My Good Resolutions For 2020

Today is the 1st of January. I am posting my good resolutions for 2020 on the first day of the first month of this new year 2020. How appropriate. I never take good resolutions. I talked about before. When the new year starts, we are full of good intentions. New year, new you, right? Unfortunately, by January 17th, also known as national give up on your good resolutions day, we forget we ever decided to become a new person.

Knowing myself, I would maybe manage to keep up with those good resolutions for a few weeks before growing lazy and just give up. However, this year, I have decided it is gonna be different. I won’t go for crazy things, massive changes or drastic improvements in my life. Because I know that very often, when your objectives are overly ambitious, you eventually give up on them.

Small steps. So here come my good resolutions for 2020.

1. Sign up to the gym and work out

I have not been to the gym for more than two years. I was quite consistent and good at it when I did go, back at university. When I moved to New York, I was going running every other day for twenty five minutes at least. However, in summer, under a super strong sun as soon as 8 in the morning, and 30°C, I gave up. Unfortunately, not working out and eating extremely unhealthy did not play in my favor. Life in New York is hectic. It is a life of convenience. You eat out or take away food because it is often cheaper than buying groceries. And I (we) did that a lot. Which of course is now very visible on my body. I gained weight. Not that I have issues with body image. I settled with what I have a long time ago, knowing that my body shape will never allow me to be filiform. That’s fine. But seeing that some clothes I used to wear all the time do not fit me anymore did hurt my ego a bit. I will sign up to the gym and try to go twice to thrice a week. To get back to my pre-New York weight and be a bit healthier.

2. Eat better and healthier

This resolution ties in nicely with the one above. They go hand in hand really. No point working out if you are gonna eat a lot of shit on the side. No matter what we say, working out will never fully balance out eating junk food. Beyond trying to not gain weight, I just want to be healthier. Sure, junk food, unhealthy food, does impact your weight and body. But it will also have consequences on your skin, on your hair, on your mood and on your energy. I have felt low on energy quite often this past few months and considering how unhealthy my diet has been, I can bet it’s because of that. I am not saying I will give up on sugar altogether. As I said, small steps, achievable goals. Plus, I love baking. I will work on the size of the portions of food I have at home or at work. Speaking of work, maybe I can meal prep meals that have a lower calorie intake. I need to drink more water and eat more fruits as well.

3. Read the books I have before buying new ones

I love to read. A few months back, I started a French booktube channel and then an English booktube channel. Of course it has been the excuse to buy and hoard books. So I have a shelf full of them. I actually need to buy a second shelf. However, most of them are unread. Like I’d say pretty much 75% of them are on my TBR. I love buying books. Like someone would love buying stationery or clothes or homeware. The thing is, books are heavy and they need space. Having a hard time parting ways with books, it is very hard for me to unhaul. But I forced myself and already started. It’s a difficult decision but they are books I did not like reading and will never read again. So they better go to make space to books I will hopefully love. Maybe I’ll save some money in the process as well.

4. Following through with friends

This is something I have not been very good at when I lived in the UK, but it got worse since I moved to NYC. When life gets in the way, it is hard to find the energy, motivation and time to see your friends. Yours and their agenda might not allow it anyway. But still. Friendship goes both ways. If you never make the first step, take the initiative, things might never happen. And the less effort you put into it, the weaker the relationship becomes. The thing with the US, is that friendship is more superficial than in Europe. You have a lot of acquaintances and very few friends. Someone telling you “we should meet for coffee” will most likely never follow through, coffee will never happen and this beginning of a relationship will already be in the past. If you want something to happen, if you want to make friends, take the initiative and follow through. It does not matter if you appear as pushy. At least you tried. And that’s something I should do more often, instead of waking up one day telling myself “well, that’s a bummer, it did not happen, but no one talked about it anymore.”

5. Budget better and save money

Life is New York is incredibly expensive. More than in London. Yes, it is surprising, but that’s how it is. In the US, inflation increases faster than salaries. In Europe, it usually is the other way round. We are lucky enough to now both work and have a combined income that allows us not to worry about our daily expenses. But still. I don’t mind spending money, I actually love spending money. When you work for it, I don’t see why you should not be able to spend your money. BUT… sometimes you have to be reasonable and think beyond your short-term life. There are plenty of expenses in my life that are unnecessary. Beyond books. One typical is that we go grocery shopping to Fairway (the local Waitrose) instead of Trader Joe’s (more like Asda) because it is five minutes walk closer (and is just 5 minutes walk away from our flat). We are being lazy and complaisant. And spending a lot of money because of it. I am also well aware that our future is not in New York or in the US. We will be heading back to Europe in a few years and hoping to buy a house there. So yes, we have to think about how we will finance that. And we will need a deposit. Which is what I want to save money for. I can already see some expenses that will be unavoidable: rent, utilities, gym membership, groceries. But I know it is possible to save money and I will try to be better at budgeting in 2020.

Shop my outfit*
Faux Leather Jacket – Shein
Red Dress – Rosewe
Heeled Sandals – Shein
Sequin Clutch – Shein

What about you? Are you making good resolutions this year? Did you make good resolutions last year? Big ones or small ones? Do you usually focus on small goals at once? What are your good resolutions?

Thanks a lot for stopping by. I hope you liked this post.

See you soon,
Love,
Corinne.

*Gifted items.