Saturday 4 January 2014

New Years Resolutions!

This time last year (can't even believe it was a whole year ago!) I made some New Years Resolutions for 2013. In 2012 I made the resolution to start, and keep, a blog... and here we are two years later - where does the time go?

1) Begin Dance Classes Again
2) Take Horse-Riding Lessons
3) Learn A Language
4) Apply For International Festivals



These were the four resolutions I set for myself... did I achieve them? Well, no, not really. But let me explain...

Dance Classes and Horse-Riding fell by the wayside when Burlesque On Ice came along. But this is a good thing. Reading through why I made certain resolutions; I wanted to go back to dance classes as I love dancing and performing, and wanted to push myself once my confidence had returned, to try a new dance style I'd never tried before... I think I can allow myself to feel that Ice Skating is a new style! It was also an exercise thing - however having spent the last six months skating at least two or three times a week, I'd say I've got that part covered!
The Horse-Riding resolution was also to learn a new skill; it's something I enjoy and something I'd wanted to do for myself and not for my career. While I didn't particularly get on with Figure Skating when I first started, and it was obviously something taken up with performance in mind, it is something I have grown to love and I can see myself keeping up, for myself, for years. And I managed to go Horse-Riding once!



I am not great with languages. I know this. The problem is two-fold - sometimes I know I know the word for something, but can't remember it; sometimes I know a word in a different language but cannot for the life of me remember what it means. However I'm trying!
Looking back over this resolution from last year, it's quite funny that I've turned it upside down slightly - I wanted to focus on French with possibly a little Spanish. As it's happened I've started learning Italian and Polish! Slightly different, I'm sure you'll agree! Polish is incredibly difficult as it bears absolutely no relationship to the English language but my boyfriends family are Polish and we're hoping to go to Krakow in 2014 so it's a good one to have. And Italian as we have friends out there and want to go for a couple more visits in the coming months (any excuse for a holiday, really!) 
I'm definitely not proficient though, and this makes me a bit disappointed in myself. I need more focus and dedication, and to not let my mind wander or be so easily distracted.... ooh, shiny thing...


Finally, I made the resolution to apply to international festivals, and I did. I didn't get in, but I didn't particularly expect to; it was the applying and conquering my fear of festivals that was the big deal for me. And I guess I did that in a small way by filling in and sending off the application forms for the first time in my Burlesque career!


So.... this brings us to 2014! 

What are my New Years Resolutions for this year? Well...

1) Finish What I Start

This look back at my New Years Resolutions from last year is quite sad, and made me realise that I am actually a bit flaky regarding things for myself. So my main resolution this year is to try and see things through to the end, for myself.
In 2013 I tried, and stopped, so many things - joining a gym, writing a novel, Rosetta Stone... to name just a few. It's disappointing to myself that I never finished any of them! This year I aim to start - and finish - more new and exciting things: maybe I'll finally learn a language, or *finish that novel I've been working on*... (Family Guy quote for you there...)



2) Get Fit And Healthy

Inspired by two ladies I'm lucky enough to be friends with on Facebook - ReeRee Rockette and Exotic Luna Rosa. Last year, ReeRee made her New Years Resolution to make 2013 the year of being fit and healthy. Not loosing weight per-se, but to get stronger, eat better and exercise more. She recently posted a picture of how far she's come from this time last year, and it's truly remarkable: she looked gorgeous in both pictures but has achieved her goal of being fitter and healthier, and looks absolutely stunning for it.
Luna Rosa is a burlesque performer and fitness model, and is one of the most beautiful women I know. She has just launched her new project The Body Odyssey and is going to be running classes in Covent Garden. I would give anything to look even half as good as Luna, and she is truly inspirational as she works so hard and is so dedicated.
So, inspired by these two women, I will aim to make 2014 the year of being fit and healthy: not giving into fad diets, and not really aiming to loose weight - just becoming stronger and healthier. I have a terrible diet at the moment, and other than ice-skating I don't really exercise. I am going to change that, and (see resolution the first) hopefully see it through!


3) Drink More Water

I am a Diet Coke addict. Not going to lie. I drink it like it's... erm... water. Which I need to drink more of. So there we go.
Benefits of drinking water include weight loss (as it fills you up, contains no calories and flushes out waste products and toxins), reducing headaches (as many headaches are caused by dehydration) and giving you younger looking skin.
Since I drink so much Diet Coke, I am aiming to replace at least some of this with water... I can't cut out the sweet stuff completely!


4) Try More New Things

I'm not going to be more specific on this one, as my specific resolutions fail. But I am going to set myself the challenge to do something new or exciting at least once or twice a month. I don't think that's too big of an ask - whether this something new is simply trying a new coffee flavour at Starbucks, or walking a different way home (when it's not raining, of course: then I just want to get home as quickly as possible), or as exciting as going to an aerial class, skydiving or learning to jump on a pogo stick...


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