“To thine own self be true.”
There comes a time in life when you quit joking yourself on New Years resolutions. I’m not really going to only eat salads, go to the gym 5 days a week, and quit complaining (hahahaahaha). But apparently in not making resolutions, I haven’t restricted myself to trying to improve just these XYZ areas of my life. Which has apparently turned into some unconscious resolutions happening.
Here’s the (short) list of (silly and small) improvements I’ve noticed I’ve made so far this year:
- Keeping the volume less than or equal to level 19 in my car and level 4 on my laptop. Having played musical instruments my whole life I knew it could affect my hearing later in life. It hasn’t yet…and I don’t want it to.
- Safer driving. With my insurance almost doubling because I moved to inner-city Cleveland, I signed up for Progressive’s Snapshot program in hopes of getting a bit of a discount. We’ll see. But also because it’s winter I tend to drive slower and keep a larger distance between cars (which isn’t space for you to cut me off, other drivers!)
- Taking fish oil. I have insanely dry eyes (like Sahara desert level dry) which both prevents me from wearing contacts (womp womp) and means the actually burn and hurt if i don’t use eye drops or continuously take fish oil. I’m on and off with the fish oil but since I spend large amounts of time at a computer or reading, my eyes have started to become really painful again. So much so that I’ve started taking fish oil again. Cue the nasty burps!
- Another thing that’s really been bothering me lately (since fall) is my eczema. Dry eyes AND dry skin (I hate my life sometimes) so I’ve been trying out various eczema specific lotions and remembering to lotion up every single time I wash my hands (which is a lot).
- Sitting only a few yards from a kitchenette means I drink a lot of coffee (shout out to Erie Island). A lot. And for a few weeks the caffeine addiction was bad. Which I recognized (headaches on the weekends, unable to sleep at night) and have now started to contain drinking coffee to a small window from 8am-Noon each day.
- I’ve always struggled with saving large amounts of money (I save just enough for an emergency fund and my 401k) but this year I’m strangely committed to putting $12,000 into savings. Which means if I buy fresh produce I better eat it all because I’m NOT throwing it out.
- Lastly, and this isn’t really a “thing” per se, but I’ve really been trying to be present. My mind tends to think of 1000 things at a time which means I’m often doing one thing and thinking of another. I think with so many changes that have happened so far this year my defense mechanism is to not keep making lists for my lists…it’s to focus on one thing at a time. When I’m at work, I’m at work working. When I’m home (and not working) I try to relax and enjoy reading or Netflix. When I’m spending time with friends, family, or my boyfriend, I’m with them. It’s oddly calming.