2019's General "Life" Resolutions & Goals [#Project14Lists no. 3]

December 20, 2018

(image credit goes to Shealea!)

This is my THIRD post in the #Project14Lists series, hosted by Shealea at That Bookshelf Bitch! You can find more information here, as well as a thread of my posts for the event here.

Previous #Project14Lists Posts:
1. Winter TBR
2. #Short-a-Thon: Graphic Novel/Manga Goals

Today’s #Project14Lists post is…

2019’s General “Life” Resolutions & Goals


I used to be a big believer in the idea that New Years Resolutions were a waste of time—if you’re going to make a change in your life, you can do it any day, so why wait until January 1st, right?! As I’ve gotten older, though, I’ve come to recognize that in my personal life, there’s a lot of positive energy and hope surrounding the idea of a new beginning, and it helps motivate me, so now, I like coming up with resolutions for the new year!

Everything I’m aiming for in 2019 boils down to one main focus: SELF-CARE.

I am the worst about letting my own self-care fall to the wayside when I’m stressed or upset, and this is a particularly important time for me to pay attention to that, as my mental health is typically at its lowest between early January and mid-March. Here are a few ways I aim to take care of myself in 2019 that I didn’t focus enough on in 2018:

1. MORE VIDEO GAMES:

I LOVE gaming, but have barely done it at all in the last 2 years because I always tell myself there’s something “more important”, like reading review copies, or blogging, or housework, or whatever else. In 2019, I want to catch up on some recent games I missed out on, as well as replaying some old faves—and I’ll have a whole gaming-dedicated post coming for you all later in this #Project14Lists series, so stay tuned, gamers!
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2. MORE MOVIES & TV:

There are so many movies I’ve missed lately and so many television shows I never finished (or started!), and while I’m not a major TV/film viewer (outside of horror films!), it would be nice to veg out a little more often.
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3. LESS TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

This is a HUGE goal of mine for 2019. I spend way too much time on social media—especially twitter—and not only does it amp up my anxiety, it also eats a lot of my time.
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4. CLEAN UP MY SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS:

When I first got into the book twittersphere, I basically followed back every bookworm who followed me, because I wanted to be friendly and welcoming—but the truth is that it has led me to a cluttered feed with a lot of people who hold very dissimilar values to mine. I’m not going on some mass unfollow spree, but I have to learn that putting myself first is more important than following back everyone in the whole damn community.
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5. LESS SCHOOL-RELATED ANXIETY:

Easier said than done, but I spend SO much time obsessing over my coursework. If you don’t know, I’m in grad school for my MLIS (library science) degree, and I am very much a perfectionist who feels the need to pass every class with a perfect A and never miss a single step in any given assignment. While that sounds okay in theory, it has led to a lot of panic attacks and minor meltdowns (with a couple of huge ones) over the last few semesters, and I have to learn to let go a little.
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6. FOCUS ON MY CRAFT, SPIRITUAL HEALTH, & POSITIVE ENERGY:

If you ask most witches, they’ll agree that one of the worst things you can do is to neglect your craft, because it in turn tends to have some poor effects on your overall spiritual, emotional, and mental health. Over the last few months, I’ve been struggling to prioritize my craft, so in 2019, I want to get back into the habit of daily tarot readings, meditation, and generally practicing. Much like you lose strength if you stop lifting weights, I believe you lose clarity and positivity if you stop focusing on those things, and it’s time that I get back on top of it!
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7. GET ACTIVE:

This isn’t about losing weight (though I would like to fit into a few pairs of old jeans, just because I HATE shopping for new ones, haha!), but about the way it makes me feel to move my body. I’ve always loved things like dancing, pilates, hula hooping, lifting weights, etc.—activities that make me feel strong and in control—but I’ve not focused on any of the above very much lately, and would like to change that.
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8. PURGE CLUTTER:

This might sound basic, but it’s a big one for me. My home isn’t particularly large, but we have a LOT of stuff, and most of it never gets used for anything! Purging is one of those tasks that is extremely energy-consuming for me, so I can’t really do a big “spring cleaning” and tackle the whole house in a weekend; instead, I want 2019 to be the year I learn how to collect less clutter, and do away with anything unnecessary that I’ve already accumulated. (Don’t worry, the books aren’t going anywhere!)
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9. BUDGET BETTER:

This one is pretty self-explanatory, and I know a LOT of us have this as a new years resolution—maybe even every year, haha—but it’s another thing I neglected big time in 2018 and need to get back into the routine of.
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10. FOCUS MORE ON MY LONG-TERM SELF-CARE & HEALTH:

