Shelby Stidham

Resolutions for the New Year

When I really stop and think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever made resolutions for the new year in a serious way and kept them. I mean, I’ve always casually said things I wanted to do and told myself if I did them it would be great but if I didn’t then no big deal.. but that’s not really a resolution. One of my biggest problems is breaking promises to myself–be in diet, fitness, school, or otherwise–and that’s what I need to change. So this year, one of my resolutions will be keeping my resolutions. I will promise myself that I will do what I say. So here’s a detailed list of my resolutions for the New Year in 2008:

1. Keeping Inner Promises: from now on, when I tell myself that I really want to do something or that I am going to do something, I’m going to do it. If I’m in the shower thinking “I’d like to paint my toe nails when I get out” then when I get out, I’m going to hold myself to that instead of getting too busy with laundry or cleaning. Other promises, the more important ones, will be kept, too. Like going to the gym (no matter how much I don’t want to do it, I will), starting my homework on Thursday night (it’s like my Friday but I’ll force myself to get busy), visiting my family more (so many reasons that get in that way but family should always come number one!), not snacking (sometimes I snack when I’m bored/stressed/upset and that HAS to stop) and others.
2. Becoming Healthier: one day, I always tell myself, I want to be somewhat of a health and fitness nut. But today just ain’t that day. Until then, I want to start working out 4-5 times a week (doing at least 45 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training) and eating healthy (cutting out as many processed foods as I possibly can and eating way less red meat and more fresh veggies). I will not make myself feel bad the days that I don’t work out AND (most importantly for me) I will definitely not let myself slide back downhill when I eat one bad thing.
3. Being Confident: as stupid as it sounds, I’ve always had little confidence. I went through a period in my late teens, early twenties when I had tons of confidence (I attribute the confidence to running and roller blading everyday and eating very healthy–I was a size 2!) and I never doubted how I looked, what I was doing, how I felt, or who I was. I desperately need to get back all that confidence. I’m not looking to be conceited but it would be nice to look in the mirror after a couple of weeks of hitting the gym hard and be able to say something nice about myself! I’m tired of looking in the mirror and only seeing what needs to be fixed. More confidence= happier lifestyle!
4. Not Missing Class: although last semester I didn’t really miss much class (12 classes total the whole semester, not too shabby!) I really want to be a better student. This semester my GPA is about a 3.5 (still waiting on one grade) but, had I not missed ANY CLASS, I think I could’ve had almost a 4.0. Next semester I’m not taking any science classes so I have no excuses! I want to work my butt off, go to all my classes, and do great. I want to prove to my parents that my hard work is paying off in the form of straight A’s! And if I choose to go to the Master’s program, my GPA will be high enough.
5. Working Hard on My Sites: as of right now, I only have one major website that I make money off of. But many days I am too tired from class and the gym to really put in a good amount of work on the site. That has to change! I believe my future and career is making money online, but to make that dream a reality I’ve really got to bust my butt. This semester will be tough because I have to leave at 7:45 to get to class on time, but I will try and get up at 5am on Tuesday and Thursday (the days I go to school) and work very hard at it. And on the other days, I will try and make it my goal to have a days worth of posting done before noon.
6. Getting Outside More Often: my fiance and I aren’t exactly hermits but we don’t get out as much as we should, either. I’d like to start going to Yosemite for hikes, camping, walking the lake, going for early morning jogs, late night strolls, and walking more often. Not only is it fun and makes for good memories, but it’s exercise out of the gym (and the house)! And when it comes to getting out of the house, I think it makes he and I a lot happier to get out more often. There’s just something about the fresh air.
7. Having More Patience: I find that when I’ve had a bad day, when I’m tired, or when I feel icky, I lose about half of the patience that I normally have. This is bad because, most of the time, my fiance is the king of patience. I kind of get snappy when people ask me to repeat myself and when people do irritating things, I don’t try and hide my blatant irritation. This is something that is bad for everyone–mostly me, though, because after I’ve regained my composure and patience, I always feel badly–for myself and for the person I’ve lost my cool with. So I will definitely work on taking a few breaths and thinking about a more appropriate approach before I snap back a rude (but witty) comment to an annoying offender.

Right now, those are the only resolutions I can think of. When I lay down tonight I may be able to think of more. I mean, I know there are many things I want to do and a lot of things I want to change, I just need to get my thinking/blogging cap on and capture them. If anybody would like to share their New Years Resolutions with me, feel free and comment or e-mail them to me. Hey, maybe it will spark a resolution for me that I never even thought of! I hope some of mine can do that for you!. Until then… Hope you had a Merry Christmas!