12 Changes in 2012

When Katherine and Stephany put out the idea of making 12 Changes in 2012 into the twitterverse, I was immediately drawn to the idea. Resolutions and absolutes are always a bit hit-or-miss with me because I hate feeling like I'm a strict schedule, nor do I really think taking on all these self-improvement ideas all at once so quickly really works. I've struggled with it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

So when one of their conversations turned into the idea of 12 Changes in 2012 - making 1 change per month to gradually integrate it into life - I knew it was something I had to do.  Slow works for me, as does repetition and allowing some mistakes and/or slip-ups as we try to better ourselves.

Because I've been sick the first few days of the year, the months I was assigning my changes to kind of became part of an elimination process; a few I couldn't do since the sickness got the best of me (and still is, really), others I already knew there was no hope to complete in January anyway.  However, I'm happy to see that I'm actually keeping to a few of them already, so there's hope in my future yet!

So, such follows my 12 Changes I plan to make in 2012.

>January: Eat fruit 1-2 times per week. This kind of happened since I was downing oranges in the hopes of fending off being sick (I don't like orange juice but love oranges...go figure), and so far I've managed to eat apples, pineapple and oranges - and it's only the 3rd! I forget how much I love fruit, and I have no idea why I backed off eating it in the first place. Delicious, and kind of an easy one to integrate. Start off the year slowly, but surely.

>February: Exercise 1-2 times per week. I wanted this to be January's, but being sick has already made me bed- and couch-ridden for 3 of the first 4 days of January. So, February it is! I used to run 3 miles every other day, and play tennis two or three times a week - ideally I'd like to get back to that by the end of the month, but we'll stick with the realistic plan of just exercising at all weekly.

>March: Skip Soda 4 meals a week. My dad is addicted to Coke, so it's consistently in my house - and I consistently drink it. I've figured out that it's not that I want Coke, but I like to have something other than water, so I've been attempting to get cranberry juice, apple juice, and iced tea worked in. It might not be that much healthier than Coke, but...it has to be a little bit, right? The goal is to have soda cut out of my diet by 2013, but we'll just try cutting it down for a month and see how that goes first.

>April: Drink More Water. To go along with the cutting soda, I know I definitely don't get the recommended daily intake of water. Hopefully I'll substitute all those meals accompanied by water, as well as have it constantly throughout my day. In college I used to bring a water bottle with me everywhere, so I'm thinking I'll get back to that.

>May: Comment on >5 blogs each week. I am a terrible, terrible blog friend in that I rarely comment on blogs. I know it's horrible, and of course I always appreciate people's posts - but for some reason, I completely fail on the interaction part. My excuse is that since it's all in a Reader, I'm just a lazy fuck who can't click over to the post - which is a terribly poor excuse!  I love my blog friends, and I hope to be able to properly start expressing so this month. Hopefully it will be well over 5 blogs (I follow 200+!), but I'll set a bar low with 5.

>June: Clean/maintain my hard drive once a week. I am constantly downloading things: pictures for blogs, personal photos, music, ebooks (I can't believe I admitted that...), movies, craft templates, pretty much everything. They all automatically go to one folder, which of course means that folder is an absolutely mess. I also don't rename files often, so I'll have images that are like "982349_132_r" and I have no clue what it is.  Hopefully if I can set aside time weekly to get it all taken care of, it'll maintain itself nicely and I won't have to search 4 folders and 978234 files for that picture of a bunny.

>July: Blog 3-4 times a week. Normally I would put this a bit higher, but I just launched a book blog so I know it's going to take a few months to figure out how to handle having 2 and getting everything sorted. Looking back at the end of 2011, I was really disappointed that I hadn't blogged consistently during many of the months - I like having records of my days and getting to revisit fun memories or realize that I've gone through situations before and will make it through. Hopefully consistence will turn into habit and i won't have that same disappointment at the end of the year.

