Kicking Ass in 2015 (and Beyond)!

Ah, December 31st. Whip out your notepads, friends, because it’s time to take inventory of our flaws and disguise self-loathing under cute little trite-nesses like “New Year, New YOU!”

I generally tend to take a more forgiving approach to this arbitrary goal-setting ritual of New Year’s Resolutions, because I like setting goals as they become relevant, not due to some external pressure to “better” myself on Dec 31 of every year.

Anyways, I managed to come up with a few things to make into a list (some more important than others). Let me remind you (as well as remind myself) that you don’t need to check everything off of your list to be a rockstar- you are awesome today and will will be awesome on December 31, 2015 whether or not you managed to learn another language and/or find a girlfriend*

*Although by learning another language, you’re really opening yourself up to more options in terms of finding a mate, thus making these two goals pretty synergetic. I would suggest picking up Mandarin, Spanish, or Hindi if you want the odds to be in your favor. Nín hǎo, ladies.

Without further ado:

Margaret’s New Year’s Resolutions

1. Hamstrings (I’m keeping this on here, sans elaboration).
2. Sign up for a trail marathon. Run aforementioned trail marathon.
3. Meditate every day. 2 minutes or 20 minutes, doesn’t matter. Sit in silence and soak it all in.
4. Start teaching yoga consistently. Embrace the “suck” and just put yourself out there. Practice failing on a daily basis until I stop failing and start kicking ass.
5. More weekend escapes with Matt.
6. Stop being hypercritical of myself and others. It doesn’t serve me, and it puts strains on my relationships. Enter relationships without judgment and comparison, and find places where you can love a little bit more. Be a cheerleader for your friends, be a support system for your significant other, and remember that you know too little about anyone else’s journey to criticize them with abandon.
7. Want less. Buy less. Step off the treadmill of consumerism (or at least slow it down to a brisk walk) and learn to be happy with what you have. “Santosha” (contentment) plus “Aparigraha” (non-grasping, non-posessiveness) = bringing the yamas and niyamas into my 2015, y’all.
8. Be present more often. Turn off my phone occasionally and try to watch an entire movie with Matt sans redditing in the background. Enjoy life without seeking validation from Instagram followers that whatever you’re looking at is #beautiful.
9. COOK YOUR OWN DAMN FOOD GODDAMMIT MARGARET YOU ARE A GROWN-ASS WOMAN NO MORE CHIPOTLE EVERY NIGHT
10. Read one fiction book a month. It’s okay to indulge whimsy and read a book that doesn’t try to teach you about the big data revolution or business analytics. Literature is not a waste of time.

That’s all I’ve got. Let me know what’s on your list! I’ll try not to criticize it or offer additional suggestions (see number 6).

Happy New Year! Bring it on, 2015.