video perfectly.
And so, another of my resolutions is to commit myself to documenting my life in a creative and concise way – one line/second a day.
‘Be Open’
Maybe the most challenging and personal of my resolutions, but this will bring the greatest sense of personal reward. I contemplated for a while before deciding the best catch-all term was to ‘be open’.
Whether being open to trying new things, or to share my ideas and to not be afraid to back them, being more open minded and tolerant of others, being more open and aware of other people and their personal struggles or being aware that the door is always open for myself and others, if ever needed.
‘To be open’ is a resolution but also a method of self-improvement, that will hopefully last me for life.
Travel
A frequenter on my resolution list year upon year, and as cliché as it may be, travel was always going to be on my list. I was very fortunate in 2018 to visit a few European cities as well as places in the UK, but this sense of adventure has only made me keener to keep exploring – funds allowing!
Being able discover new countries and cities and see snapshots of the world’s beauty alongside friends and family, sounds to me as sweet as pie. Having a trip to Munich booked for March, this ship is already beginning to sail, and I couldn’t be more excited!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all the very best for the New Year. Let’s make 2019 the best one yet !
Eleanor Margaret 