Happy New Year!!!
Yesterday morning I worked my last shift ever at my front desk job. It felt rather fitting that it was the last day of the year and meant that I was going to start off 2014 fresh… and unemployed. While I love many things about working there-the amazing people, the classes and the environment, waking up at 4:15AM in the middle of a busy school week was wreaking havoc on my school work and body. It feels bittersweet to be leaving a job I have loved for the past year, but I am optimistic that there will be other great opportunities in the near future.
It’s become a New Years tradition to take prom style couples photos in front of a Christmas tree. I’m fully aware that my boyfriend and his best friend make a cute couple…
I was probably laughing at the fact that he can’t smile in pictures.
New Year means time for some new goals!!!! When it comes to resolutions I find that people either love ‘em or hate ‘em. While I’m a strong believer that you shouldn’t wait until January 1st to start conquering those goals you’ve been thinking about, I love that the new year gives everyone a chance to reflect on how things went during the past year and start thinking about what they want to focus on in the next year.
I love the idea of setting an overall theme for the upcoming year. For 2014 I really want to focus more on flexibility in all senses of the word. Literally, my body is not very flexible. Even when I was a dancing youngin’ flexibility was not my strongest suit. Recently this has only become even more of a problem thanks to running, cycling plus the lack of yoga-ing and foam rolling. Yoga has been a tricky bugger to incorporate into my daily routine since vinyasa can sometimes trigger my old shoulder injury. When I took a bikram class this summer it didn’t bother my shoulder (I think this is thanks to the lack of downward dogs and chaturangas) so I’m hoping to add bikram into my workout routine plus lots and lots of foam rolling
Flexibility is also something I could use more of in my life. By nature I am a very uptight and rigid person, it’s always been a defining quality of who I am. While I’m proud of the intense sense of focus I possess which goes hand in hand with my rigid mentality, I know I need to be more flexible in my every day life. Since I live alone I’m used to doing my own thang and planning out what I want to do with the day with only my own desires in mind. Whenever someone changes my plans I’m a mess for some reason. These changes usually aren’t a big deal, but they still get me crazed. In 2014 I’m hoping to become more flexible in my daily life and be a bit better about “going with the flow”.
Besides the overall theme of flexibility here are some of my goals for 2014:
-drink more tea and less coffee. The issue: I think tea tastes like hot water.
– learn how to nap. Whenever I try to take a nap I wake up groggier than before the nap.
-be better at learning people’s names. I’m TERRIBLE at remember names when someone is introduced to me. At work I was pretty good about learning the clients names because I read them on the class rosters day after day and often times had to type in their usernames, but if I’m introduced to someone at a party that name goes in one ear and out the other.
– create a more efficient study schedule and actually stick to it. At the end of the semester I got the hang of this a little bit more since I started studying with a group, but during midterms I always felt like I had so much to do in so little time because I didn’t properly plan ahead.
– find a way to still connect with my performing arts background. Taking guitar lessons has been a really great way to tap into that “old Kayla” but I’m hoping to also take some dance classes for fun and find a way to bring singing back into my life.
– pass all my classes. Still don’t know my chemistry grade for the semester and it makes me a little bit queasy just thinking about it.
– run my second half marathon just as strong and injury free as my first was.
– incorporate fitness better into my crazy school life even if it’s just a 20 minute workout, it still beats nothing.
– be better about motivating myself to workout instead of solely relying on (expensive) fitness classes.
what are you goals for the upcoming year?
Here’s to a great 2014!
xo
Evann Clingan says
Excited to continue half marathon training with you! I’ve never taken a hot yoga class. Go with me?!
EvannClingan.com – NYC Fitness & Lifestyle Blog
Kayla says
yes I would definitely go with you! I haven’t been in the city yet