While life should be a journey of constant self-improvement, it’s always good to set goals as reminders throughout the year. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of New Year’s resolutions, but this past New Year’s I decided to try something a little different and focused on two aspects for my New Year’s resolutions – quantifiable/observable results and realistic (or what some may argue easy) goals. This post will be a mid-year check in and also the perfect vehicle to list out some more goals I’d like to hit by the end of 2014.
New Year’s Resolutions: Summer Check In
Resolution #1: Spend time to catch up with 10 people I haven’t seen or spoken to in over 6 months
This one is complete! Post-college life made it much easier to accomplish this, for better or for worse, since friends no longer live within a mile radius and everyone has different work or school schedules. Most of my meetups were over food, which is not surprising at all knowing me. Still, it was so nice catching up with friends from all walks of life and sharing exciting work, travel, and personal developments. I’ve been working on intentional friendships for a while now, and thankfully my post-grad life is encouraging me to be more proactive in reaching out. I’d love to continue this practice (and maybe vary activities up a bit in the future), especially for the summer when a bunch of Cal friends arrive in the city for work and internships.
Resolution #2: Eat a healthier breakfast; no more Pop-Tarts
Eliminating Pop-Tarts from my diet was very easy, since I was already so sick of eating them. I’ve been doing a pretty decent job with healthier breakfasts, too. Apart from a few weeks because of the office move, I’ve consistently eaten breakfast every morning, typically including fruit yogurt, English muffins, and black coffee. I’ll continue to look into healthy (and easy prep) food to add to my mornings, possibly starting with more fruit. I’ve also stuck to a French press for over 10 months now for coffee, so it’s safe to say I’ll continue to try out new coffee from around the Bay Area.
Resolution #3: Explore 5 SF neighborhoods I haven’t explored in the past
A quick look at my Exploring SF posts shows that I’ve completed 2 out of 5 visits, which is not too bad considering I have five more months to finish this resolution. I realized that I tend to visit the same places again and again in the city (cough Mission cough Richmond), so I think it’s time to broaden my exploration. While I was able to explore some pretty cool places outside of SF these past several months, summer will be the perfect opportunity for me to pick up SF adventures once again. Stay tuned for updates and pictures on my blog!
Mid Year’s Resolutions
Since we’re about halfway into 2014, and I’ve completed two of my original resolutions, I thought up a few more that I’d like to work on for the rest of the year. Here they are in no particular order:
Resolution #4: Start a reading list and finish 5 books
I was a huge reader as a kid, but sadly the busyness of school combined with the siren song of technology led me to focus more on shorter reads since late high school and throughout college. I was (and still am) a huge fan of magazine and news articles, but there’s just something about reading a chapter book that can’t be replaced. I’m hoping to re-capture that magic with this resolution, and I’m leaving it pretty open-ended in terms of types of books. Stayed tuned for a post on my new reading list!
Resolution #5: Get back into bouldering; finish my 10-use pass
When I first moved into the city I was set on getting better at bouldering, which was a really fun and challenging activity. Unfortunately, there were some mishaps related to my method of transportation to the gym, so I went on a climbing hiatus for over six months. Last Friday was my first time back, and although I was very rusty I felt pretty great after the session. Originally I wanted to set a skill level-related goal (like getting to V4 routes or something like that), but I realized I needed to account for possible injuries from other sports – I’m fresh off a sprained finger from playing basketball tonight, for example. Since I have seven more entries on my pass, I think a nice goal is to hit up the bouldering gym about once a week until August and then go from there.
Resolution #6: Take one more solo motorcycle camping trip
My motorcycle camping trip to Big Sur was one of the most pleasant trips I’ve experienced, and I’m already looking forward to the next opportunity to do something similar. In terms of location I’m keeping it open-ended, so a repeat of Big Sur is definitely possible. I’ve also been keeping an eye out for spots at Pinnacles National Park – my friends and I spotted a nice campground during our last hiking trip there. One trip is definitely a conservative goal. I wouldn’t mind doing more of these trips, but I’d be happy regardless if I can follow through on this resolution.
That’s it! Stayed tuned for the results – I’m so excited to continue my New Year’s resolutions and start on my mid year’s resolutions!
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