New Years Resolutions? Past Present and Future

So I have been rubbish with my blog, it has been over a month but with Christmas, News Years, travelling from the (Gloucester)Shire back to North London and back to the Shire and then back to North London, work being the snow slave drivers that they are, I have had no time to update.  That and warcraft seems to have taken its hold once again with the launch of their new expansion.  So I have had many ideas for a blog posts that will be coming in the next few weeks that include pop surrealism, photography and the enormous amount of jewellery I have consumed and a rather amazing trip to the Primark in Bristol.  However, today’s post is about my new year’s resolution, past present and future.

As like most of you, I document my life, so I have the capability of looking at what I had promised myself during my teens and now (because I am rapidly approaching 25) middle twenties.  I have below listed the past five year’s list of resolutions that I have written in my journal.

2007

• Loose weight
• Be a better girlfriend
• Get a better job

2008

• Learn to be a councillor
• Look after teeth better
• Look after money better
• Pass driving test
• Save for wedding
• Loose weight

2009

• Pass driving test
• Get cosmetic dental surgery
• Keep phone on charge at all times
• Save £1000
• Loose weight
• Be happy and not trapped in a life with my boyfriend

2010

• Pass driving test
• Loose weight
• Pay off all debts
• Not be a mental stress freak

2011

• Look after remaining real teeth better 
• Save money 
• Loose weight 
• Read at least one book a month 
• Make concrete life plan with boyfriend 
• Keep blog updated!

So over the past 5 years there have been some reoccurring resolutions:  and I have collated the data and put it into a fancy graph for you.  Now, in 2009 and 2010 I became very focused due to a huge life style change and massive change in my circumstances.  I actually stuck to my resolutions, and did the top 4 (and got a new phone) so I actually did 5! 

1. Loose weight
Yeah, I got really fat.  Not like oh I went from a size 8 to a 12 and I can still shop in normal clothes and have a tiny bit of a wobbly stomach, I went from a 12 to a 22 to 24, sometimes bigger. Luckily for me, I am 6’1” tall so didn’t look like jabba the hut all the time.  I got depressed and lazy and comfortable.  I ate ice cream and pizza like it was going out of fashion and didn’t exercise.  Not a great deal has changed in all honesty, but I did just stop living on junk food.  I haven’t dared show anyone these horrible photos because, well they are horrible, but here is the transformation.  I still have a long way to go, but with all my other goals reached, this is the year I loose weight and go to the gym and be happy with myself.    

Fat me smoking

Thin me looking smoking

2. Be better with and or save moneyI have always been rubbish with money.  I have got into huge debt, bills went unpaid and I was too scared to do anything about them.  I changed that, and although I never did save that £1000, however I single handidly  paid off a HUGE credit card bill, over draft, and personal loan over a 12 month period that my ex partner and I occurred together.  I have also bought a car and nice things for myself.  Money isn’t where I would like it to be, and I am still very scared about money, I rarely look at my balance and can’t open bills because I get flash backs of being scared, but my attitude has gotten a whole lot better.   This year I am starting saving, my pension and life insurance and I feel a lot better for this.   

3. Learn to DriveLiving and working in and around London I never really needed a car.  I started lessons but my partner drove us everywhere and I got the train or taxis, and if I really needed to drive I just did because I could, but never took the test.  Then I got into a long distance relationship and no longer worked in London.  I have taken my theory test three times because they expired when I passed them, that is how lazy and shit I am sometimes.  Then I just did it, and I cannot tell you how much I love driving and the independence.  

4. Look after teeth better
My mum was a dental nurse and up until about 12, I had the most Nazi regime of teeth cleaning you could ever imagine.  Then I abused fizzy drinks, my god I abused them.  I also inherited some god awful teeth (thanks Dad) and through years of abuse and bad practice of looking after them, they got to be like some horrible Victorian crumbling discoloured peg teeth.  I was so ashamed, and all I could ever imagine was how happy I would be with a nice smile.  I would be fat forever as long as I could smile again.  So very kindly, my Nan loaned me the money and I had some cosmetic fillings and 6 veneers on my top teeth.  They look amazing, and although I can’t go chomping on apples, or chewing haribo, it is the best purchase I have ever made in my entire life. 

Teeth off with my friend Mat who has the pearliest whites I have ever seen

5. Keep my phone on chargeI have had a love hate relationship with mobiles.  I remember I had a Motorola for my birthday in the year 2000, and I loved it.  I really loved it.  Not many kids had a phone then and I used to spend hours texting and checking for texts.  Then I lost all interest.  A phone seemed like a bother to me, if anyone ever needed me they could ring my boyfriend who had two phones.  I had a phone, and it was really really shit, people thought it was a pager, and I never ever turned it on.  I lived with my boyfriend and was never into obsessively checking my phone or anything.  This particularly annoys me when going out with pals or for dinner, people CONSTANTLY checking their phones for sexy texts or whatevers.   The only time it ever became annoying was when I had no battery and there was a train strike and couldn’t ring my lift or when I missed my station my phone ran out.  People did get annoyed with me, so made me make the resolution to keep it on charge.  I sort of succeeded, but only because I got into a long distance relationship and became one of the people that I hated.  An obsessive phone checker.  My friends at one point confiscated my phone on a night out.  I was spending £50 on credit a month, until my friends pointed out I could have free texts every month!  I got bored of this and got a contract and never looked back.  I really want an android or an iPhone next and actually lust after other peoples phones now.  I am now such a convert that have a charger at my boyfriends, work and two at home. 

I think resolutions are a good thing to motivate you, but if you really do ever want to do something, I think that you will have the motivation to just do it.  I am glad I can look back and actually see what I have achieved and hope I can keep this years!