Here goes. I have 15 resolutions for 2012 and though that does seem a tad ambitious I am at the same time pretty confident that everything is quite doable and I have been deliberately specific about my goals. I feel that 2012 is going to be a good year and a year of many changes and beginnings and I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so excited about a new year and a new chapter. This time next year I hope that I’ll have a lot to say.
1. Get sponsorship to train as a Deck Officer.
I want to train as a Deck Officer, travel the world and hopefully not have to pay tax. However to train you have to be sponsored by a shipping company and there’s no way around this. As such achieving this resolution early on in 2012 is pretty essential. As I type this I am currently awaiting a response from an interview that I had and I have a few other interviews on the horizon.
2. Start College.
Blatantly this relates to the above but achieving resolution one doesn’t mean that number two will be achieved by default. There’s a lot of paperwork, medicals and visa applications inbetween being offered a position and starting College in September, so much to achieve and get through. This time I know that I won’t be walking out on College before even starting.
3. Be a good student.
Unsurprisingly this resolution also ties in with the one above it. I have always been a successful student in the sense that I’ve always done well and achieved high grades but I’ve never been a good student. I’ve never done things on time, made that extra effort or cared about retaining the information after I’d taken the exam, written the essay or got the grade I wanted. With this in mind I want to be a good student and I’m hoping that being able to see the practical application of what I’m learning will aid this.
4. Climb Machu Piccu.
This is one of my physical challenges of the year. I know that there’s an almost 100% chance that I will get to trek to Machu Piccu this summer but ideally I want to be able to enjoy the trek and not find it overly arduous. For the first time ever I want to do something like that and not constantly be thinking about the horror of the physical exertion, I want this to be at most a secondary thought.
5. Lose more weight.
I lost a decent amount of weight in 2011 and in 2012 I want to be a low-ish to mid weight for my height by the end of the year. To be less abstract, I want to lose 3.5 to 4 stone and then I’ll never need to lose weight again. Ever. Provided I never put any back on which given the effort I’ve had to put in to shift it in the first place seems highly unlikely. I think it’s doable anyway.
6. Keep both of my blogs up to date.
I blog regularly and then I don’t blog at all for months and months and months. I seem to have been like this since I was about 14 or 15 years old. At the moment I have been blogging regularly on both of my blogs and actually really enjoy it so I aim to keep this up in 2012. For the record I define regularly as at least one decent sized post per week but hopefully more and I would like to do some travel reviews of places that I’ve been to as well.
7. Trek in a Rainforest.
This is another physical challenge really. I had always wanted to see and experience a rainforest but had never had the chance nor the actual inclination. However, with going to South America this sumer I will get the chance to and I want to make the most of it by being physically fit and not moaning my way through the 3 days of trekking. Much like Machu Piccu I want to be able to enjoy the experience and not be thinking about the physical aspects of the experience.
8. Improve my maths and physics.
Ok, so I’m not actually bad at either of these subjects but I haven’t studied them since taking my GCSEs in July 2004 and I’m going to need them. I could have chosen to study them at A level but didn’t as that would have involved making an effort. How lazy. Anyway, I intend to study both maths and physics to AS level standard if not full A level.
9. Find a boyfriend.
It would be nice if this happened though I’m quite happy to fail at this one if I don’t find the right person in 2012. There’s nothing worse than being stuck with someone that’s a right pest.
10. Don’t waste money.
I’m not a great waster of money but I do tend to fall for various odds and ends that do add up. A book here a downloaded album there and there’s no way I need the vast amount of these things so I’m aiming to cut back and save the money for more important things.
11. Be more social.
It’s not that I’m anti social it’s more that a lot of the time I just can’t be bothered. Yes, I’ll agree to going out in the evening but then when I get in from work I can’t bear the thought of heading out again. On the occasions that I do bite the bullet and going out I do always have a good time and my not being bothered is not a reflection on the company, the problem is with me. So in 2012 I’m going to just go out and have a good time and not think of an excuse!
12. Get away for a couple of weekends.
Weekends away to Dublin and also to Barcelona are in the pipeline and it would be lovely to have some sightseeing weekends away with good friends. I’m sure these trips will come to pass but I’m looking forward to them so much that I want to make sure that they do.
13. Stay in touch with people.
I’m terrible at staying in touch with all but a very small amount of people and again this is a failure on my part. I don’t know why I don’t bother, it’s not malicious I just sort of let people fall by the wayside. Maybe I think that I’m frightened of being the only person making an effort and looking like a fool. Anyway, from now on in I’ll be making the effort.
14. Read at least two books a month.
I made a bit of a hash of this resolution last year by not specifying what I intended to get through in order to qualify as having “read more” so this year I’m aiming to read at least two books a month. I’m not saying that I have to read anything of intellectual merit just two decent sized books a month.
15. Climb/walk Mount Snowdon.
My final resolution. I’m not sure why I want to do this one, I think that I’ve seen someone else’s pictures from the same walk and quite fancy it. That and it is a mountain, albeit a small one, and I like the idea that I’ve climbed a mountain.
That’s that then…