A Non-New Years Resolution

Everyone knows New Years Resolutions made at new year are never kept. Fuelled largely by guilt and peer pressure, they are made for other people, a result of the overindulgence of the festive season, and do not come from a genuine desire to change.

That’s why this year, I decided to get a head start on my new start, rather than wait for an arbitrary date in the calendar to get my changes started. I have decided, in my typical nerd-mindset way, to make a list, as they are both calming and aesthetically pleasing. So in no particular order: here are my desires for change: (Insert over-dramatic drumroll here)

• Get off my backside and actually start the blog I’ve been promising myself I’ll start since…well since I made the New Years Resolution to start a blog on January 1st, 2017. (Proving my own point already!)
• Declutter. I have actually already made a pretty good start on this, but there are still Very Important Items (AKA pieces of tat) which I can’t let go of. In all honesty, this is partly due to the desire to have a clear, zen space; I am a firm believer that your surroundings can influence your mind and wellbeing. Also, I really, really hate cleaning, so the less stuff I have to move and clean to achieve the aforementioned zen mindset, the better. Everyone wins!
• Head towards a more ethical diet and lifestyle. I have been veggie for a few years now, and my main motivation is ethical and environmental concerns. Anyone who knows me will know I am (just a little) bit of an eco-warrior. I prefer animals to people, and I think it’s about time we as human beings stepped up and faced the fact that we are seriously screwing up our planet, and we need to sort it. No one else will. Sorry not sorry. I include myself in this; I have done enough early research to know the damaging effect of the dairy industry on our planet, and I can no longer ignore that simply to fulfil my unhealthy need for chocolate hobnobs. Ditto expensive cosmetics and skincare which are involved in animal testing, plastic tat, and making the easy choice over the ethical one. Lecture over, deep breath.

• Waste less time. I am the Queen of Procrastination, and in particular social media. (I am aware of the slight hypocrisy of this statement as I sit and write a blog post…). In a conversation with a friend recently we added up the amount of time we had spent checking Facebook, Instagram etc over the last week, (I am so lucky to have friends as strange as me)… it basically turned out we could have leaned about three languages and read War and Peace in that time. So I am trying to reduce my social media consumption, not only to gain more time in my day, but to reduce the relentless infiltration of negativity, competition and FOMO which flood my prefrontal cortex on an hourly basis. (Disclaimer: I have amazing friends all over the world. I am defiantly not anti-Facebook, or I’d miss out on such wonderful people. The issue is a more healthy and balanced use.) Which brings me on to…
• Learn more stuff. My name is Jodie, and I am a massive nerd. And I am so ok with that. Since I was a little kid, I’ve been obsessed with learning; to the extent that some of my lovely childhood friends renamed me Hermione (thanks guys!). The world is absolutely bloody massive. There’s a lot of stuff in it, and I want in.

• Travel. Again, big world, let me see it ASAP please
• Stop wasting money on absolute rubbish. In general, I would consider myself quite thrifty, and pretty good with money. My main issue is impulse buying; my brain is instantly transformed into that of a small child who needs that pretty thing NOW. I’m not proud, but we are what we are. My main splurge (unsurprisingly!) is books; I’ m not particularly fashion forward (killing the planet, unnecessary waste, total annihilation of planet earth due to drowning under a wave of plastic shoes and Primark fast fashion, etc etc), and the majority of my wardrobe comes from the very rich people who live in my town and kindly donate their worn-once Ted Baker coats to charity shops and sell them for about ten quid. Books, however, are my weakness. I can’t walk past a Waterstones without going in, and once there I need to buy the entire stock. I need rehab (as long as rehab has a library)… I am aware I can also be a bit head in the sand about stuff, so it’s time to put on my big girl pants and deal with things head on. In theory.

• Stop giving so much of a fuck. Apologies for the profanity, but it makes the point. There are a number of things in this word it is important to care very very much about: family, friends, animal cruelty, being kind to others, poverty, abuse, your health, the state of the planet, inequality, oppression…everyone has things in their lives which they care very deeply about, and that is necessary. However, there are things you absolutely do not need to give a single fuck about, such as other peoples opinions of you (as long as you haven’t done anything to harm others), the opinions of fashion houses as to what you should or shouldn’t wear, the opinion of society about your choice in films, TV, music, celebrities, hobbies, sports team, flavour of ice cream, political party, hairstyle, colour of your house, car, number of times you cut your fingernails, the colour underwear you choose…. its exhausting. Don’t bother with that. As the fabulous Eleanor Roosevelt once said:

• “What other people think of you, is none of your business.”

  As long as you don’t hurt anyone, this is excellent advice, Just trust me on this. For the sake of your mental health, personal joy and freedom, just follow this one piece of advice.

  So this has been a bit of an essay, but I’m hoping writing and posting it will help hold me accountable and remind me to shake things up a bit. Feel free to follow me on my journey; it will probably be totally boring and not that exciting but hey, if you read this instead of a Tweet you can feel all smug because there are more words.

  Peace and love and stuff

  J x