>August: Walk to the library twice a month. I am quite fortunate to live within a mile of a library. However, revisiting that lazy fuck thing, I never, ever walk to it! I always drive. Mostly it's because I usually lump library visits with errands so I'll just drop by at the end, but I've realized I am wasting a great exercise opportunity here. I go to the library at least once a week (usually twice, and on occasion it has been three...one week it was four, but we're not talking about that) and need to take advantage of this. And maybe if I'm feeling braver, I have another library 3.5 miles away, and another 4 miles away, and yet another one about 8 miles away...future goals, maybe?

>September: All Electronics (laptop/ipad/tv) of by midnight. I know we're all guilty of this: constant connection. The last thing I do is check my email, turn off my computer, and hop into bed. The first thing I do is roll over, grab my phone, and check if I've gotten any emails or texts.  And that's terrible.  I've read that it takes our body at least an hour to really shut down after we've turned off all exterior electronic stimulation (which could be the cause of a lot of tossing and turning before bed).  There is nothing that important on my computer that I need to have it attached to me at all hours of the day, and in September, I intend to embrace that idea and have them all off by midnight.

>October: Wake up by 9am three times a week. Tying into the electronics off by midnight, I'm hoping that means I'll also go to bed sooner - which means I'll wake up earlier, too. This may be forced to change when I eventually find a job, but for now, my hours of living are about 11am-4am.  And that's so unhealthy it makes me cringe just thinking about it. Especially in the winter months because I lose almost all daylight! Morning is productivity, and in October, I will make it happen.

>November: Finish a novel. Ok, this is kiiiiiind of cheating since November is NaNoWriMo, but I can do that, right? My changes, my rules :).  I consistently do NaNo, but I've yet to finish any of my stories!  This year, I will.  I WILL.

>December: Keep car tidy. Hopefully I'll keep this throughout the year, but December always turns into a ridiculous month with the holidays and rushing everywhere. Gifts, gift wrap, bags, food from on the go, leftover cookie platters and cupcake bins are always going in and out of my car, and things get left behind. I keep my car pretty clean anyway, but there's always a bottle or something rolling somewhere. December will hopefully close the year with a tidy vehicle.

And there we have it!  Everything seems simple enough where I can slowly get it into my daily habits, and hopefully end 2012 an improved version of myself.

If you'd like to join, the more the merrier!

Get in touch with Katherine or Stephany and get added to the e-mail list :)

12 Changes Twitter: @TwelveChanges

12 Changes website: http://12changes12months.wordpress.com/

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Happy March, lovies!

Contrary to the exclamation point used in the post title, it's actually been a pretty terrible weekend.  It was just a sequence of days where every doubt I've ever had about me and my life comes creeping around and settles on my shoulder.  And they've had a heavy lunch.  And they're carrying backpacks filled with boulders.  Having a party.  And they call all their friends and family to join them, so next thing I know all these doubts I didn't even know I had are creeping around in my head.  I'm doubting everything, from ability to lack of job to friendships to future to past mistakes...it's terrible.

It's hard to snap back from that, but...I'm trying.

That said, Happy March! How in the world are we three months deep into the new year already? I understand I lost about 16 days glued to my TV cheering random sports and countries in the hopes of 3 medals, but I'm still a bit befuddled.

This promises to be an...interesting month.  For several reasons, most of which revolve around the fact that in 19 days, I turn 23.  Twenty-three freakin' years old.  I feel so old, and so young.  Time can never be harnessed, and yet I feel like a lifetime has passed.

I don't make a big deal about my birthday.  I never really have, mostly because it falls at an inopportune time for students.  Always a test, a final, a big assignment--or if it is Spring Break, none of my friends are around or I'm gone.  I've never thought it was a problem, because that's how it has always been.  And I don't feel sad about the non-parties, because going to dinner with my family is enough for me.  Besides, birthdays are transferable in my house; I can celebrate it any week I want (within reason, of course).

