Reboot: New Year's Resolutions

So, I kicked off 2015 with a post of 10-12 New Year's Resolutions. As the year comes to a close, I must admit I haven't kept many of them. It definitely wasn't a failure, though, and here's why:

• I kept a few. I'm now gainfully employed, and I've had to move the pet that I mentioned wanting to give TLC on two occasions in order to do that, but we managed well!
• Even those not kept were motivating, and I have made progress on some that are of the open-ended variety.
• I can try again. I've heard some say, because these resolutions are rarely kept, why bother? For me, it helps me get my own buy-in, and gives me a large enough window (a whole year) that I can see some progress.

To that end, time to start again! Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2016:

1. Build on last year's gains, bring more focus and direction to my career, and have tangible improvement to show by September.
2. Replace a particular bad habit into which I relapsed in 2014.
3. Be more patient with my older pet, who is more apt to get bored/restless.
4. Improve a particular familial relationship, and, another which is complementary...
5. Let go of resentment, anger, grudges, and mistrust that are in play in 3 relationships, especially a romantic ghost from the past.
6. Continue to cherish my friendships, and not let life's highs or lows distract me from them.
7. Develop better anxiety coping skills so that when I'm feeling pressure or insecure in one or multiple areas of my life, I don't allow that stress to intrude upon other areas of my life.
8. Exercise at least twice a week!
9. Return to Patio Gardening.
10. Develop more financial discipline and return to a relatively more secure footing. Be on a route toward monthly solvency and a small amount of savings by the end of the year.
11. At some point during the year, start dating again, but not with walls built up from the past.
    
12. Continue to develop my confidence and independence.
13. Continue to journal weekly - something I did manage to do last year.
14. Blog once a month - something I obviously did not do.
15. As small as it sounds - do the dishes more regularly!

Some of last year's resolutions that have reappeared - like patio gardening - were allowed to lapse partly because of a major life change that happened in 2015: I moved. After living in the same apartment for multiple years - my first since moving away from home - I moved into one that I never grew to like. Now, if the unit were just not quite what I had hoped, I'd still try to make the best of it, but I also knew from day one that I might not be there long enough to "lay down roots," so I didn't do much of that literally in the form of plant roots.

Now, I love my apartment, and no matter how long I'm here, I'm definitely going to spruce it up. It's winter, but as long as I'm still here in March, there will be some plants on my patios! Technically, there already is one. I'm going to enjoy this place as long as I have it.