are you ready for it.

happy new year! - in the words of t-swift herself, are you ready for it? 

do you set resolutions? do you celebrate new year's eve? i am a sucker for how one spends the moments leading into and following midnight on december 31st can set a precedent for how the following year is going to spent.  this year was great. i spent it with two of my favourite people. the three of us have been friends for almost six years. we became friends because we all participated in a year long gap program. the first day we sat down on a couch together with everyone else in our program and i think it was fate the three of us sat together and we've been friends ever since. they are the most positive, light warming, caring, genuine people i have met. we spent the evening drinking wine and playing games. today we took a road trip to grand bend, a beach surf town on ontario's "west coast". we sat on the beach and drank coffee and then explored the town. we then drove back to the city listening to good music and simply enjoying each other's company. tonight we are writing our intentions, resolutions and thoughts for the year. 

 an old co worker of mine has inspired me to have monthly intentions this year instead of

one or two bad resolutions i can't and won't stick with. i am going to write down one month as a time as they come and then reflect at the end of the month how it went and what i would change and what i plan on continuing to implement in the following month from the proceeding one. 

so here is january. this is what it includes.

REFRESH, REFOCUS, RE-GROUP.

  - make my new bedroom my safe, cozy place. be intentional on putting plants in my room as this brings me so much joy having to take care of something else besides myself. put pictures up in my room to remind me of the things and people i love. i want to get one of those old school bulletin cork boards with tacks to put up the things i love. 

-mental & physical health. i want to join a yoga studio. even if it's once a week and i can only go to the cheap class on friday nights. i want to be as plant based as i can, but not too be too hard on myself and to set too many rules at the risk of setting myself up for failure. january will be no red meat and no cheese. this isn't saying i will do this for the rest of the year. i was a pescatarian for 7 years and i have been thinking about getting back into this routine if i am able to. slowly trying and removing things from my diet.

-make a budget - start paying off things off, one thing at a time. i don't and can't stress or try and pay everything off at once. i know it's unrealistic to pay everything off right away, or even in one year post school but i am going to try and make a budget to make finances less stressful. money has always been one of the biggest stressors in my life and i know it effects other aspects of my life. i know i need to still live and enjoy things and treat myself everyone once and a while and to not feel guilty about splurging on myself even though i know i owe money. my life cannot just be working to come home to save the paycheck to pay everything off. living is just as important as paying off the debt.

these are my intentions for january, simple but full of opportunities and options for myself. i look forward to touching base at the end of the month to discuss what worked really well and what i would change.

i found this quote will brainstorming on intentions, "if you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters." i love this. i hold myself to an extremely high standard and love to be in a mindset where i can try and achieve my own definition of excellence. i know when i tackle and conquer my physical and mental health, the other aspects i want to complete become easier and enjoyable because my brain feels energetic and ready to tackle on the world.







these are my thoughts from the sea for the first day of 2019. in taylor swifts words, baby, let the games begin. xo