I don’t talk about my health much online, but I deal with invisible disabilities, chronic illness, and chronic pain, most prominently. Some of my health problems will steadily worsen with age—that’s simply a fact I’ve grown to accept—and much more rapidly if I don’t start taking care of myself, whether that’s keeping myself hydrated, getting more rest, keeping on track with my medications, ensuring that I’m getting the nutrition my body needs, or whatever else.
I had a bit of a health scare a couple of months ago that I brushed off at first, but as the last few weeks have gone by, it’s sunk in and become a bit of a reality check: I have a lot of things I want to do in life, and I never want my health to stop me from doing those things. While I can’t prevent that from ever being an issue, I’ll be damned if I don’t at least try!
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So, those are my non-bookish, “life” resolutions and goals for 2019. I hope you all don’t mind me taking some time to shift the focus away from books for the day to discuss these goals! They were just things I wanted to share with you all, and I think that, by being transparent about the issues I’m facing and what I need to do to help make these changes, it will also motivate ME to stick to my goals better in the coming year.

Do you like creating resolutions for the new year? Have you come up with any for 2019 yet? Let me know in the comments!

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

75 Comments
    1. Awesome goals! I’m hoping to prioritize self care in 2019 as well. Dealing with chronic pain and disabilities as well is no joke and it only gets worse with age, which sucks but as you said, it’ll only be worse if we don’t take care of ourselves. Here’s wishing you a great self-care 2019 (and beyond)!

    1. In 2019 my resolution is to work on finances by making a solid budget plan and sticking to it, self care/personal development, declutter our home and working more on my writing and business.

    1. These all sound like fantastic ways to take care of yourself! I hope 2019 will be a good year for you. This year, I’ve decluttered a lot and thought about my priorities. In 2019, I want to do more of what made me happy last year, and less of everything that drained me. General goal, I know, but it lead to lots of smaller goals!

    1. What a great list. I have many similar ones on my list as well. I too, want to dedicate time to other hobbies and my witchcraft practice. Maybe we can help keep each other accountable with weekly check ins for our practice. let me know 🙂
      I have been contemplating what I want to go to grad school for. when I read “library science” my interest was immediately piqued. I’m going to start my research now to see if its something that I would like to do!

      1. Thank you, Shelbi! That sounds like an amazing plan! <3 And I wish you luck with all of your goals, including the school program if you decide to go into it. I attend Valdosta State University online, which has one of the cheapest plans, but I'm not a huge fan of how they run it or some of the professors. 🙁 I think, if I could justify the cost of one of the more expensive programs, I might have tried another, but this one is ALA-accredited (which is so important!), so I'm sticking it out.

    1. This all sounds amazing! Good luck in your resolutions ? I was wondering, though: what kind of games do you like? I mostly play Pokemon, but I can’t wait for Kingdom Hearts 3 to come out next year, lol.

      1. Thank you! I play a lot of different kinds of things, but my all time favorites are Final Fantasy X, followed by the Zelda and Animal Crossing franchises! I also love slice-of-life stuff like Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon. 🙂 Ooh and I’m also excited for KH3! I have it pre-ordered and am replaying KH1 right now.

        1. Oh, I love Final Fantasy X! I have yet to play all the way through, but it’s such a pretty game. I have Harvest Moon for the Game Cube, and I think it’s cute. Animal Crossing, too!
          I don’t have a PS4, but my partner does, so I’m going to mooch off him, lol.

            1. Yes!! It’s gorgeous, omg. I don’t know which one I have, but Harvest Moon is just a comforting game to play, tbh.

            1. It definitely is! I remember when people in the gaming community used to make fun of the people who liked Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, and now everyone is all for it because the world’s on fire and we all need stress relievers. ???

            1. Exactly! Honestly, I’m kinda glad I never got neck-deep in the gaming community. I’d be considered by a lot of them their antichrist because I literally only play Pokemon, sometimes Harvest Moon, and Kingdom Hearts. ???

