What I want to do more in 2016

I've never really been one for new year's resolutions, but I've decided this year to commit to some things I'd like to work on doing more this coming year. I'm a bit of a list-aholic, and I love noting down thoughts and ideas in lists or spider-diagrams. Whilst I was teaching, many a class starting with a brain storming vocabulary session! I've becoming a bit obsessed with Christine's blog recently, and have manically read back through her archive posts, completely enthralled by her writing style, musing on life and inspirational posts. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I was motivated to publish my own 'things I want to do more' post with my hopes for 2016.

If I could choose a word to sum up my hopes for 2016, it would be appreciation. This year I really want to be more settled, 2015 started with much promise but ended up being extremely unsettling. I moved three time, was made redundant and put my MA on the back burner. Thankfully I've ended it much better; finding my home in London, starting an exciting and promising job and gaining an extension for my MA dissertation. I've also re-discovered my creative drive for writing down my musing on here, which I'm really happy about.

So, thanks to 2015 for kicking me up the bum, although it could have been better, it wasn't all bad and things have worked out in the end! Onwards to 2016, here are a few things that I'd like to bring into my life a little more.

Appreciation

To make sure I really take time to acknowledge and remember good things that happen in my life, I've decided to start a good things jar. I decided that I wanted to start doing this a month or so ago, which is why there are actually a couple of memories already in here. I had particular things that I realised I wanted to include and so why wait until January to start? This is a great way to stay present and grateful! 

Health

My 6 weeks without working were some of the most unhealthy of my life. Which was a bit of a shame as I had been eating quite well just before I was made redundant. Since getting back into full time work, I've begun my 5:2 journey once again. In addition to trying to fast for a couple of days a week, I want to make sure that I eat enough fruit. Given a choice I will take a biscuit, chocolate bar or bag of popcorn over an apple or banana, and it doesn't take a genius to work out that that's not the best for your body. So number one here is: eat more fruit. There's a fruit and veg stall right outside the tube station where I get off for work, so it will be extremely easy to stop off there to buy a punnet of cherries or a banana in the morning!

I'm also TERRIBLE at drinking enough water. I can go almost an entire day without drinking any water at all - my hydration comes from tea. So this year, I want to make sure I drink more water.

Communication

Although I still love to send people handwritten letters & cards through the post, and I'm not bad at initiating texts or emails to arrange days out or seeing friends. I'm less proactive about replying to people. I don't really know why this happens - I'll often read an email and think 'I'll reply to that later'. Why later? Why not straight away?! What tends to happen is that I lose track of what needs replying to and as times goes by I either have to start my reply with 'so sorry, I've been really busy' which is a terrible excuse and not really even true, or the message goes without a reply at all. I think this is a bad trait, and it's not representative of who I am. So in 2016, I'm going to try to reply more quickly to emails and texts. I don't generally read messages on the go, which means that I should have plenty of time to reply as soon as I read them.

Friends

My friendships are very important to me, and I feel very lucky to have amazing groups of friends in London (and elsewhere). I see them all quite regularly, but not consistently. Sometimes I'll see friends two months in a row and then two months will whizz past when we realised it's been ages since we were all together. As we grow up and into fuller and fuller lives, it then becomes difficult to organise a time when everyone is free again. So what I'd like to do more in 2016, is to arrange our next get-together before we say goodbye to each other the same day/night. This way everyone can coordinate their diaries in person and even if it ends up being arranged for 2 months time, it's already booked in and we can organise our other activities around it.

Spare Time

A few things I want to do more in my spare time: read more books, take more walks (I live near the river I should walk along it more!) and do more yoga & cycle classes.

Here's a Happy New Year to anyone reading this, I hope 2016 is a healthy happy year!

::Have you made any resolutions or intentions for the new year? Let me know in the comments!::