A Late New Year Goal

Before the new year began, my sister told me that New Year Resolutions never work because it puts too much pressure on someone, so I made goals for the new year instead. Which may sound the same, but it's not exactly. 

My goals are something I can achieve & it's not a gym membership that I'll cancel in the leading months. It's not just a list I create at the start of the new year either, I am continuously adding new things to it. It's becoming a sort of attainable bucket list. A lot of my goals go along with the others. 

My first goal is to Journal More! I was a consistent journal writer for my early years of high school, but fell out of the habit during my senior year. Mirroring high school years, it's my sophomore year and I've begun to journal again. This written goal has always been a goal, and I don't know if I'll ever cross it out because I believe I'll always want to journal more, or find more ways to journal. To achieve this goal, it's very simple. I bought a journal at my local Walmart, a T-Rex wearing sunglasses and giving two peace signs with its claws. Very fun, but I keep that in my car & I write in it when I get the chance. I still would like to write in it more however. 

In tandem with the last goal, my next goal is to keep a Field Journal. The main purpose of this is to write little things about my day, something that I need, or something to tell someone. My boyfriend and I went to Daiso and found little pocket notebooks. I either keep it in my purse, or back pocket. 

This next goal is more broad and finds itself repeating the last two goals: Start a Journal Ecosystem. I found this phrase on Pinterest, it's multiple journals, notebooks, any book, to gather different thoughts. There are so many different examples of any person's journal ecosystem because they don't all have to write, think, enjoy, or be the same thing. You could keep two journals & that could be your ecosystem. 

I want to start making a commonplace book, a book where you keep everything & anything. Although, I use almost every journal like one. My sketchbooks have my school notes, my diary & field journal have any thoughts I think, I write quotes on the back of my drawings. I find everything very romantic. I went to a book sale today on my campus and bought a small version of Brom Stoker's Dracula because I found the pocket size of it romantic. When I die and someone goes through my archive, I want them to see how I existed, how I loved, the joys in my handwriting, the lift of my pen, or my brush. I think I sound like an extraterrestrial when I say I love when I can see humans exist. The skid marks in the road from cars doing donuts are screaming "I exist, I was here, something was here!"

Tumblr user @spork-adventures puts it "keep a commonplace book. fill it with everything -- grocery lists, class notes when you forget your binder, art, quotes from old books. cover the pages with scribbled handwriting and smudged pencil, bad poetry and dreams you had two nights ago. tie it shut with twine and keep it in a pocket. learn to write down every genius idea that you would otherwise forget." 

As an artist, and as a traditional artist at that, I feel like more people need to disconnect; ironic as I type this. Keeping journals allows me to stay offline for a little bit of time. I know that people can use digital media as a way to journal as well; my boyfriend uses this way. However, I need physical media. I love having CDs and posters. For one high school Christmas, all I wanted was an old fashioned recipe box, because I fell in love with the idea of filling it up with recipes I would make for any person who walked into my life. Although, I loved the idea of cooking more than cooking itself. 

To continue my current list of goals, I want Less Electronics in my life. In high school, I was a chronic social media deleter/redownloader. Last semester, I finally made the decision to delete TikTok off my phone, only to use it on my computer. Now, I rarely go on TikTok & haven't actually since the new year. During this Winter Break, I made my phone BORING! I turned the grayscale color mode off (while still making it easy to turn off) and deleted every* game, social media, or app that just take up space. 

*I actually didn't delete apps like Instagram or discord, or even Pokémon GO. Instagram and discord are currently hidden on my phone, locked behind a face lock. To go even further, I downloaded an app called ScreenZen. If you want to stay off specific apps, I highly recommend ScreenZen. The basic thing it does is make you wait 5 seconds to open an app, but you can change that time to more. It also allows you to make it difficult to get onto an app, for example, making you solve math problems, or write the reason you are going onto the app. 

For Pokemon GO, I'm afraid I just really like pokemon & I could argue that technically it's beneficial for me because it makes me want to be more active. There’s actually no reason why I should keep it on my phone since it’s one of the main things I go on my phone for, but I just enjoy it. However, it’s an actual joy unlike something that gives me dopamine boosts & no real brain activity like TikTok. 

Another thing is that I want to read more books. I’ve decided with a large majority that I want to go back to 2016 this year. I already have been playing enough Pokémon GO to almost make it a reality. However, another point of this is wanting to go more analog. I don’t want to be on my phone all the time. I want to be outside, I want to read more books, I want to have more conversations. I want to get off my phone and get out and read and write and make things and have bad grammar to show that I’m human, that I’m real.

To continue with my overlong explanation of my goals. Over the winter, my boyfriend and I watched all of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and my grandmother gave me her copies of the book series. So, after having very hobbit-filled days, I picked up the book series. Which brings me to another goal: Finish The Lord of the Rings book series. I’m currently in the middle of Fellowship of the Ring.

Speaking of movies!! I am an average movie enjoyer, maybe some would say I am a cinephile… However! I believe there is something stopping me from becoming a full potential cinephile, and that is my hesitation to watch non-english movies. Parasite director Boon Joon-ho said during his Oscar acceptance speech “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” Ironically, I have never seen Parasite. How can I be a self-proclaimed cinephile if I haven’t even like seen any movie ever…. This is probably because I watch more “classic” films than anything. I am a movie-theater-showing-old-movies-for-cheap enjoyer. I am the Dexter's Laboratory meme of him saying “I have failed you” but it’s me looking at my Letterboxd. (Shameless selfpromo, follow my Letterboxd at @Lizability, thank you!) So another goal of mine is to watch more non-english films!

A short quickfire of goals: get a tattoo, get Industrial Piercing, get Second piercing, start Volunteering, sell clothes on Depop, less fast food, work out more.