I have THE worst luck when it comes flying. Literally.

And when I say literally… I’m not saying that just to emphasize a slightly exaggerated statement. No, the amount of times I’ve had delayed/cancelled/rerouted flights and arrived almost 24 hours after my originally scheduled arrival time is proof to me that my fate as a cursed traveler is kind of a done deal.

This was most recently reinforced during my latest attempts to get both home to Arkansas at the beginning of my Christmas break, and back to Boston two and a half weeks later (at one point the Atlanta airport began to feel more like a  large, noisy, and crowded jail cell, rather than a gateway to freedom to foreign lands). Needless to say, I’ve spent more time in airports and planes over the last three weeks than I would argue is healthy. The benefit to all of this time, though, is that I have had a LOT of time to think. Especially about this past year, and about what my New Year’s resolutions are going to be for 2017.

2016 was a lot of things for me. It was fun. It was hard. There were experiences I never want to repeat, memories I would return to again and again, people who drove me insane (like every driver in front of me on the way to work), and friends made that I hope I never have to say a final “goodbye” to. And through all of this, I learned a lot. Not just about why people are the way they are, but also about why I am the way I am. What I am capable of, and where I lack.

So with that knowledge I have decided on the following resolutions I want to make a habit in 2017.

(In case you were worried there would be no visual aides, I’m also sharing my favorite images shot in 2016. Because I am a photographer, and I can’t have a post without pretty pictures. This I have known about myself for quite some time.)

 

 

  1.  Journaling: I have kept a journal faithfully since I was 13 years old. It was always a place I could sort through the messiness of each day’s events and fit all of the jumbled puzzle pieces together. In the past year or two, this habit has turned into a once or twice a month occurrence. While I recognize this is still more than most people have ever done in their lifetimes, I think journaling more often, like it did in the past, will help me see things more clearly.

 

 

  1.  Daily scripture study. This is something I have never been good at, I will admit. The pattern has been to read every night for a few weeks, only to find myself a month later brushing the dust from the navy blue leather of my embossed scriptures at my bedside table, struggling to remember where I had left off. The cycle always began again with Chapter 1, Verse 1 of the Book of Mormon, New Testament, or whatever book caught my fancy at the time. This year, though, I plan on making big decisions, and with big decisions, comes a need to find inspiration from my Heavenly Father. I am tired of denying myself the opportunity to find His answers to my prayers, simply because I don’t feel like reading ten minutes each night.

 

 

  1.  I also want to exercise five times a week, in whatever form that takes, be it crazy weird Zumba at 5 am on a Wednesday morning, Yoga each Saturday evening at 7, or P90X every Thursday after work.

 

 

  1.  I am going to finish my 365 this year, which seems slightly daunting since I am only about 70 days into it. But I have a plan (er…. a spreadsheet), and I am determined! I also want ten of these 290 remaining photos to be part of a new series that I have been mulling over the past few months.

 

 

  1.  When I was eleven, I discovered the Harry Potter books. After that, any free time was spent curled up on the living room couch, cold rainy nights or sparkling summer sunsets playing out on the other side of the large living room behind the sofa. I read on the bus on the way home from school, and in the halls outside my dance classes. A book could always be found, a little bent, but well loved, inside every purse and school bag I carried around. And yet today, I can’t even remember the last time I finished a book. Maybe the spring before I moved to Boston? Almost two years ago…? The worlds of fantasy and adventure are worlds I feel the need to once again return to, for inspiration and peace of mind.

 

 

  1.  2016 was a year of prayer. And a lot of “Heavenly Father, I’m done. Tell me what to do, because I am done!” (I admit, He is probably not deserving of my more melodramatic and bratty moments… Sorry Heavenly Father.) And when every talk that stands out, every comment that plucks at my heartstrings, and every conversation I have had since my desperate prayers were offered have turned to the idea of service, I believe I am receiving my answer. In service we find ourselves. For someone who feels lost so often, I believe this is where I will find the answers.

 

 

  1.  It’s easy to maybe not eat the best when you work every day, you’re single, and the only person you have to confess your eating habits to is the Netflix show you find yourself scarfing dinner over every night. So who can really blame me if I have toast every night … (because Joanna Gaines can’t snitch on me from the television screen, thank heavens)? 2017 is going to be the year of health and adventure, and I am incorporating that into every aspect of my life, including what I eat.

 

 

  1.  I want to visit my friends in all the cool places they live! Last year I began to wonder why I have waited so long to visit them, do friends, if you are reading this, get your guest bedrooms ready (or your air mattresses, I’m not picky). I’m coming.

 

 

  1.  I have also decided that in 2017 I will be taking a step (or multiple steps) in a new professional direction. I wish I was more diplomatic about the fact that I don’t like my job, and in all honesty, I do love the people I work for (who knew the Dutch had such a great sense of humor?). But to put it bluntly, the job fits me about as well as Grandma Longbottom’s clothes fit Severus Snape. Which is to say its time, after three years of being an administrative and executive assistant, to make the change. And even if my title still has the word “assistant” in it, I am hoping it will be as a marketing assistant, or some sort of otherwise creative assistant.

 

 

  1.  I also want to spend less money, mostly because I want to buy a house. I want to buy an old, lived in, seen better years house, and make her beautiful. To give her some new memories and an air of elegance. Money is helpful for these sorts of things.

 

 

  1.  I also want to enjoy the temple more. For those of you unfamiliar with my religion, Latter-Day Saints have two places of worship: our meetinghouses, which is where we hold our regular Sunday services, and our temples, where we perform other sacred ordinances throughout the week. One of the best parts of my church is that everything is run entirely on voluntary service, including even those who lead our congregations. For me, I serve by devoting every other Tuesday evening to working in our Boston LDS Temple, helping my fellow members perform saving ordinances for their ancestors. And while this sounds cool (or perhaps freakishly weird… but trust me, it’s not as weird as you think), I have admittedly had a rather poor attitude about the whole thing and I hate that about myself. This year I am going to change that.

 

 

  1.  One day I will have my own business. I don’t know how profitable it will be, or even what it will do, but I know it will be a creative outlet for me and will bring me fulfillment. The only way this business will become a reality, though, is if I set goals, and while I won’t share what these goals are specifically, know that I have them and am making plans to reach them.

Twelve resolutions is probable a lot to have, but you know me. I can’t help but set myself high expectations. While they are always higher than I can reach, I believe that if my expectations are high, I will accomplish fare more than I would have, had I set expectations I knew I could reach. The magic happens when one is pushed to one’s limit.

This year is about making my own happiness and following my heart. By December 31, 2017 I hope to look back on this year with a sense of accomplishment, happiness, and fulfillment. That’s all anyone can really ask out of this life, right?