Bye Felicia aka 2017, Hello 2018

It's probably easy to tell from the lack of consistent updating and such that 2017 was more akin to a raging dumpster fire than a life glo-up for me. So it goes. Not all of it was bad, though. I went to Germany with my best buddy in the world and got to tick Rothenberg ob der Tauber and Neuwanschtein Castle off the list, I went to Maui for the first time for a work meeting, saw more otters, and met the wonderful and sassy Bela of Life With Bela, an endearingly awesome J Crew fanatic with a killer fashion and lifestyle blog. Go check her out because she is a queen of bows and sequins and her pet pug is equally adorbs.

But not all of it was good. Long story short: people died, health got bad physically and mentally, and work got overwhelming thanks to a busy end-of-year paired with my inability to say "no." Also not to mention the rapidly dystopian and terrible state of current US politics and governmental actions.

Well, as they say, new year, new you! While I can't fix the government (well, I can and do take action locally) I can work on fixing me and continuing this strange and fraught journey into adulting. Yes, you can still be making attempts at adulting as you near mid-thirties which sheeeeeeeeeesh I'll be 35 in 2018 WHERE DID MY LIFE GO? Oh right, theater arts, bar nights at SJs being a small town girl living in a lonely world and took the midnight train (aka car) going anywhere across country to the West Coast to start a new lease on life. There was a lot of traffic, a lot of unemployment, weight gain, and otters. The otters were, frankly, the best part.

I digress, here are my 2018 New Year's Resolutions/Goals. I've even ordered a fancy goal planner to help keep track.

Health & Wellness

I've started anti-anxiety medication at the end of December and plan to keep up an active treatment plan with my medical team.
I will start to see an actual sleep specialist to monitor my apnea and sleep therapy.
I will continue to try and eat better and stick to the keto & low carb path after slacking over holidays, with a January and February monthly goal of consistently sticking to diet so I can be fat-adapted.
I will start working out again consistently in March once fat-adapted for better results.
I will work on better self-care in general.

Self Improvement

Learn a foreign language, currently planning on French through Duolingo, because I want to improve my skill set and eventually be fluent in a second language.
Submit more work for publication and blog more consistently. I've had a few short horror stories published years ago, but nothing new and want to broaden my publication horizons and not pigeon hole myself into one area. First step: pen to paper or, well, fingers to keyboard. Same with blogging. I let this blog gather too much dust in 2017.
Grow in my career and find what fulfills me and excites me. As I've said before, this blog isn't a full time gig and won't be in 2018, so I want to find something career-wise that puts a spark in me again. This might mean risk, and also...
Learning to say "no." I have this bad habit of saying 'yes' to all tasks asked of me and volunteering for even more as some weird sense of trying to validate myself and it just ends up with me becoming overwhelmed and a bit grumpy. I have to learn my bandwidth better and I have to learn how to better (and gracefully) say "no" more when I know I should not or cannot commit.

Travel

Revisit Scotland and see more than Edinburgh (plan set for late May). I lived there to perform in Festival Fringe ten years ago and have always meant to go back but life got in the way and it never entirely came together until I decided it was bloody well time to get it together and see more outside of my beloved Edinburgh, with a few days actually in my fair Edinburgh.
FINALLY SEE HAMILTON while next in London (also late May), thanks to booking tickets earlier in fall when they opened up for London West End. Tickets for Hamilton London were vastly cheaper than trying to buy in US. Like, the cost of airfare for two and two tickets for the London show were cheaper than trying to get two tickets to a US production (if one even can get tickets.)
Visit 1-2 new countries (Canada counts!), hopefully with friends. Vancouver really isn't a long flight and apparently they sell Bourjois Cosmetics in Canadian drugstores so I mean why not kill two birds with one stone, eh? As for another country, not sure yet!
Visit new US cities (New Orleans, Seattle, etc.) as I might have an opportunity to tag along with my partner to New Orleans in a few months for a weekend while he works.
Visit Portland again and actually make my entire way through Powell Books. This time I will actually get coffee before Powells and not get overwhelmed.

What are your 2018 resolutions or goals? Leave a comment!