2014: "Evolutions, not Resolutions"

I'd been working on a strategy to live this whole new year up to its fullest potential, and much like all things that involve planning, I'd gotten carried away. But not necessarily in a bad way. At first, I had this elaborate list of 14 things I wanted to do this year and 14 things I would do each month aligned with them. I even had a list of 14 books I would read that I went through with TF while he was in Boston. But that got a little too cumbersome and I knew I was setting myself up for a less-than-fulfilling, mostly stressful set of goals.

In the end, after a day of reflecting and a particularly insightful conversation with my mother that led to the title of this post, I decided on 7 big goals for myself this year, and each month, I will take one step to move closer to each of those goals. So here's the list and let me be held accountable to it and to you reading it:

Evolutions for 2014:

1. To walk the path of having a healthy, hunger-driven relationship with food

2. To find a form of cardiovascular exercise that I truly love doing (and do it frequently)

3. Aside from parental assistance with graduate school, to achieve true financial independence

4. To reach a place of physical strength that I can do a handstand, a pull up, and be pain-free in my knees

5. To reconnect with my creative side outside of the kitchen

6. To develop myself into an expert in food- and health-related entrepreneurship

7. To get Zen Cookery products sold in at least 20 retail locations, including Whole Foods

Actionable steps I will take this month to get closer to these goals:

1. Attending an OA meeting at least 2 times a week

2. Investigating the swimming pool membership situation at HBS and dance classes in Cambridge (and promising myself that I'll try one!)

3. Creating a plan for freelancing as a writing and foreign language tutor 

4. Doing yoga every single day this month for at least 20 minutes as part of a 30-Day Yoga Challenge I signed up for with a friend

5. Signing up for a craft workshop at Paper Source and reading a poem a day

6. Reading "Onward" by Howard Schultz, the book that talks about Starbucks' innovation strategy and turnaround after the financial crisis

7. Going through the process of obtaining a wholesale license from the State of Massachusetts

Carpe annum, everyone. It's going to be an excellent year.