    1. lskjdfl i love all of these goals!!!!!!!! we are so similar w the things we want to accomplish, i feel so REPRESENTED AND ILY. especially with coursework, i’m so bad at panicking over assignments and falling into the void when I do badly on assignments.
      at one point I had a v difficult professor who I just couldn’t please,,,,, and i literally went home && cried several times, it was a MESS.
      +++ I love the goal of watching more TV/movies! the last time I really dedicated myself to a tv show was last winter w The Vampire Diaries, and I didn’t even finish the show. i miss netflix?????? WE DESERVE CHARMING VAMPIRES. i want to watch more netflix and eat a greater variety of food. i’ve been living on tea and ramen noodles, i can’t keep living like this omg
      also, i love your idea to clean up social media feeds, i think i’m following like 2,000 people and it’s become chaotic af.

      1. Thank you!! I love that our goals are so similar ♥♥ I’m so sorry about your awful prof, been there and it never gets any less awful ?
        YES w really do deserve charming vampires lmao. We also deserve vampires to come back in YA imo ? I need iiiiiit. And I mean tea and ramen might not be the safest bet for a meal combo but it’s delicious so I’m not even judging??
        YES. Sigh. I was following 1100 on twitter and couldn’t do it anymore ?
        I love you!!

    1. I used to do new year’s resolution too, until I realized I tend to forget them in the first 2 months xD I fell in love with the concept of picking a word and using it to guide your goals in that year. For example, last year I chose “thrive” and the year before I chose “grow”. Then I break down the goals for 6 months period. I find it easier to achieve and really helps me focused 😀

      1. Haha oh nooo! Resolutions are hit and miss for me – some I fail at quickly, but some I’ve managed to turn into long-term habits! So fingers crossed for these. 😀 I love the 6 month goal idea, though, that’s amazing!!

    1. These are some great goals, I hope you’ll succeed in all of them <3 I'm the same when it comes to my own self-care and I really need to do better with that, too, by reducin my time on social media as well, that causes a whole lot of stress and anxiety for me too. Best of luck with it all <3 <3

      1. Thank you, Marie! ♥ I’m glad I’m not the only one who has been experiencing serious mental health issues from social media lately. 🙁 It sucks because I want to be “present” but I need to learn to accept that I can’t do that all the time. Good luck to you in the coming year with any of your goals ♥♥

        1. Yeah that’s exactly the same for me, I want to be there but…. I just can’t, otherwise it’s too much. you’re so welcome! <3 <3

    1. Self-care is very important and it’s good that you decided to improve your life with all those goals! I’ll cross my fingers that you’ll be able to achieve them! 😀 And I didn’t know you do tarot readings too. It’s always nice to find a kindred spirit. XD

    1. I love your list! I have three main goals for 2019: (1) Squirrel away as much money as possible, after paying off accumulated debt, (2) de-clutter the entire house and both garages. It’s beyond time to be able to park a car in our garage, and finally make my office a true office!, and (3) finish the first draft of my second novel!

    1. This is a wonderful list of resolutions/goals!! Self care is truly so important, and I’m glad you’ve tailored your goals to make you feel the best <3 I definitely need to work on being more active and budgeting better~

    1. These look like some great goals for next year and I’m sending you all of the best vibes your way for a great 2019 <3 Also, we should totally game together sometime!

    1. I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE A WITCH THIS IS SO EXCITING!! I got into witchcraft a little bit over the summer and have been meaning to continue learning things. Sorry for shouting, lol.
      I feel you about cluttered social media feeds. I’ve also been trying to be more conscious of following only people who don’t stress me out. Good luck to you on making social media a more friendly place 🙂

      1. Awww yay, hello fellow witchy love! ♥♥ I get so excited to meet other witches! Haha don’t be sorry at all, I got the biggest grin when I read your comment!!
        Thank you, love! I need to be better about choosing carefully who I follow in the future.

    1. These are some lovely resolutions, Destiny! I’m inspired by these, to be honest 😀 Even I want to clean up my social media feeds but I feel like it’s such a daunting task and what if I by mistake unfollow some cool people or those whose giveaways I entered XD Will take tips from your for this! I want less social anxiety tooo! I feel like almost every blogger has a little bit of social anxiety. Budgeting better, YUP! I only started adulting this year and hahahahah, really need to get on track with money handling. Loved this post <3

      1. Thank you, lovely! Awww I’m so glad I could help inspire you! 😀 And yes to the social anxiety thing, I feel like almost all of us are just nervous little bundles of disaster half the time ???

    1. Honestly, a lot of these are resonating with me. I need to step away a little from social media at times too, I definitely need to be more active, and I need to pay more attention to my health. Thank you for sharing, and reminding me I need to take down my own resolutions as well!

    1. Love this post! I have similar resolutions, especially regarding self care and social media. And take care! Hope the coming year is good for you!

