resolutions – Ashley Okimoto

The glitz and glam of the holidays has come to an end. I’ve kicked off my party shoes and slipped my aching feet into the less glamorous, but oh-so-comfy, Uggs we lovingly call life-per-usual.

Maybe it’s the stress of the two full time jobs that I’m currently working – or the fact that I’ve spent the last three days glued to my couch, knocked out with the gnarliest head cold I’ve had in years, and nothing but a marathon Game of Thrones session with the hubsters and my thoughts to keep me going – but I’ve been crazy for change lately.

Not grand gesture, big announcement, I’m going to live-off-the-grid kind of change, but change that moves you nonetheless. While I’ve been settling back into the swing of our typical day-to-day grind, I’m realizing that the only thing that’s really grinding is me… and it’s not working. I’m not as healthy as I could (or should) be, I’m not as organized as I’d like to be and all of it is driving me (and let’s be honest, probably also my husband) just a little insane. So something needs to change.

But the memory of made and abandoned resolutions is a hard pill to swallow. Remember 2014, when I attempted to take and post an Instagram photo every day? Well I abandoned that in late-August when an unrelenting anxiety about posting finally got the better of me. And while I was bummed I made it that far and didn’t finish out the year, what I lost in unfulfilled resolutions I gained in time, which allowed me to meet my now-husband just a few weeks later. I’ve also vowed numerous times to return to blogging at the start of a new year. I won’t make any major promises on that front this time around (lest my two-full time jobs get the better of me in the next few months), but I’ll do my best to get back to the one true passion that ultimately drives me.

So what is all this about? What exactly am I going to do? Well, I am not going to do is make a resolution that I’ll start some fancy new diet or go to the gym every day. If you know me, you know that’s crazy. First, I love cooking and baking and food (oh my!) and second, I don’t really love how smelly and gross the gym can be this time of year. I can’t guarantee that I am going to be as clean as I should be, or that I won’t always be stressed out. I’m a stress case. We all know it.

But what I will promise myself is to be more mindful. More mindful about the food that I eat. And the choices that I make. In fact, I promise to make one small choice for change a day – whether it’s making an effort to clean the house on a random Thursday night or choosing to listen to my body and stay out that extra hour after work so that I can make it to the yoga class I used to love so much. Maybe it’s waking up 30 minutes earlier than normal to assess the day and get prepared for what’s ahead or resting my mind with 30 minutes of meditation one night after a truly stressful day at work. It could be going through my closet and donating the old clothes that I haven’t worn in years, or finally picking through the boxes under the bed in the spare room, filled with treasures I couldn’t bare to part with when I moved out of my last apartment, but honestly haven’t looked at since.

Above all? I promise to make mindful moments matter in 2019.

So help keep me accountable, okay? And feel free to leave behind any tips you may have for staying mindful in 2019.

xoxo

Ashley

Dear 2013,

It’s over. I’m leaving. #sorryimnotsorry

Don’t get me wrong, there were a few absolutely amazing things that happened to us along the way. Two dream-worthy career opportunities were probably the highlight. The successful writing partnership, beautiful friends, and the many (seriously, so many) wine tasting trips were delightful. I traveled and I grew. I loved, I lost, I learned. For all of that, I am truly grateful. Lest this anti-love note to the past 365 days take a tone that borders on bitter, let me state upfront, I am most certainly thankful for the countless blessings that have been bestowed upon me.

But in the name of full disclosure, I’m over it. I’m over the fact that I’ve been neglecting this blog. I’m over the fact that I haven’t even cracked the surface on the editing notes for my novel that I received last January. I’m over the fact that I wrote only ten articles for Cinema Coma this past year. Seriously. Less than one a month. I won’t even attempt to broach the subject of my personal (read: dating) life, which has dealt me quite a few irritating (read: devastating) blows of it’s own this year. Long story short, I let myself slide on more than a few promises I made to myself this year and starting tomorrow, that changes.

I am over being over everything.

Last January, I announced confidently that I would write daily. While I did write something on the regs (yay for small accomplishments), I would like to amend it ever so slightly for the New Year. With that in mind, here is my list of (hopefully not too cliche) goals for 2014:

Love. Bigger and better than ever before. Because… well, I think I finally deserve to cash in on that happily ever after that people keep telling me is coming my way.
Take a picture every day. I know people who did this a few years back and I have been enamored with the idea ever since. If anything, I’ll at least get a few great Instagram photos out of it (look for #instaAttitude).
Work on my novel at least once a week (let’s be real, a daily goal would just be setting myself up for failure). Go ahead and keep me honest.
Spend more time with friends and family. So basically, more phone calls, mid-week dinners, and 3+hour Google Hangouts with a few of my fab East Coasters.
Breathe. Seems simple, but for me it isn’t.
Raise my Cinema Coma monthly article average. Maybe this year, I can aim for 2. You know, reach for the stars and all.
Find a Yoga instructor that I actually like. (PS… apparently, it’s harder than you’d think).
Get back into Yoga. Starting off the New Year with insane back pain is not exactly my idea of a good time.
Turn 30. It was already on the schedule, so why not make it a ressie, right? I’m thinking a huge beachside bungalow blowout.
Start the process of buying a house. I know… that’s a big one. But I’ve decided it’s happening.
Get an article published through another nationally recognized site or magazine. You know, build up my street cred.
And obviously, update this blog a little more often.

So screw the drama, 2013. Things are looking up in the New Year and I’m pretty damn excited.

xoxo,

Ash

Tag: resolutions

Making Mindful Matter in 2019

So Long, Farewell. I’m Ready For a New Year.