RESOLVED 2015!!!

Thursday, January 1:  Happy New Year!! It’s that time of year again, time to give some thought to the year ahead.  I’m always enthusiastic about turning the calendar to an untarnished new year, and getting a fresh start on what I hope will be the life of my dreams. However, I know it’s a challenge to keep myself disciplined. Accomplishing my New Year’s Resolutions in past years has always been a mixed bag. I achieve some of what I set out to do, and other things I don’t even touch.

“If you have the capacity to be more than one thing, do everything that’s inside of you.” ~ Bishop T. D. Jakes

This is the problem. I want to do everything that’s inside of me. And because of that, I actually never get anything done!

the big dreamer 🙂

I like to think about what I want to accomplish in different areas of my life.  So here are my resolutions for 2015:

1. Health:
   1. Try to walk 3 miles at least 5 days a week.  I was doing this regularly in Virginia, but ever since I arrived in China, my walking habit has fallen by the wayside.
   2. Eat healthier food, especially vegetables. I have had stomach problems almost constantly in China, and I need to remedy that situation as it really ruins my outlook on life when I don’t feel good.
   3. DRINK WATER!  This is something I never think to do.  I’m afraid my body is in a state of constant dehydration.
2. Finances:
   1. After my six-week upcoming holiday, when I’m sure I will spend every little bit I’ve earned on travel, I should attempt save as much as possible to take back home with me in July.
3. Writing:
   1. Send out at least 20 query letters to agents when I return home in July. I finished the third draft of my novel in May of 2014, but I haven’t yet sent out a single query letter.
4. Photography:
   1. Be bold!  Practice using the manual settings on my camera and experiment with photos.
   2. Get a photo editing program and play around with photos.
   3. Take a photography class when I return to the USA in the fall.
   4. Rejoin Vienna Photographic Society when I return to Virginia.
5. Travel:
   1. Travel with Mike up to Yangshuo and Guilin and into Hunan Province, specifically FengHuang and Zhangjiajie, in January. DONE!!

   2. 

      Boats on the Yulong River near Dragon Bridge in Yangshuo

   3. Travel with Alex into Yunnan Province, especially to Lijiang, Shaxi, Dali and the Stone Forest. DONE!  
   4. I’ll fly solo to Myanmar and stay there for about 2-3 weeks during February, visiting Mandalay, Bagan, Inle Lake, Yangon, and anyplace else we can squeeze in. DONE!
   5. Continue exploring more of Guangxi province during the spring semester, specifically Bama, Mingshi Tianyuan, Zuo River Scenic Area near Chongzuo City, Weizhou Island and Beihei, Sanjiang, Daming Mountain, Longhu Mountain, Huangtao Ancient Town, and Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge.
   6. Go to Hong Kong for a long weekend.
   7. In Nanning, go to the Liangfengjiang National Forest Park, Guangxi Ethnic Relics Center and the Museum of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and the Guangxi Science and Technology Museum.
   8. Return to Ping’An and the Longji Rice Terraces in early summer.
      

      Nine Dragons & Fiver Tigers rice terraces in Ping’An

   9. Visit Bali or Sri Lanka or Malaysia when I leave China, on my way back to Virginia in July.
   10. Go with Mike to Iceland as we intended to do last year but weren’t able to because of his mother’s passing away.
6. Profession:
   1. I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.  I teach English abroad as a means to an end: to travel.  After countless futile job applications, I no longer have any hope that I will ever break into the field in which I got my Master’s, International Commerce & Policy, mainly because of the age discrimination that runs rampant in America.  Thus, I may attempt to simply return to Northern Virginia Community College in the fall; after that I might attempt to go to Japan to work for one semester in Spring of 2016.  That’s my thought at this moment, anyway.
7. Language and knowledge goals:
   1. Study Chinese at least 10-15 minutes every day.
   2. Try to learn one new phrase a day.  Make it mine!!
8. Social:
   1. Try to be more proactive about making friends.  I tend to sit by and wait for people to forge friendships with me, but I need to be bolder and braver about making overtures.
   2. Try to invite someone new to do something once each month.
9. Spirituality:
   1. Begin a meditation practice, starting with at least 10 minutes a day.
   2. Read books about Buddhism, pilgrimage, spirituality, along with my other reading.  
10. Reading:
    1. Read 25 books. Here are some books on my reading list for this year:
       1. China Dog by Judy Fong Bates (January 17)
       2. My Last Empress by Da Chen
       3. The Crazed by Ha Jin (March 1)
       4. River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze by Peter Hessler
       5. Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen
       6. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
       7. Equal Love by Peter Ho Davies
       8. Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman (January 31)
       9. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
       10. The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
       11. The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
       12. The House on the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
       13. The Time it Snowed in Puerto Rico  by Sarah McCoy
       14. When I was Puerto Rican: A Memoir by Esmeralda Santiago
       15. The Happiness of Pursuit by Chris Guillebeau
       16. Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlan
       17. Fresh Air Fiend by Paul Theroux (finish)
       18. Video Night in Kathmandu by Pico Iyer
       19. American Romantic by Ward Just

NOTE TO SELF: You have the day ahead at your disposal. Don’t think in terms too great. Think about only what you can accomplish in a day. 🙂

At first dreams seem impossible, then improbable, then inevitable.

~ Christopher Reeve

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Ultimately, my dream is to combine writing and travel somehow, either by planning and offering writing retreats in far-flung parts of the globe, or by going abroad for several months at a time and writing like my life depended on it. Writing retreats would combine my natural teaching ability, my wanderlust, and my writing dreams. However, I feel the first step is to get published, so I can establish some credentials, and some credibility. One step at time….. I would love to hear some of your resolutions for 2015.  Please share! 🙂