New Year's Resolution

In light of my recent musings about my embarrassingly weak willpower, I've decided to take on a New Year's Resolution. Ultimately, there are quite a few things that I would like to work on in the upcoming year but today I came up with a really great, really specific resolution that will definitely be challenging but, I think, completely achievable.

In 2013, I am going to draw something (anything at all) every single day.

My parents got me a Wacom Intuos 5 tablet for Christmas (link) which means I have an awesome, really expensive drawing tool at my fingertips that will sit around collecting dust unless I promise myself that I will use it. (Kind of like the $500 keyboard piano I got for Christmas as a freshman in college when I erroneously assumed I'd have the time to take up an instrument).

Specifications of this Resolution:

1) The drawings can be in any format but digital is preferable because I'll get to use the new tablet and I can display them on this blog or a Facebook album as a way to ensure that I'm doing it every day. If other people are following my progress, maybe I'll be less likely to slip up. We'll see.

2) The drawings don't have to be brand new every day. If, for instance, I wanted to take on a larger project, I can devote several days in a row to it's completion but I have to chronicle the progress every day to ensure that I am actually sticking to the resolution.

3) Perhaps each month can have a theme? I'm thinking something that has been notoriously difficult for me to draw in the past..this way if I spend every day over an entire month working on it, I may actually improve! Human hands, hair, mouths, animals, symmetry, etc... Some direction might be nice because honestly, my biggest problem is going to be "ok, now what do I draw today?" That's going to take the most amount of effort, I'm sure.

Other goals of 2013 - in no particular order:

1) Work toward a good life balance: don't burn out on something by doing it too much. Learn to say no.

2) Try, again, to determine what I want to do as a career and THOROUGHLY research it before jumping into something new.

3) Stop worrying so much. (heh...)

4) Establish a more thorough and balanced exercise routine. The more I study for this personal training certification, the more I want to experiment with it. "January 1st" seems like a great time to start. I'm a little more lax with this one because I still train at Aikido consistently but I need a new safe place. Aikido is too affected by work now so I'm looking for something else to be that place of relaxation. I'd love to move beyond exercise as maintenance and actually begin working on increasing performance but as long as I am keeping up with my currently healthy habits, I won't be too concerned or strict on this point.

5) Work on my willpower in general: getting out of bed on time, choosing healthy food options when I'm really hungry (because that's usually the time when I eat like shit), moderating dessert consumption any time I visit my parents/go to parties/go out to eat, forcing myself to be productive when I have to be (this has been less of an issue in the recent past but in light of all these new goals, I might need more of a boost in this area).

6) Get back into reading fiction after the personal training shit is over. That certification takes precedence. Get it done and then move on.

7) Try to think more positively in all aspects of life. Instead of considering what went wrong, focus on what is going well. Even down to the way I speak... when someone says "How are you?" I should be saying "Good, thanks" instead of "Not too bad." Eliminate as much negativity as possible. Instead of "Saturday sucked because I had to work for 3 hours in the morning," it will be, "Saturday was great because Jason and I went to see The Hobbit after work!" (True story by the way... I did have to work, BUT we did see The Hobbit, and it was awesome.) This isn't going to be an overnight transition but I really have to start trying or else I will never find a job that I enjoy. Anyone can turn anything into a bad situation if they think about it negatively enough. I say this. I believe it. And I never fucking do it. Willpower, goddamn it. This year, it's gonna change.

I want to reach the month of April and actually feel like I've accomplished something. The personal training exam will be over so I should feel like my time is back under my control. I will have had 3 full months of willpower training under my belt and may actually have some productivity to show for it. I should be happier because I will have tried to remove as much negativity as possible from my mental space AND, most importantly, if nothing else, I will have had the opportunity to draw (a talent that I have had my entire life, my longest and most comfortable skill) for 90-ish consecutive days in a row.

Ready, set, go!!