It’s a new year, time for fresh starts and new beginnings! Everyone is energized after the holidays and time off work, ready to start over.  This year, I’m making goals that I fully intend to reach. Although they aren’t huge resolutions, I know that each of these small things put together will lead to a happy and healthy 2017.

Read one book per week. I love reading, but I often get sucked into reality television at night instead of a good book. I have a stack of books I ordered to get me started including Difficult Women by Roxane Gay, Mischling by Affinity Konar, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson, The Girls by Emma Cline, Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran and (the most daunting of all) Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Even though Infinite Jest is known to be a “difficult read,” I want to tackle this rather large book this year and cross it off my list.

Write more snail mail. I have my stationary, pens and plenty of stamps, I’m bringing back the art of handwritten notes! Checking your mailbox is rarely exciting unless you’ve ordered something. I would look forward to opening my mail more if it contained letters from friends near and far. Going to school across the country from where I currently live, it’s easy to lose touch with old friends, so I’m gathering addresses and making a point of writing more letters to keep those friendships alive.

Purge the junk. Stuff, stuff, stuff and more stuff. It’s time to eliminate the unnecessary to live a more simple life! I am guilty of being a mindless consumer, which is probably why we have a storage unit full of stuff we haven’t even touched in a year. If we haven’t used it in over a year, why are we hanging on to it…and paying for a place to store it? I’m ready to go room by room and declutter my life. Adverntures > stuff.

Work hard, be kind. We can all be a little be nicer in our daily lives. I want to focus on me, my business, my life. Wouldn’t we all be a little happier if we focused on our own personal growth? You do you, I’ll do me. Be kind!

Do my best. Whether this is cooking at home more, getting my butt to the gym, learning something new…whatever I do, I want to do my best. With a wedding coming up in my (somewhat) near future, I have health goals I want to meet. I’m not going to say I’m going to lose x amount of weight this year, I just want to do my best and know that I’ve done all I can do. And be happy knowing that I’ve done my best.