But this year, it's unavoidable.  See, in a military kid's life, certain birthdays mean something.  A child of a military parent is called a dependent.  As a dependent, you are given certain privileges and benefits: access to the base, a waiver on your tuition (state colleges of residence only), discounts.  But most importantly, you are given health benefits.  Every health concern is completely covered.  My shitty teeth, three years of braces, the one year of a retainer...covered.  My two ovarian cysts, sprained ankle, carpal-tunnel-but-not wrists, arthritic ankles, stress headaches, a brief and terribly painful stint of high blood pressure combined with kidney stones, all of which resulted in ER trips and/or several doctor trips...covered.  My slowly regressing vision, the glasses to fix my almost legal blindness...covered.

A dependent's privileges end when he or she reaches the age of 21...UNLESS you are attending college full time.  If that is the case, then the privileges are extended until the age of 23.  My entire life, I've never had to worry about paying for a single medical expense.  And all of a sudden, I'm going to be thrust into this world without any coverage...and I don't have a job.  This is a definite cause for concern.  It's safe to say that I'm on the verge of hyperventilation at this thought.  Except that could cause a lot more medical problems, and I can't afford that.  Oh irony, you kill me...

March also marks my 6 month mark of unemployment.  I never thought I'd have such a gap of unemployment, and I do not look forward to explaining this to any interviewers.  The job search suffered a pretty bad setback this year, since I was sick for the entire first month.  And then I lost my resume file in all the computer switching, so it's been extreme slow-going of rebuilding that alongside the portfolio.  Those doubts were all back this week, reminding me how I was supposed to be working my way up through the editorial route at some magazine...and here I am watching a Disney movie with the only plans of this week being my third dentist appointment to fix more cavities.

Snapping back...right.

On the bright side of my birthday, I am no longer in school, which means proper celebration!  A few friends and I are going up to Newport Beach for a weekend, so I'm excited to see a bunch of my friends.  It will be kind of nice to have (almost) everyone I love together, so at least I have that to look forward to.

Also, that means one more month until ScriptFrenzy! I haven't fully decided if I'm going to do it since I've never had an inkling of a desire to write a screenplay.  Nor do I know anything about the style...or have a decent idea for a script...or think I could possibly write stage directions...or picture how my writing would be on a screen.  But, you know...creativity!  Writing!  It's things I love, I may as well consider it, right?  Right.

And I am looking forward to Spring.  Winter is my favourite season, but all this rain is so unusual for southern California that I'm looking forward to getting the heat back on my body.  Beaches and tank tops and sunglasses (even though I can't wear those) and shorts and driving with the windows down and breeze flowing through.  Plus, I'm lookin' mighty pale for a brown girl...it'll be nice to get a little bit o' colour back on me.

There's always a light where the shadows fall, at least.

What's in store for your month?

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Blog Challenge Catch-Up & Blog Shoutout

I am happy to report that December 13 passed uneventful - not entirely, but nothing bad happened. So yay for that! (Please see post right below to understand why this merits a note.)

Second, before I play catch-up with the Blog Challenge, I want to highlight a blog I've recently stumbled upon. I decided to join 20sb (see icon on the right for details) in an effort to connect through this blog with others, and one of the blogs it led me to is Insomnia and Short Attention Spans. I like his blog - it's interesting, it's diverse in its subjects, it introduced me to a sport called chess boxing (really. Google it.). Not meant to be a pun, but I really do have a short attention span when it comes to blogs sometimes. His writing keeps me reading. And, in the ultimate win of my appreciation, he not only made a Friends (the tv show) reference, but worked it effortlessly into a blog post! That, my friends, is talent.

And lastly, the Blog Challenge catch up!
Day 13: What's the best change you made to the place you live?
When I moved back in with my parents after being laid-off, the re-creation of my room was definitely interesting. Before I left for college, I packed up everything and put it in boxes in my closet and around the perimeter. During my four years of college, things just built up in there; my family stored stuff, each year i brought things home to keep out of my college apartment, friends/family came to stay and left things. So when I moved back, having to sort it all out and then work 4 years of college life back in...that was a challenge. But I've made it entirely liveable, and I feel it reflects who I am now.

Day 14: Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year?
Cliche as it may be, my graduation from college. Specifically, walking the stage. It's standard and stereotypical, but it really is transitional and meaningful. Crossing from education into "real" world was the biggest rush I've had yet...for better or for worse.

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