2012 will be a big year. One day sometime this year I will become a quarter century old. I know, I know, age is just a number. But it seems like ever since I reached my twenties, every birthday and its added year since has given me a certain shade of heaviness and pressure. Do not get me wrong. I am grateful for life and its happy bag of opportunities. It's the growing up that gets me. It’s crazy being in a state of 'getting the hang of being an adult.' I’m not yet old and wise (definitely not yet wise), but I’m on the road to it and the way is tricky and difficult.
I could go on and on about my quarter-life angst but let me digress from it by saying that I have prepared a list of goals for 2012 that will hopefully allow progress in self-improvement and becoming an adult this year. Resolutions have such a bad reputation for always coming undone and never getting accomplished; but let my following through these resolutions and goals be the first big change this year
1. Learn to drive
It’s not as weird as you think being 24 and unable to drive. It’s not as much of a necessity here as in most other places. But driving is independence and a really, really useful important skill so yes, I’ll learn to drive this year. And in the future, I want a VW Kombi to drive.
2. Go somewhere I’ve never been before
This is getting ticked off pretty early as I’m going to Bangkok this January and I’ve never been there before. I really want to be able to travel more this year. I hope this will be a successful goal. I don’t want to have to resort to chucking myself into the men’s bathroom – a foreign place.
3. Beach
The opportunity to go to the beach is never far away, especially being in a country surrounded by water. Having a friend who surfs means I do not fear having no one to go with. I want to go to the beach, I have people to come with me, and so why am I never at the beach?
4. Get active
Work is super stressful. My work hours are 8am to 6:30pm but with the preparing and travel and all I have to give work my time from 6am to 8pm. Fourteen hours and that’s generous. There’s been a period of time when I worked until 10:30pm daily. Basically, my work takes up so much of my life and also I gained serious weight from it. Weight gain is horrible superficially because I can’t fit into 75% of my clothes now. Weight gain is horrible real life-wise because I feel lethargic, lazy and stressed more often. I've started doing mini exercises in the morning and they’ve really paid off – I feel more chipper during the day. So I think I’ll do more of those things. I have to kick this sedentary lifestyle to the curb.
5. Read more again.
I’ve never stopped loving literature, never stopped buying books. It’s the reading that has gone out the window. I have books that I bought waaay back in 2010 and they have remained unread, and so many that I started and didn't finish. It’s that bad. I like to blame work again. I’ve never had to place reading into my goals and resolutions list ever before but I need this. Also I’ve found that I now read at a much slower pace – an indication of something scary.
6. Edit closet.
Simply I have many clothes, too many maybe. I keep them in three different rooms – on shelves, on racks, in closets, dumped on bed and some in bags that I promise myself I will unpack soon. I have gone on with my life for years without even trying on some of the clothes – I do believe someone else will benefit from them. Also, tastes and style evolve. Some of the things I own I most probably will not wear anymore and really it’s time to stop holding on to the past. It’s time to move forward.
7. Lumix
I want a new camera. Well my dad gave me a new one and it’s great (firework pictures) but I want something with stronger focus-y power. DSLRs are amazing but I don’t want the weight and the clunk of one. I want to be able to take pretty pictures of anything anytime and anywhere I want.
8. Side retail business
I want to have a side business, a raket, for a multitude of reasons. The plan mainly involves me selling clothes. There’s so many ways to go about it, but again it’s all about finding the time to do it. I think my resolutions really ought to have an item about being able to pursue work and have a life at the same time.
9. Be healthier
Health is wealth. Having a healthy and strong mind and body is equivalent to happiness and energy to pursue my interests. Better choices when it comes to what I eat and what I drink. I have already identified my problems: I love salty food and coffee (coffee’s not bad and I have been able to limit myselt to maximum 3 cups a day but I am grumpy little snowflake until I’ve had my morning coffee and I don’t like that), and I have horrid eating habits (i.e. eating a full on dinner then sleeping, or not eating during the day then eating a lot for dinner). It’s now all about doing something about it and maintaining that.
10. Get my film camera fixed
Film photography is something I have loved and been interested in since college. My dad enjoyed photography too and he gave me one of his old film cameras. It just needs a bit of fixing. I’ll have it sexy and running again soon and I’ll be off taking pictures here and there and everywhere.
11. Grad school
Hmmm
