Stepping into a New Year

January 1st brings new resolutions, new hopes and dreams for the coming year, and promises to be the best version of ourselves. I personally love making new year resolutions because it puts me in a positive mindset going forward. I think it’s important to set goals, because they provide direction and motivation. However, I keep in mind that every day is a gift from God and chance to grow in my faith and as a person. I don’t mean I can mess up today and it’s okay because I’ll do better tomorrow; but I can reaffirm resolutions again and again throughout the year, change them, or add new ones, and I don’t have to wait until January 1st comes around again. I also make my resolutions realistic, specific, and I write them down. If you are deciding on your own resolutions I also recommend writing them in a prominent place like on a bathroom mirror, have someone hold you accountable, and keep a journal to check in with yourself and see how you’re doing. So, without further adieu…

My New Year Resolutions for 2017:

Blogging – I would love it if I could reach people with this blog, share my experiences, and start conversations about important issues; however this blog right now is really for me. I love to write, but I haven’t had much of an opportunity to practice the craft in school and I see less opportunity in college for the expressive style I enjoy. Being an Occupational Therapy student, I understand the importance of meaning and value in occupations. When you do something you love and find purpose in; it can dramatically influence your overall well-being. I hit a rough patch my first semester of college because I had lost the artistic and expressive occupations I enjoyed growing up. Suddenly I wasn’t in dance anymore, I didn’t have art classes, and all the writing assignments I had were structured and in an essay format. Once I figured out the reason I felt so restless, I began taking action. I started Mosessupposes art as a way to not only protect myself from the almost inevitable student loan debt I would soon be facing, but also the feeling of depression and loss of purpose that comes from occupational imbalance. One part of Mosessupposes is this blog and I resolve that over the next year I will continue to improve my writing skills and share my ideas about all that I’m learning at UNH in at least two posts a month.
Painting shoes– The second half of Mosessupposes is a shoe-painting business I started. This has been a dream of mine for a couple years now and it is finally becoming a reality. I love making art that has a clear purpose; which for me means either a powerful message or a functional use. My shoes do both. I am naturally introverted and although college and my experience working as a phoneathon caller for my school has helped me gain confidence in conversations; I need a little push at times. My shoes make a statement, expressing both my love of art and the things I am passionate about like sailing, and are great at starting conversations. I have yet to sell my first pair; but I am going to be patient with this one. If I can sell 10 pairs by the end of the year, I will be happy. I will have had the opportunity to relax and develop my art as well as make a little bit of money for school. You can help me with this particular resolution by following this link to the Mosessupposes Art Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mosessupposesart/
Grow in my faith- This is an annual resolution, because I always expect to grow in my faith and relationship with God. Usually I say I am going to pray more, read the Bible more, and get involved in church more; but I end up failing because I could always do more of these things. There is no concrete goal to reach for. I am not one to make faith about acts, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9, however I do believe in developing habits. You can’t develop a relationship without communication and we communicate with God through prayer. I discovered prayer journaling through a club on campus called Inter-Varsity. I started my own for a couple of days and it was amazing. Suddenly I was actually taking notice of all of the times God answered my prayers. I was noticing His work in my life in a way I never had before. So this year I want to continue that prayer journal on a weekly basis and maybe share with you the amazing things He is doing in my life. The second spiritual- related resolution I have is to read the new testament. Reading the whole bible in a year was too overwhelming, so I think this year I will start with the new testament. I already finished Matthew last semester so I feel like I have a running start to completing this goal. One of the hardest things I face as a christian is my ability to sit and listen to where God is directing me; I’m so distracted by everything around me, I forget to be still. If I could establish a habit of getting into His word every week, I think It would have a huge influence in my life.
Making the Dean’s list– I always placed a lot of my identity in my education growing up and I found it to be a rather unhealthy practice. This year I am working towards putting my identity in my faith instead. Hoewever, that does not mean that I have lost this high expections I had for myself acedemically. I think I am going to make the deans list for this past semester and I would like to keep up my grades so I can make it again this year. I also wish to remain in the Honors Program both for general education and Honors in Major so that I can participate in the research project and thesis senior year. This is a difficult but self explanitory resolution and one that I will have to work at all year long.
Find fitness on-campus– I am not an overly active person. I do not enjoy excersize, unless I feel like there is a purpose outside of “staying fit”. I would rather hike a mountain than run on a treadmill, I would rather dance than lift weights, I would rather skii than do a cardio workout. I know there are lots of opportunities to be active on campus and we have an amazing new rec-center; but so far I haven’t found anything I enjoy. I did join the sailing team, but the lake was off campus and I didn’t have the time to commit to it. So, my goal for this year is to find something I do enjoy; an occupation I find value in that also gets me moving. I think if I could find someone to go with, I could get into Zumba or running around campus. We will see.
Become an advocate -One of the best parts about Occupational Therapy is that I will be in a position to advocate for my clients on a daily basis. This is exciting to me because, being the idealistic millennial and INFJ (for those unfamiliar with Myers-Briggs personality types, I am sure there will make it into a future post) I am, I want to make a difference in the lives of those around me and the world at large. My Recreation Management and Policy class, Taking the “dis” out of “disability”, opened my eyes to the the idea of able-ism and I see it literally everywhere. People talk about racism and feminism and capitalism, but before this class I had never even heard of able-ism. I have already begun to point it out when I watch movies with friends, but often I have difficulty articulating what I mean. So this year I would like to become a more effective advocate and to use this blog as a platform to discuss some of the social injustices I see around me. Oh and I love love love the new show Speechless , I think it doeas a great job raising awareness to the issue in an entertaining way and I highly recommend it to everyone. You can watch it on Wednessday nights 8:30/7:30c on ABC or online at http://abc.go.com/shows/speechless !
Continue improving guitar- My last resolution is to improve my guitar skills. I have a month off of school and not much to do so I can probably knock this goal out of the park before the end of January, but it is something I can also continue all year. I can play chords and sing, but I would like to learn different strumming patterns and learn how to play TAB. Sometimes I grow too content with my current skills as I have with guitar and I really want to push myself to improve in the new year.

So, with that being said, I hope you all have an amazing 2017 and I wish you the best with your own new years resolutions. I would love to hear about them, so feel free to leave a comment below!