How to Make 2016 Better

I’m not really a new year’s resolution type person – more like a don’t wait to change type – but with the recent additions to my life, it just so happened to coincide with the beginning of the new year. So I figured to motivate myself more, I’d get some of my personal goals in writing and continue to come back to it throughout the year and see how much I’ve progressed since. I’m hoping it’s a surefire way to remind myself that I have reason to be proud of the person I’ve become and will be.

Ladies and gents, the things I plan to do this year:

• Feed my website

Over the course of the last year, my activity on my website (which should be a testament to the potential and achievements I’ve accomplished in the last 23 years of life) has begun to dwindle. The outcome is that the most visits in the last year have probably been the ones from the last two weeks when I posted about my website on Instagram. This is not to say that the last year has been uneventful for me but it certainly has not been a priority. So I’m going to change that by not only continuing to write on my blog but to make sure I continue to freshen it up with more creations for the portfolio aspect of the site. If I could just settle on a  website look for more than 2 months.

• Stay Creative

In order to make sure that I always have interesting content, I have to create interesting content. This means I’m going to keep writing creatively – even if I feel like I can’t. Hopefully, this leads to submissions to periodicals or websites that I feel confident about and even more hopefully, acceptance of those submissions. This also means that I intend to end out the year having worked on two films – regardless of position on project and length of film. I want these to be quality soul-touching, eye opening pieces so you can believe that I’ll be giving my entire heart to them.

• Continue Learning

This is a pretty broad goal but I have this eternal thirst for knowledge, in almost every aspect. Whether this means continuing my courses at UCLA, making sure to find new techniques on being awesome, working under the guidance of great people or finding out more exciting things about my faith and Saviour; I want to keep my mind active and running.

• Keep Running

I probably ran once in the last year and it was about two weeks ago. I jogged for two miles and I have no idea what the time was, nor do I care to know. So I would like to get back into the groove of things. I feel like I have a lot of pent up energy from not running and it’s driving me to do push ups at midnight, which I’m not sure is effective in any regard.

• Achieve peace of mind

Anyone who knows me more than in passing would know that I’m a little bit – or a lot a bit – neurotic. More recently, I’ve been seeking the ability to manage my stress and anxiety better and I’m not sure how that’s going to happen but I know I’m going to make it happen. It’s not about finding a complete calm, it’s about trying to get my heart beat to a normal pace and be able to focus on what’s in front of me without worrying about what I’m about to forget.

♥

Perhaps these seem like lofty goals but the great thing about this is that I don’t have a deadline. It’s not a bucket list of things I need to accomplish at the end of 2016 (with the exception of the 2 films). It’s a few aspects that I want to touch and keep working on starting from now. I want to see the progress I’ve made at the end of the year and assess what I need to keep working on and tweak it from there.

I have to admit how excited I am, though, and I’m hoping it’s not that kind of “new year resolution high” that fails almost immediately after it starts. Maybe it’s because I’m excited to see what I create or maybe it’s just the energy that’s been waiting to be spent.

But you know, I think it might have a lot to do with the fact I’m about to do it all in a place that I’m absolutely in love with, that I’m happy to call my home.