2013 New Year Resolutions

When it comes to New Year resolutions, I'm definitely of the kind who believe that it doesn't need to be a new year in order to set new goals. But a new set of 12 months are great markers for change and improvement. And if something can motivate individuals to change for the better, why not embrace it?

( runner, Nike photo)

So without the lengthy introduction that I'm prone to supplying, here's my new year resolutions for 2013! (subject to editing if I can think of more)

1. Complete a marathon, more specifcally, the Nike's Women's Marathon in October.

By the time I graduated high school, the longest distance I had ever run was 1.5 miles and even that was rare (only during badminton conditioning). I never thought I could be a consistent runner and said on numerous occasions that I hated running. However, around the beginning of December 2011, I decided that I wanted to be a runner and I'm very proud of how far I've come. Even when I started my running routine, I never considered doing a marathon, but now I welcome the challenge.

2. Run a 7 minute mile.

Another running resolution! I am a very, very, very slow runner. And aside from this, I take at least a mile before my muscles feel warmed up. So I rarely work on improving my mile time. But when I did, I got it down to 8 minutes exactly (a big improvement for me). I want to push my limits and see if I can get it down to 7 minutes. I realize that is very doable for many people, and if you're one of those, then I admire your ability to do so. But this resolution would be miraculous for me to accomplish (I would honestly be very satisfied with 7:30). But resolutions aren't about settling and I don't intend to do so.

3. I want to limit myself to 3 new nail polishes a month. At 3 polishes a month (assuming I purchase nothing higher than the $8 limit) the yearly cost would equal $288. That amount is still very high for nail polish which brings me to next sub-resolution:

3.5. If possible, all nail polishes will be purchased with discount coupon or off a discount site (no Essie/China Glaze/OPI/Revlon/Sally Hansen/etc. at full price). That will hopefully bring the $288 down quite a bit.

4. Complete 60 books by the end of 2013. My goal for 2012 was 50 and I thrive on improvement. I will update a 2013 reading list in a couple days so keep an eye out for that if you're interested!

5. Write 1 book review per week. Pretty self-explanatory.


6. Complete 1 novel or a compilation of short stories. Maybe complete NaNoWriMo for the first time?


7. Write 1 essay every month. This one may sound somewhat strange, but I have read some great essays (David Foster Wallace's "Consider the Lobster") and if I can find things I'm passionate about, I would love to divulge into them more with a set goal in mind. 1 essay a month should be fairly reasonable. If I'm pleased with the result, I may share them here. 


That's all for now.
And like I mentioned earlier, this list is subject to change (most likely additions rather than deletions).

Comment with yours if you have any. Maybe I can find one to steal. (;