About May Globus
Vancouver City Editor May Globus is obsessed with the sartorial and all that surrounds it: art, design, culture, music and film. Oh, and she really likes writing about it, too. A left coast girl at heart, her Sweetspot finds just might show why the westside really is the best side.
A New Me for the New Year
the view from vancity Vancouver
(Dec.30.09)
Some believe that writing New Years resolutions is cliche and, even worse, an activity destined for failure.
After all, how many people decide to get fit starting the first day of January (or the third, depending on how big New Year's Eve turned out and how much recovery time was required), hit the gym running for two weeks, only to regress back to couch potato status and downloaded episodes of Dexter soon after?
As for me, I like resolutions. I really do. Writing them down shows me just how far I've come as a person in the last year and how far I can continue to grow throughout the next. Resolutions tell me of the values I hold, and the vices I need to let go. Most of all, they remind me that life is always a learning process and that making mistakes is okay, but only if we're willing to be big enough, strong enough and aware enough to fix them.
For me, all of 2008 and some of 2009 was a transitional time, but I know in my heart of hearts and deep within that 2010 is going to be a fantastic year, whether it be in work, love, travel, friends, family, self-awareness or any combination of the above.
Here are five resolutions I've made for 2010:
Volunteer. We spend so much time being concentrating on ourselves and striving to reach our goals that empathy for those in need can get lost in the shuffle. Instead of spending my extra time trying on new lip glosses at Sephora, I should spend time working with organizations like Beauty Night Society, which provides not only makeovers, but guidance on making positive lifestyle changes to marginalized women, youth and children.
Read at least one new book a month. Last year, I made a resolution to quit reading gossip sites like Perez Hilton because I realized there was no way I should know more about Brangelina than world affairs. It worked (surprisingly). This year, I'm making a resolution to read more than magazines and the odd novel every few months. There is so much Ayn Rand, Haruki Murkami, Jose Saramago and Paulo Coelho to be discovered!
Remember that I am what I eat. So all that ice cream, candy and Hersey's chocolate syrup (squeezed very generously into a tall glass of cold milk) I gorged on last week, using the holidays as an excuse for my bingeing ways? I'm surprised I didn't wake up looking like a chocolate sundae this morning. More greens, less green M&Ms. More water, less pink lemonade. More grains, less starch. My cholesterol levels will thank me, I'm sure.
Travel, even if it's solo. Post-university, a good chunk of my friends took a year off to backpack around the world. I, on the other hand, threw myself into career mode and haven't looked back since. Well, it's time I looked back. Or, rather, look forward to making my way to at least one or two new places that are completely unfamiliar to me. Perhaps Japan, Australia, Spain, Bali or Argentina? Oh, the choices...
Get behind the camera more often. I love photography. My iPhone camera roll is a testament to just how many times a day I snap images -- it could be as mundane as what I ate for lunch (today it was clam chowder and salad) or it could be as liberating as a random child running full tilt through David Lam Park. My Lomography camera is gathering dust, and that's not good. It needs a dusting, and I need to capture more of the beautiful moments that happen in my world as they happen.
Tell people that I care about and love how much I appreciate them. I hear too many stories of people who lose loved ones unexpectedly and wish they had just one more second to tell that person just how much they meant to them. They say it's never too late, but in this case, I don't ever want to take that chance again.
What are your thoughts on resolution writing? And what are yours for this year?