2018 Resolutions

Wow, I really set myself up for failure with this whole post-every-Tuesday thing, didn't I? What, with Christmas and New Year's Day falling on Mondays this year. But guess what? I'm a smart cookie and know my way around this whole Internet thing.

BAM! What's that, 2018? I can't hear you because I am currently defying time and writing this in 2017! It's December 19th, I drank a large coffee today for the first time in about a week, it's almost 11pm (which is about three hours past my bedtime), I've written two blog posts in a row, and I'm not stopping there! That's right. At the end of my last post when I was like, "Oh, hey, hope you had a merry Christmas yesterday," I was snickering to myself because it wasn't Christmas yesterday! It was just Monday! I. Fooled. You.

They say I did something bad / Why's it feel so good?

Ugh, Taylor. When did you wiggle your way into my heart?

Anyway, in the interest of not failing at this whole blogging thing again (again again again), I'm scheduling the hell out of some posts, even if it means being tired tomorrow and then drinking more coffee and then continuing the vicious cycle of being tired and drinking coffee and then having insomnia.

So January 2nd is a pretty easy one - let's talk about new year's resolutions.

I have a couple:

• Figure out my allergies and work harder at managing them.

• Get into a regular workout routine.

• Make a conscious effort to spend less time looking at a screen when I'm not at work.

• Eliminate my credit card debt. (Oops, that was one of last year's resolutions too.)

• Keep writing. And write more.

To keep myself honest, here are some steps I'm going to take toward achieving these lifestyle changes.

Figure out my allergies and work harder at managing them.

I'm starting a cleanse today. It's called Whole30, and it's kind of intimidating but also really exciting. Basically, all the foods that are typically culprits of allergies, bloating, breakouts, etc. get eliminated from your diet for 30 days. After the 30 days, you slowly reintroduce them one at a time to see which ones your body hates.

I'm really scared my body might hate cheese.

Here's the thing: I love dogs. But I am so allergic to them. Everything I read says I can't do anything to fix that, but the Internet is often wrong, so I'm going to try. I'm hoping some adjustments to my diet might at least help my rhinitis? Maybe?

It's so bad that when I visit my sister's family in Norfolk (they have a Boxer and an American Bulldog) I have to stay in an Airbnb, take NyQuil at night, take 24-hour Zyrtec three times a day, wear lavender strips on my nose (and then my two-year-old niece points to my face yelling, "boo boo!"), use my Neti Pot three times a day, and use Zicam nasal swabs throughout the day. Oh, and I can't touch the dogs or let the dogs touch me. And I'm still miserable and sneezy even with all of that.

I hate doing that to my body, but I'll feel bad for my heart if I can't hang out with dogs, so we're going to start with the cleanse and then move into allergy testing and potentially shots if need be.

Get into a regular workout routine.

Here's the plan for that one: I'm going to do workouts I enjoy. I'm going to try to do them at least three times a week. I'm not going to beat myself up when that doesn't happen.

In the past, I've made myself workout every day with no air conditioning, and the minute I missed a day, that was it. I stopped forever.

I'm going to let myself make mistakes this time so I don't slip back into that cycle.

Make a conscious effort to spend less time looking at a screen when I'm not at work.

This one will conflict a little bit with the last one because I prefer to do my writing on a computer, but beyond that, I am going to make an effort to stop spending so much time looking down at a stupid phone when I have a really cool chicken/dog/husband in the same room as me.

Eliminate my credit card debt.

I've tried and failed at this many times, but this isn't really one you can just give up on (unless you DECLARE BANKRUPTCY like Michael Scott maybe). I've been chipping away at it piece by piece, but I feel confident I can close out 2018 debt free (with the exception of my car and the house).

That Whole30 cleanse will help with this one (at least through January) because I won't be able to go out to eat or drink alcohol, which will save me a lot of guacamole. (Hey, I wonder if I can still have guacamole on this cleanse.)

Keep writing. And write more.

I just have to do this. There's no getting around it. Hopefully spending money on my own domain name will motivate me to stick to this whole blog thang this time.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve! Here's to a healthy, productive, prosperous 2018!...she says while writing this at 11:15pm on December 19th. Muahahahaha.