New Year Resolutions - 2018
New Year Resolutions 2018 Dana Chirps
What a year! Whew! I made it out alive, ha! SO much happened in 2017. Left my beloved sunshine state that I happily resided in for four years. Moved to and lived in Bermuda. Moved back to the states. Switched to (remote) contract work full-time. Traveled to Punta Cana, Chicago, and a few other spots. Saw JMU win the championship game in Frisco. Learned how to live and thrive on an island. Pedal biked all over said island. Singlehandedly increased Bermuda tourism by having so many friends and family come to visit me! Learned to embrace simplicity. Got to properly host Brett in Richmond. Had Nana join my parents and family over Christmas. Took tons of photos. Read some great books. Found secret beaches. Participated, experienced, and enjoyed the Bermudian national holidays. Befriended some of the best people I've ever met who are from all over the world. Cheered for Team USA at America's Cup. There's so much. Yes, of course there were times of intense stress and tears, but I can say that this year completely changed my life, who I am, and who I want to be.
That all being said... here's a recap of my last year's resolutions with my comments in bold followed by my resolutions for 2018!
My goals for 2017:
Fitness - Ease into training programs, and be more diligent about injury prevention. I had two injuries this year - left knee and left hip... largely due to going balls to the wall. As much as I looooathe stillness - I'm afraid that yoga might need to happen more regularly regardless of whether or not I want to. At least I love yoga apparel, so I'm halfway there. I did a great job with this! No real injuries in 2017, and I listened to my body a whole lot more than I did in previous years. But I still haven't added yoga to my repertoire.
Diet - This year I'd like to focus on eating clean. My plan to accomplish this is to do more cooking and going out to eat less. Luckily now that I have a boyfriend, it's a lot more fun to cook. I don't enjoy cooking for myself - it's just a utilitarian task when it's just me. But I do enjoy cooking for someone who warmly appreciates my meals. This one was a little tricky to figure out in Bermuda since they didn't have all the same products that we have in America. Or some products would be at one store and others at another - which would be fine and dandy if we weren't pedal biking to get to places. Overall, I'd say we did pretty good, but the effort was inconsistent.
Work - Find projects/work that allow me to feel empowered and fulfilled. Because Bermuda is very keen on hiring Bermudians, I had to source my own clients for remote marketing contract work. I was able to do so successfully. Some of my contracts and clients were better than others, but was very thankful to have my own full-time income while living in BDA. I do miss the scope of the projects that can be accomplished when working for a company as an employee, and the chaos that I seem to perform best in.
Travel - I don't know where. I don't know when. I just know. And considering we're only two weeks into 2017 and I've already traveled to the Dallas area and Orlando... I think I'm on track. I did end up adding to this list with more trips, but I mostly focused on Bermuda. I am SO glad I did so.
Photography - Practice, practice, practice. I also ordered a couple of new gadgets that I need to learn. I took tons of photos this year, and am proud to have sold quite a few products with my images on them.
Embrace Simplicity - Buy less stuff. Don't do everything all the time. Just stop and BE more often. So this was somewhat forced in Bermuda. I brought only 3 suitcases... one for clothes, one for shoes, and one for products. I brought too much. I pedal biked to get to places. I hung out with friends at the beach. I went on walks almost daily. It was a beautiful way to live.
Relax More - This sort of ties into embracing simplicity. I'm a naturally high-octane person, but I think it would be beneficial for me to learn to make time to operate at a level 6 rather than a constant 10. This was also forced in Bermuda. City chaos and night life is substituted with days spent outside. It was a pretty amazing trade.
Relationships -This effort is for all kinds of relationships I have. But I'd like to continue to work on being less reactive. I'm not totally sure, but I think it stems from thinking of worst case scenarios when something is unknown or unclear to me. Worst case scenarios are often sort of scoffed at, but my reality is that on more than one occasion the worst case scenario I imagined was actually the truth. Learning to separate past from present is a challenge, but it's one that I think I could benefit from. Slowly but surely this one has come a long way!
DanaChirps - I am really focusing on building the social presence - so if you're not already following me - click on the little grey social media icons on the top right hand corner, and subscribe to my email newsletter (homepage). Emails probably won't be launched until Q3. So I was a bit of an over-shooter with my email newsletter. But I grew in all areas of social media.
Ok now for 2018 new year resolutions!
Fitness - I just need to get back into my routine groove. I was doing a good job for a while, and then the whirlwind of the move and interviews and transitional craziness took over. But now that Brett and I are moved in, game on. I am also going to try some local fitness spots... cycle studios, yoga (you read that right), etc. It will be a great way to meet people.
Make NH my own - Brett is from here, so it's all "his." His hometown, his family (who all live nearby), his friends, his spots, etc. My goal is to make my own friends, and find my own spots.
Diet - Clean.it.up. Whole 30, here we come. I have a lot more on this coming, so I'll keep it at that for now.
Work - Contract work has been a blessing, but I am switching gears and looking for a marketing position within a company. I miss being a part of a team, and the level of work that can only be accomplished with the resources and manpower that stems from working for a company. Added bonus: this will also help with goal number 2. Fingers crossed my next endeavor involves a bit of traveling, too.
DanaChirps - Continue to write. Continue to photograph. Share more.
