#palifin

I, like everyone else, enjoy the novelty found in the new year. A clean slate, a fresh start, an illusion where everything bad that happened to you in the last year no longer exists. I find it refreshing, energizing. But that beautiful feeling only lasts about 3 weeks; and then I forget or give up or deem myself “unrealistic,” which I usually am. So this year is different. I based my resolution on a quote I frequently saw on Tumblr, “It takes 21 days to make or break a habit.” Instead of making these huge, life altering declarations that need to last an entire year, I am making mini resolutions each month. Each month I choose 2 small habits to make or break, and then at the end of the year I can say I made 24 total changes that improved my quality of life. My past resolutions included things like “exercise an hour a day for all 365 days” or “save 50% of your paycheck each week” or “everyday study 4 hours straight,” and looking back they were all declared with good intentions but wow, way too extreme! I think the pressure behind “oh you need to make a resolution to change your whole year,” makes things a bit dramatic. So I am proud to say that I’ve successfully followed through on my January resolutions and I already feel better for it. First one was to drink 1.5 liters of water a day. This made a huge difference, in the past I’ve had days where the liquid my body would get was a single can of Mt Dew in 24 hours. My body needed this. And the second was to read a book each week. I read 3 (I was really sick for a week) and it was awesome! I hadn’t read a novel in nearly 2 years, and I really love reading! For February I have it boiled down to 4 choices, once I pick my 2 for the month, I’ll share! ☺️