I love organizing. My room is (almost) always abnormally clean. I make to-do lists, shopping lists, goal lists and any other kind of list that keeps my organized.
My old room
During the holidays (and let’s be honest: by “the holidays”, I really mean the time period from mid-November until after the last holiday ends the first weekend in January), I, like many other people, tend to let myself go. While I still bike, run, hit up the gym and eat healthy foods, I also eat more sweets than any one should ever have, cut my workouts short and sit around for unhealthy amounts of time. After this fun, but not-so-healthy period, I’m excited to start fresh. While a new year is merely a meaningless unit of time, I find it mentally motivating to think of it as a fresh start. I hate the “new year, new you” slogans that seem to appear every year after the holiday season, but I can’t help but create my own new beginning. During the cold, dark winter, the possibilities of a happier, more lively self excite me.
2013 was a big year for me; I experienced my first injury from running, graduated high school, went to Europe for the first time and started college. I remember this time last year frustratingly feeling like the college application process would never end, but before I knew it the senior events started and school work was a distant memory (hello senioritis). With all these events going on, I often lost sight of my New Year goals; however, looking back on the year, I realized that despite my transition year, I still managed to get good grades, compete in a duathlon (which was suppose to be my first triathlon, but due to strong currents, the swim got cancelled), PR my 5K, make new friends, take risks and immensely improve my cycling. It truly was a great year, but I know 2014 will be much better.
Paris was gorgeous!
I am so thankful to have been randomly paired up with a roommate who I get along with almost perfectly. We’re not only good roommates, but also great friends. I was super worried about the roommate situation, and honestly, it could’ve turned out a lot worse, but it didn’t. I survived my first semester away from home, but it wasn’t easy. I was pretty miserable the first two weeks, I struggled with time management for the first time, and I constantly worried if I was being social enough. My workout time decreased drastically as I traded time on my bike for time in the library, and on top of that, my eating was kind of out of whack. However, now that I’m done, I can look back and think about how much easier the next semester will be. I can finally focus on doing well in school and enjoying my time in college.
Knowing that I’ll have my college life more organized means I’ll most likely be more successful with my New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully these aren’t too cliche or cheesy.
So here they are:
My 2014 New Year’s Resolutions:
- Live by the slogan “work hard play hard“: Before college, I knew that many students struggle with time management, but I never thought I would be one of them. I had so much unstructured time and so much to do. I’d heard the “2-3 hours of homework for every hour in class” calculation countless times, but I soon realized that was all too simple. I definitely felt like I was spending at least that amount on homework, but truthfully I was spending that much time (or more) pretending to do work. I would surf the internet for hours, procrastinate workouts, and spend time doing anything and everything while “doing” work. After Thanksgiving break, I had a week and a half to get the most work I’ve ever had in my life done. I knew I had to crank it out. I realized that to do well in college I had to really focus on my work and commit myself to mastering the course material. I also learned that I do have enough time to do this, but I need to focus when doing work so I have time to relax, workout, or take time for myself and not worry about school work during my free time.
Studying in the library
- Commit myself to my sports (running, cycling, and triathlons): While I can be disciplined with workouts,
I don’t always support those workouts with the best diet. Most of the time I eat extremely healthy, but I don’t always focus on the amount of food my body needs. During the summer, I increased my training load to where I was riding ~300 miles a week. One would think I would easily lose weight, but I didn’t. I was constantly hungry and overestimated the amount of food I really needed. High training loads DO NOT give me the ability to eat anything and everything I want. I need to be disciplined and strategic with what I eat because it will affect my ability to workout.
- Make new friends: I will continue putting myself out there and trying to make new friends like I did this year.
- Do a triathlon: I don’t see this not happening (double negative much?)
Buzzards Bay, my first duathlon
- Read literature, practice spanish and continue to be somewhat studious during the summer: Nothing too serious or unenjoyable, but I tend to do absolutely nothing intellectual during the summer.
- Continue to enjoy every situation as much as possible: If I have to spend hours in school, I might as well try to be interested by the material. If I’m bored of biking or running, I’ll recruit friends, try out new workouts, and enjoy the beautiful New England scenery. Life can (and should) be enjoyable.
Fall in New England
runningforsummer 