    1. i’m going to do the same for school. university was too hectic and far too stressful for me this year. i need to feel better about myself and not be overwhelmed by my studies.

    1. Yay for self care!
      These are great, and realistic goals 🙂
      I also need to find a way to reduce my time on social media.

      1. Thank you, Norrie! <3 It can be so hard because there are so many people and things to see and interact with. I really hope to reduce it down to only spending a few minutes per day on social media and not getting sucked into mindlessly scrolling like I do right now.

    1. A lot of these are unofficial resolutions that I have as well! I may make a list like this sometime soon. 🙂 For social media (Twitter specifically), I’d recommend making a “list” of people who you really need/want to keep track of! I also tend to follow everyone back and doing this has made it so I can keep up with the accounts that mean more to me while still following a larger amount of people. My side twitter has sort of taken over this function now, haha. I’ve followed probably 50 or less people there and I can actually keep up with my feed!

      1. This is SUCH a good idea, because honestly, not to be unkind but there are probably 50 or less people on twitter who I genuinely want to see EVERY update from, you know? I’m definitely going to do this, thank you! ♥♥ And I’m looking forward to seeing your list if you make one!

        1. I don’t think that’s unkind! There’s always a limit to what we’re able to devote full attention to, and larger feeds can get sooo overwhelming. <3

    1. These are some brilliant goals, I’m also hoping to spend more time on my own self care this year as its also something I have been pushing to the wayside a lot this year ??

    1. Love this list, Destiny! ❤️ I really need to focus more on my mental health and self care in 2019! Getting more active and playing more games are on my list of goals as well! ?

    1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this post so much, and my one resolution for 2019 is self-care as well! I love each of these goals and I hope you have a wonderful year because you deserve it!

    1. Wow, I love this list of goals! It’s really motivating to see you juggling everything, along with grad school. *wipes forehead* School is so stressful for me too (sometimes I just want it to be end), really appreciated this post. Thank you for sharing. I wish you the best of luck.

      1. Thank you! I feel you so much on sometimes just wishing school would end. I’m taking spring semester off and I could not be happier, but at the same time, I know fall will roll around and a part of me will regret having extended my time another semester, haha. Thank you so much, and the best of luck to you, too! (And hugs!)

        1. Well, it’s always good to have a break. Although it’s extending time, you’ll come back stronger and better! *sends hugs back*

    1. *I’m catching up on blog posts so this is your very personal warning that your comments-section will get flooded today – JUST SAYING.*
      I loooove the things you want to focus on this year. Especially since I can see myself in some of these as well. Although fixing it probably won’t be happening this year but still, hah. I’m not a real gamer or anything, but I do wish I had some more time to invest in Pokémon and Sims or something. Those are the only two games I can NEVER EVER say no to. [I’m still pissed about Animal Crossing and the Switch-thing btw. No chance in hell I’m getting a Switch out of my BF right now..]
      I also want to try and rewatch some old series? Like.. With everything surrounding Slayer by Kiersten White, I have this urge to rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Maybe, just maybe.
      As for the purge clutter.. It’s JUST a thought, but you could totally use some seasonal goal-list to put the purging on there. Like.. Purge one room or one desk or case or whatever? Baby steps?
      I really, really hope you manage to stay on top of these goals somewhat because I know you can definitely use it. Letting go of things and taking care of yourself are probably the biggest ones [and, the purge matches BOTH since it’ll give you some peace of mind knowing you got rid of unnecessary stuff and all.]
      Anywaaay – Fingers crossed you can level up your life – HA. [That gaming reference sucked. Sorry.]

      1. HELLOOOOOOO beautiful lady! I missed your comments haha! (I say this pretending I haven’t SUCKED horribly at comments lately…)
        Thank youuuuu! I’m still crossing my fingers that Gust has a change of heart about the Switch by the time the new AC releases. 😛 And yes, I’ve totally been wanting to rewatch Buffy lately, too!
        I love the seasonal goals for purging idea! That would be perfect for me and I’m totally doing that, thank you!
        BAHAHA cute reference. ♥ Don’t be sorry. ?

        1. Hahaha! Well, you have your new job and everything else to keep up with so it’s TOTALLY understandable you’re getting behind on some things. Don’t let it get to you! <3
          Same here, but I'm kind of struggling whether to beg for the Switch or for a laptop with tablet-possibilities? Like.. I DON'T KNOW. I want both. I need both. :')
          You're welcome!

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