With the dawn of a fresh new year, comes a brand new age. And no, I don’t mean a new era or generation or epoch, but literally a new age, as marked by my birthday on the second day of the year. When it comes to New Years goals or resolutions, they act doubly for me. Any intentions I set for the calendar year, automatically become the standard for my new age as well. I think it’s kind of unique and somewhat exciting that I get to celebrate growing another year older, with the turn of a new year. This year, I have set 8 words of intention for 2018, and 27 years old.

EMBRACE

Embrace my passions. Acknowledge my interests, ideas and beliefs and begin to manifest them into my daily life. Staying rooted in my passions will allow them to flourish, and in turn they’ll start to become habit, rather than sporadic. I want to live a life where my passions are a priority and build my day around them, not the reverse.

CREATE

Create things that I am proud of, brought forth by passion. This is intrinsically motivated, because it’s empowering to create pieces of work that are an expression of myself. Whether it be writing, photos, baking or hand lettering, each of these things is a creative release and each one can build off of the other, as creativity will flourish when creativity is nourished.

TRAVEL

Travel to at least three new places. This can be anywhere from outside of Canada, to within my own tiny little county! Though I have a fairly extensive travel bucket list, most of the destinations are intercontinental. And because I’m not made of money, but also have extreme wanderlust, I’m hoping that it can be satisfied with small scale adventures just as much as big ones. Regardless of the distance, it’s always exhilarating to explore new places, see new sights and immerse yourself in a new area (even if it’s only 4 hours away, haha).

LISTEN

Start listening to more podcasts, minimum three times a week. I want to listen to new topics and learn about things otherwise unknown to me. This will encourage me to open my mind to new ideas and concepts, expanding my knowledge and critical thinking. I’ve listened to a few true crime podcasts in the pasts, as well as a few interviews with some of my favourite actors. I enjoyed each one and was thoroughly interested, I just sort of fell out of touch with the habit of listening to podcasts. But, I would love to get back into it. If you have any favourite podcasts, I’d love to know about them.

FOCUS

Focus on the present moment. I often feel a lack of focus for the moment that I’m currently in, and find my mind wandering elsewhere to other impending tasks or ideas. This lack of focus for the moment that I’m in, not only causes me to miss out on it, but causes those that I’m with, to suffer to. It’s important to train my mind to be focused and attentive. Remain present in whatever situation I’m in, without mentally wandering away. Become fully engrossed in the moment at hand, and show those that are with me, the priority of full engagement.  

READ

It’s simple. Read more books, cut down on screen time. Fiction, short stories, poems or biographies, I need to get back to stimulating my brain through literature instead of “likes”. Books help to keep the brain ever flowing, and can offer an escape from the present. So if I can’t travel to places, at least I’ll travel on pages.

MOVE

Move my body more! I love to run, but it often gets shoved aside when life gets too busy. But getting my body moving, through running, hiking, yoga or anything else, will fill me with endorphins and encourage me to move my body even MORE. When I’m really physically active and keep at it consistently, I find that I sleep better, I’m more alert and I just want to keep on doing it.

LOVE

Love myself, love those close to me and love my other half. I want to always feel my own potential and value, and remind those I love of their own, when they need help remembering it. Express love to my other half in every way I can, and show each other how much love we have to give, every single day.