Hey, beautiful people. Happy New Year!!! Like many others, I am happy to see the end
of 2016. It just was not one of my
favorite years.
For many, the new year brings a
time for resolutions. It may be a
distinction without a different, but I have always disliked the term “resolutions”
because it feels like a setup for failure.
I prefer goals, and I like to start the ball rolling before the new
year. Here are 5 goals that I low key
started in December that I plan to continue:
1. Drink
at least 80 oz of water per day.
I have found that my whole body does better when I drink a good amount
of water throughout the day. From what I
have read, studies have moved away from drinking 8 glasses of water to drinking
half your body weight. For me, I wanted
to up that a little bit. My plan is to
drink 12-20 oz of water first thing in the morning, and then two 32 oz – 1 liter
(33.81 oz) bottles of water during the day.
I have two plastic mason jars that are 32 oz. each. I also have a bunch of old soda stream 1L
bottles that I can no longer use because my soda stream broke (tear). To help keep me motivated, I have joined a “Drink
Your Water” challenge, with daily check-ins, and I am using the water tracker
in my Fitbit app.
2. Have 7 good, quick styles that work on my
fine hair, and a regimen that incorporates more protein. As you may remember from some of my other posts,
my hair is low porosity, fine, high density, and a 4A/4B mix. In the past, I have been very focused on
taking care of my hair based on it being low porosity, and spent little time
researching how to make my fine strands look best. For example, individual mini twists tend to
look very sad when I try to use them as a style, and tend to break my hair when
I take them out. My hair seems to do
better with low manipulation, “big” styles, like 2 cornrows, buns and wash n’
gos, and I am a lazy natural, so I need quick styles. I plan to play around with styles in 2017 to
give myself some more versatile looks (more on this throughout the year). I also haven’t been using as much protein as
I should, and I have seen more breakage as a result.
3. Create mini makeup challenges every 1-2
months until I can do a full face.
Growing up and even now, I have not been very big on makeup or beauty upkeep
in general. Most days, you are lucky if
you see me in lipstick. I’ll also admit
there have been some days that my eyebrows needed serious help. At the end of last year, I put myself on an
informal challenge, forcing myself to fill in my eyebrows every day for two
weeks. I was proud of myself because I
stuck to it too. One day, I even had to
stop at the drugstore on the way to work because I forgot to do my brows before
I left the house. It worked out well
because I saw marked improvement in my eyebrow shape, and I learned a few
tricks through Youtube. Youtube also inspired
me to go a little crazy buying makeup products on Black Friday/Cyber Monday,
and I bought a few makeup organizers. With
all the new stuff I bought, I want to extend my informal challenge to other makeup
areas over the course of 2017. I may
stay in the eye area for now, and work on eye shadow. I have always wanted to learn smoky eye and
cat eye.
4. Exercise for 30 minutes at least 1 time
a week. This may sound like a
bare minimum, but I like to set goals that are measurable and achievable. Typically, I say that I am going to work out
every day or 3 times per week, fail miserably and stop working out altogether. This time, I am starting with 1 day and we
will see how it goes. I have no excuse
for not getting in 1 day because I have 7 days and multiple options. If I am traveling that week, the Sworkit app
on my phone is awesome for squeezing in a workout. If I am feeling ambitious, there is a gym
less than 10 minutes from my house and I can text a friend to meet me. If I want to do something fun, there is a
community center that is about 20 minutes away that has drop in classes and, in
the summer, there is outdoor Zumba.
5. Read a book every two months, alternating
between one self-improvement book and one “just for fun” book. I love reading. I just did not do much of it in 2016. I have a Goodreads account and set a goal for
myself of 6 books in 2016, but I only finished 5. I also haven’t been to my one of my book clubs in about
a year (I'm in two), and I miss it. In 2017, I’m
going to do better because it speaks to how many other things took
priority over what I did for myself last year.
What are your goals for
2017? Make them measureable and
achievable!
