i'm trying to do better

The first month of a new year feels like a brand new pair of shoes. It's shiny and new, but you still have to break them in and figure out how you'll wear them. I guess that's how I've been living my January. I didn't make New Years resolutions, but that doesn't mean I'm throwing 2016 under the bus.

My main goal is to "do better". How entirely vague, I know, but there is no other way to say it quite as perfectly as that. This new year will have a lot of "lasts" and even more "firsts", and I want to make the most of it. Plain and simple.

This "do better" philosophy of mine manifests itself in a couple of key ways. Let's talk about them.

I want to put my money where my mouth is. In the past I've spent so much energy preaching about my beliefs but making a small effort to actually enforce this change. This year is going to be different. There is no cause more urgent than preventing global warming, so over this year I'll be working on reforming my habits and educating those around me on what we can do to help. In November, I became a vegetarian, mainly because the meat industry is a huge contributor to greenhouse gasses and also really disgusting in general. Over this year, I want to continue to cut out animal products from my diet, especially dairy. I also want to become more conscious and conservative with the trash that I produce, especially waste that isn't biodegradable or recyclable. This means using reusable containers, avoiding unnecessary disposable items, and being smarter about the way I purchase things.

I want to work harder. I'm a huge fan of taking the easy way out, (why do more when I can do less?), but in some situations I realize that there is more that I could have done. Next fall, I'll be attending one of the most difficult and notoriously stressful universities in America, so I need to train myself not to shy away from a little sweat. This means reading the entire book rather than skipping around and using Sparknotes to fill in the blanks, improving my time management skills (which are horrendous) so that I can complete more tasks in a day, and doing assignments to the best of my ability even if I really, really, REALLY didn't want to do them.

I want to use less. In 2015 I became fascinated with minimalism. Minimalistic designs are really trendy at the moment (and my current favorite style of art), but I want to apply the minimalist thought to my life in more ways then design. The whole concept is that we don't need to have so many material possessions to be able to live a fulfilling life. Life is found in the moments, not the objects. The movement has inspired me in so many ways. I used to be a huge fan of online shopping, but I don't think I've bought anything online (for myself) since the summer. I have more than enough clothes, my room is decorated to my liking, why do I keep buying and buying? I want to use less, buy less, and get rid of the things that I don't need but continue to hold on to. 

I want to be healthier. This aligns itself with the whole vegetarian thing by being more concious about what I put in my body, but it's a little bigger than that. I'm a pretty healthy eater (for the most part, dark chocolate is my everything), but in 2015 I probably worked out once a month. In this next year, I want to make my body as strong and healthy as it can be before I start my new life in college. But healthiness extends to my brain too. I want to make sure I sleep enough, look away from a screen enough, and spend enough time with my friends so that I feel happy and energetic. I know, a "health kick resolution"? How cliché. But if I'm going to "do better" as a whole, that includes clichés.

I want to create more. Art and creativity is so utterly important to me, yet it somehow always ends up on the back burner when I have other things to do. I want to make time to practice my guitar and write new songs. I'd also love to publish a couple of songs onto my soundcloud, originals or covers. I haven't written anything on my own time (other than a few of these blog posts here and there) since the summer, so I want to write more and more. Although fictional stories will always have my heart, I've been wanting to explore documentary style films, so I hope to make at least one of those this year. Staying artistically active is so important for me to feel like I'm doing my best, so I want to make sure that I make that a priority.

There are so many other things that I want to do, and that I will do, to make my year worthwhile. Some of these things I will write much larger posts on, but I'm afraid I won't do them justice in this catch-all style entry.

Youtuber Filmmaker Casey Neistat (I know, I'm a 13 year old boy, let me live) said something really profound in one of his motivational themed videos:

"The only thing in life that stands between you and everything you have ever wanted to do, is doing it "

This quote perfectly summarizes the point of this blog entry. Not only that, but most of my posts this next year will focus around this theme and the topics that I mentioned in this post and the things I have yet to even tell you about. 

I want to be a better person, and I want to grow every day, and the only way I can get there is to do better.

I just have to do it.

Thanks for reading. As usual, I'd love to hear your comments or reaction. Tweet me @theonechameleon or comment, or whatever.

Camille