2018 Goals

I know New Year’s resolutions are overplayed, but I still like the idea of starting off a new year with intention.

So here goes. My first goal for 2018 is to stop spoiling movies for myself by reading the summary on Wikipedia beforehand. Do any of you guys also do this? It’s a bad habit I’ve developed when I get really freaked out by a scary movie, so I see what’s going to happen to so I can anticipate the jump scare. Except, I still get scared, but also ruin the plot for myself (especially when everyone dies at the end. That really knocks the wind out of the sails of the movie-watching experience).

My other goal for the new year is to cut down on needless apologies. I spend a considerable amount of my time and energy mired down by apologies or over-justifying my decisions to other people. In 2018 I want to sound as assertive on the outside as I feel on the inside. 2017 has been such a frustrating, yet empowering year for women. For me, it was the first year when things finally clicked. I thought of all the times, men (even when I was their supervisor) refused to read emails, follow instructions, or would sneer at the times that I needed to pull my superiority over them. Before last year, I’ve always felt hesitant, I’ve felt apologetic, I felt that I could only take baby steps towards advocating for women, but when 2019 starts, I want to look at this year as a time when I finally let my voice be heard.

Finally, in 2018, I want to:

• Finish the giant jar of Sea Salt body scrub I bought in New York two years ago and always forget to use
• Master React.js and the front-end JavaScript best practices.
• Grow my hot sauce brand
• Write at least two entries a week on Skipping Customs
• Finish that Modern Love piece I’ve been working on for the last six months.
• Buy health insurance (2018 is a good year to start adulting, right?)