The Year I Won’t Stop Trying

I’ve been a quitter for too long. It’s about time I stop.

Let’s just say that 2012 will be the year that I will live to the fullest and hope I won’t die from doing too much. I’ve always been so nonchalant towards everything. But this year, I promise to care and to interact more. To live more.

If the world will truly end on Dec. 21 of this year (I doubt it, though!), then I promise to stop spending too much time indoors. I just promise to stop holding back and to start giving more. More everything. Heh. I’ve been living far too long within my comfort zone. I’ve already mentioned here how even palm reading got a tad too boring for me. Apparently, even my palm agrees that my life is too smooth-smailing. I blame it on the fact that I rarely encounter anything challenging or unusual, though.

If life wouldn’t give me an adventure, then I will chase after it. I will go far and wide just to have a taste of a life on edge. Come on, I want to feel infinite, too!

I don’t even know what to call these things I plan on doing. Goals, maybe? I don’t know. All I know is that these are the things I really, really want to do this year. I realized that posting my plans online makes me commit to it more.

1. ON READING

I know, I know. I said I’ll spend less time indoors. But if the world would truly end this year, then I would love to read all the good books out there.

Read at least 30 books. I’m still aiming for 52 books this year. I did it last year! Yay. But since I want to be busy with other things this year, I don’t think it would be as easy. But I will keep reading. There are just too many good books out there.

Read more Filipino literature. Believe it or not, I still haven’t even read Noli Me Tangere. So this year, I’m going back to my roots and read more works by Filipino authors. I should remind myself that Bob Ong isn’t the only Filipino author in existence.

Read the bible. This is something I’ve been telling myself to do for the past 3 years. I hope this will be the year that I’ll be faithfully reading it.

2. ON WRITING

For some reason, this is probably the most challenging thing to do in this list. It’s the most accessible but for some reason, I always need to find some courage and motivation to do this. Let this year be the year that I won’t be afraid of rejection.

Blog more. Not everyday, though. That’s quite impossible. But I want to update my Asian movie blog more often and to document my life and thoughts more frequently, too.

Write fiction. Yes. Fiction writing used to be my life. I want it to be my life again.

Get published. I’m really not confident when it comes to writing. This year, I want to conquer my fears and try going beyond my limits. I want to see how far I can go. I wish to always find the courage to try again every time I fail. There’s no harm in trying and that’s something I must start believing.

3. ON BEING HEALTHY

If I haven’t informed you yet, I gained 6 kilos over the past year. I don’t intend to get rid of all those 6 kilos because I actually think I look better this way. Heh. I just want to lose the flabs!

Exerce more. I have been jogging after work since last year. I plan to do it more frequently. I am so out of shape. I’m not doing this just to lose weight but because I’m aware of how physically inactive I am.

Eat more fruits and veggies. I’ve been promising this every year but it’s just so difficult to commit to it. But I have such an unhealthy diet. I don’t want to die early. So Jane, eat more fruits and veggies for crying out loud. And less sisig. #brbcrying

4. ON LEARNING

For too many personal reasons, I gave up on my plans of applying for masters. Instead, I wish to learn more about things that I don’t really need but my heart desires so much.

Cooking. I’ve been trying my hand on cooking between months, and it’s not enough! I’ll try to cook as much as possible this year. If I’d have to enroll in a class, then I will.

Driving. Inspired by the YongSeo couple, I want to learn how to drive! I tried driving once and it was terrifying. But this year is all about conquering fears!

Film Photography. I’m such a frustrated photographer, okay. It won’t be cheap but I’m sure it will be worth it.

Korean. Of course. Of course. I’ve wanted to learn this language for the past 8 years. It’s high time that I really start learning the language.

5. ON EXPLORING

Before my passport expires on 2013, I want to travel as much as I can. I’ve been saving for this!

Travel alone. It doesn’t matter where. I don’t care if it’s just in Laguna or in the metro. I just want to try getting lost and eventually finding my way. My parents aren’t so keen on allowing me to go overseas alone so I’ll just try to explore my own country by myself as much as I can. I’m hoping I can do this every month.

Locally:

• Quaipo. I’ll try next week!
• Intramuros. Hopefully, with Alex.
• General Santos. With officemates, I think!
• Sagada. I really, really hope this pushes through. Ayessa, Mariel, Maren, and I have been planning since last year. I hope we’d find the time to visit Sagada. Huhu.

Internationally, lulz:

• Macau. This is actually the last option. If I couldn’t book a flight to Korea, then Macau will do.
• Thailand. ARGHHHHH. I really, really want to go to Thailand for personal and fangirl reasons.
• South Korea. I just really want to take my family to South Korea. I don’t even care if I’d spend more than half of my savings for this to come true. I just want to go to South Korea with my family.

I miss. 🙁

6. ON GIVING BACK

I’ve been saying this half my life, I’m much more blessed than I deserve. Well, He probably thinks I’m deserving of all these wonderful blessings, and I am more than thankful. So I think it’s a disgrace not to give back.

Sponsor a child. I believe I’m ready.

Donate. This is like hitting two birds with one stone! I need more closet space, anyway.

Volunteer. I don’t think it would be practical to follow my dreams of becoming a pre-school teacher. But I don’t want to give up on my dreams of teaching children ABCs and 123s.

7. ON DOING SOMETHING FOR THE FIRST TIME

I said I would chase after adventures, right? Well, this is how I think I’ll be able to do it. I promise to do something for the first time every month. No matter how trivial or silly it may be, I just want to keep experiencing things I’ve never experienced before. I’ll try to talk about it, everything about the experience.

 8. ON TRYING TO BE A BETTER PERSON

• Be more systematic.
• Speak up!
• Sleep more. Yes, this falls under this category.
• Stop hate-stalking blogs. LOLOL.
• Stop speaking ill of others.
• Stop being cynical towards everything. But never stop being critical.

Career-wise, I won’t even disclose anything here because I don’t want to jinx it! I’ll just do my best at work and just see what will come out of it.

Last year, I didn’t accomplish much on my list. Just managed to do 1, 4, 8 and 10. I swear this year will be different. I’m not exactly sure how I’d be able to do everything on this list. But I will try and I will give my 100%. I have this habit of doing things half-heartedly, but this year, I swear to give my all.