New Year's Resolutions - 2024

[Professor Adorah Zumwalt]

I know that people have a lot of thoughts/feelings about resolutions, but those interested in discussing them - this would be the place to join!

The past few years I've set some resolutions and literally done 0 of them because my life has been chaos since March of 2020. I really want to set like five manageable goals/resolutions for myself in 2024. I'm turning 30 (), and I just feel like I want to set more direction for myself. So far, I know I want to make a commitment to reading. I don't know the last time I actually finished a full book, which is frustrating because I want to read! I think making a commitment to reading means limiting doom scrolling. But, thinking about being in graduate school and all that is going on, I think 20 books seems reasonable. That's a book about every 2 1/2 weeks. Plus, I'll be reading material for class so I don't want to overwhelm myself or feel like I have to spend my whole time over my breaks reading.

I'm not quite sure what else I'd like to set for myself, but I'm curious to hear what anyone else might be thinking! If they're small goals/big goals/fun things, etc.

 

[Cyndi Kingsley]

I tell myself I have to do *fill in blank* for 5 minutes because I can do most things for 5 minutes easily. And then I give myself permission to stop after that if I want to, but I usually don't want to! This has helped me so much with reading and exercise goals!

Here are my goals for 2024:

- I also want to read more in 2024. My goal will be 14 books since I did 7 this year which is a low for me. To be fair, I didn't start reading again until April. (Is anyone interested in an HNZ book club? )
- I want to move my body more. I'm doing a 30 day yoga challenge in January that I do most years, so I'm psyched for that.
- I want to add to my savings account.

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

I've stopped doing resolutions with a specific goal because it's been a big recipe for unhappiness in the past when I've failed to meet those goals, so the last few years my resolutions have been more vague, and more of a mindset thing to gradually work on than anything specific or tangible.

2021 my resolution was to complement people more, if I like what they've got going on. This one took me a while to get comfortable with, but these days I don't really think anything of stopping strangers in the street (if they're not busy) just to tell them I like what they're wearing, and I ALWAYS see people brightening up in response. I've also tried to make a habit of letting artists & writers online know what I like about their work, and saying nice things to my friends and loved ones as much as possible. It's honestly crazy how much good this has done for my mental health over the years, I've been feeling happier and more connected to the people around me.
2022 my resolution was Dress Gayer, which was a lot to do with how I feel about my presentation, and internalised transphobia. When I came out I dove really hard into trying to dress as masculinely as I could stomach, which I really quickly realised was NOT me. It took a long time to go from knowing that to stepping back from it, because I spent a lot of time scared cis people wouldn't take me seriously if I dressed the way I wanted. I've been getting back into swishy robes and experimenting with lace while keeping my more masculine button downs, and it's been fun mixing it up. Camp Goth Wizard is the goal now, and I've been having a lot of fun with it!
2023 my resolution was to examine my relationship with shame and who it's serving in my life, which parts of myself I've been hiding because I WANT to keep them private and which parts I've been hiding because people who don't like me told me to, or because I'm scared people will stop liking me. This is still a work in progress, but putting mental focus on it has helped me evaluate areas of my life where I want to work on being more confident. And it's put me on the path to start thinking about...

2024 I'm going to work on embracing mess - I'm a messy person by nature, precision and planning don't come easy to me and I think better on the fly. I've been trying and trying for years to become neater and do things The Right Way and shear off my messy edges to fit into a box. But mess is what makes me me, I'm at my best when I'm messy - dancing messy, throwing myself into writing with no plan, making art because I love it not because I have An Artistic Vision I want to meet. So this year I'm going to start trying to be my best messy self, and not shave off all my edges to be who other people want me to be.

(Is anyone interested in an HNZ book club? )

YES DEFINITELY, I've been trying to get back into reading too and stealing recs from friends Goodreads has been a huge help with that. I dropped down this year too (19 down from 45 last year) so I could really use the boost! (If anyone wants to be Goodreads friends hmu)

 

[Aine Thompson]

I felt the need to do resolutions because I was having an existential crisis and not sleeping Christmas night. 2023 was bad...like even when I did exciting things and achieved anything it felt ultimately pointless and meaningless, which is probably not a good thing. It all just feels very empty, though I won't dwell on that here so as not to further depress everyone. I want to make resolutions but it's hard to see it being worth anything if it'll inevitably fail.

I guess I should just try and exercise more as my one that's possibly doable, haha. I might not fear going out as much if I lose some weight.

 

[Archie Renner]

First of all can we PLEASE have a book club??? I am barely a reader outside of rp but really want to start reading more because it's inspiring and I just don't know where to start book wise so would love to have guidance like a book club

I really do not try to set resolutions because like others, I feel really down when I don't manage to reach my goals, but I do have a couple of goals for this year.

One thing I do want to do, is to officially commit to being vegetarian. I am mostly vegetarian already to be honest, but I do occasionally eat meat, maybe once every month or few months. But I have wanted to be vegetarian for a while and over time I am just getting more grossed out by meat, and I think this would be a realistic and achievable goal for me.

Another goal I have is to be more forgiving with myself and less critical. I think this one will be much harder given my bad brains, perfectionism and everything that goes along with that because I am definitely in the habit of being overly critical, you are your own worst critic etc, and negative self talk in general but this is something I do want to work on so let's hope I make some improvement

Other than that my usual goal for any year is to improve as a person more than the last. This kind of includes the negative self talk but I do want to focus on that more than anything this year

 

[Demetrius Wagner]

Well, my biggest goal this year because (and this is exciting for me) I'm going to university for the first time, as a 30-year-old, and I plan on doing law. Getting into first year isn't too bad, which I've done, but getting into second year is when they tighten the net so I've got to keep a good GPA. I think that'll be my main goal and priority next year. Taking university parttime so I can ease into it, so hopefully that'll take a bit of pressure off.
My second goal is to keep up my te reo Māori! Still taking classes in the new year, need to make sure I can balance it out with my schoolwork.
Thirdly, I need to eat healthier. I've sort of started this already, but I want to continue and get better and accept that this is a process and not something that can just change overnight.
Fourthly, and this is kind of stretching it at this point but I'd like to listen to more music. I've dropped off a bit and I'm trying to get back into it - expand my horizons, open myself to knew things, and just enjoy.

Also I'd definitely be interested in an HNZ book club too! I definitely don't read enough. I've read maybe four books in 2023? Something I'd like to improve on for sure.

Maybe a bit of an ambitious year, but I know at least what's the most important and if others fall to the wayside I won't be too disappointed because I know I've set quite a lot for myself.

 

[Teddy Pirrip]

I haven't set any new year resolutions exactly but I guess my aim is to keep a check on my mental health. I've had a difficult bereavement this year and it has been tough, so my focus is on appreciating what I have, not dwelling too much on what's missing. I want to look to future, take care of myself, and my family as best I can.

Happy new year everyone!