Last year I made a long list of new years resolutions, and was impressed to see when I looked at the list at the end of the year, that I had actually kept quite a few of them. I love the feeling you get at the start of January when the year is cold and new and stretches ahead of you with the prospect of Spring and fresh opportunities. It is a great time to put in place inspirations to hold to, of how you would like to spend your time, and what you want your year to look like.
I am always setting myself goals all year round and don't only wait till January to do so, but as I had done so well last year, I really felt I should make just a few.
Nothing particularly came to mind when I thought about making changes to what I was already doing - I already am aware I need to be exercising and eating healthily, and though I don't do these things every day, I try to. I also have a long list of work goals I am building on - and I really didn't want to add yet another thing to that list - so I spent a while googling 'new years resolutions' for inspiration.
One blog I had recently found (and - yes I am very late to the party) is that of the author Gretchen Rubin who wrote 'The Happiness Project'. It is an ongoing blog looking at how to live well and happily , and before New Years she was talking about setting resolutions. One of her points was to consider 'what would make me happier?' and that really struck a chord with me.
One of the things I have always loved to do ever since I was small is reading. I love getting immersed in a novel and love biographies, I have a huge list on amazon of books I want to read. What has been stopping me buying them is I have felt it was extravagant to get these books on a whim, and so the wish list of books has grown and grown.
My main new years resolution is to buy and read one new book a month - which I am really enjoying so far and is definitely boosting my happiness. I can slowly get through that wish list of mine. I am also enjoying listening to more audio books (the Red Dwarf books this week - which are really funny and easy to listen to). I have also found that Project Gutenberg, which have an online catalogue of public domain literature, is really easy to read on my phone and a good source of the classics. I am excited to see that Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse are there because I have heard they are good and can try them for free.
