Year-End Resolution Recap: Part 2

In 2015, instead of setting resolutions in January and trying to keep up with all of them and then angrily abandoning all of them when it became hard, I chose one per month. Overall, it was an awesome experience, and much easier to maintain when I was only focusing on one thing at a time.

You can read Part 1 here!

Did I Do it?
Hell yeah. You can read about it here or watch below



What I Learned:

I can do anything.

I set out to downsize everything I have into two suitcases because I was planning to move to San Francisco. I didn't want to take everything with me because I had no idea where I'd be living, or how long it would take me to find a place to live (I was planning on staying at a hostel until I found a place of my own.) Plus, most importantly, I wanted to see if I could.

On a hoarding scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is "I live out of my truck" and 10 is "there's a truck underneath that pile of stuff" I'm at about a 6 (used to be about an 8 two years ago). I'd like to be at most a 4. What a great opportunity to push myself, right?

But I also spent so long making my studio in Phoenix into a comfortable, cozy space. I genuinely loved my apartment and the things in it. It brought me lots of joy.

So I gave most of what I cherished to people I love. My beautiful sparkling lights are with someone I love. My giant wall-sized whiteboard is with someone I love. My couch, the comfiest couch in the world, is with someone I love. My bookshelf/desk, the cleverest furniture combo, is with someone I love. My dishes, my candles, my boxes of tea, my books, everything that made my lovely apartment a cozy place is with someone I love. And it made it easier to say goodbye to it, and to them.

And I did it. I could do it.

This was a period of time where I was working 13 hours days. Reading feels like an actual break, so I thought this would be a good time to set a reading goal.

When I set this goal, I knew it was very ambitious, since it usually takes me about a month to finish a book. But I figured it would convince me to choose reading over spending time on a computer, so I upped the ante.

Turns out, I really didn't spend that long on the computer (because I was working 13 hours a day.) I also didn't read 4 books like I planned. I had time for 2. They were great, I'd recommend both--

    

I posted this on my instagram at the end of july:

And got some great ideas from people (especially erica)

Did I Do It?
Not even a little bit. I tried. I tried different prompts and I tried lots of times, but I did not draw a single thing that month because I spent that whole time staring at a blank piece of paper and hating myself a little more each time I couldn't draw anything.

What I Learned
Drawing isn't hard because I can't think of what to draw. Drawing is hard because I'm scared of drawing something ugly. While I didn't meet my resolution this month, that realization was important. It actually helped me sort out where those feelings were coming from, which helped me draw stuff three months later: