not so much resolutions as solutions

There’s a great quote going round at the moment that says, I can’t believe a year has gone by and I’m not a better person.

At this time of year, namely the first week and a half of a new year, everywhere you look someone has written a blog on New Years Resolutions. So I’m not going to do that; instead, I’m going to write down a list of three things I want to achieve this year, and how I plan to go about that.

1. Spend more time with others and less time in front of a computer/television screen.
I don’t want to end up one of those people that the only way they know how to relax is to sit in front of a TV and watch mindless crap. While I enjoy this, it’s not really beneficial to me in any way. I aim to find other ways to spend my time, like hanging with friends, gardening, reading, actually playing my guitar, if you have any other suggestions feel free to throw them my way.

2. Be a better steward of the money I’ve been given. (read: actually stick to a budget because I have no other choice this year!)
I’ll be going down to two days at work this year, which means my income will decrease substantially. I’ll hopefully be getting Austudy payments which will subsidise some of the funds I’m losing by studying, but I’ll still be down two days work worth of pay. With a little bit in savings, and a budget written to ensure I’ll have enough to survive on, I think I can do it, it just means no spending on pointless knick knacks for me this year (JB HiFi or Coles Myer gift vouchers are the perfect present for me just in case you want to buy me a birthday present in the coming months, haha).

3. Stop planning, start living.

I’m one of those people who spend a lot of time writing plans for their life and very little time actually doing that. My aim for this year is to actually start living by a. the plans I seem to have set for myself, and b. disregarding those plans and just seeing where life takes me. Every few months I write myself a list of things that I need to change about my habits; spend more time playing my guitar and doing proper vocal exercises, go for a run every day, start eating better. Every time I make these plans, I never follow through on them, life gets in the way. So now, I aim to try and combine all of these different plans, and both throw them out the window and start acting on them. I’m not going to get anywhere by writing a lot of things down. I am going to get somewhere by actually living life and seeing what it throws at me.