[As published in the November/December edition of Nkwazi magazine]
The end is nigh! The end of 2015 that is and for many it’s time to look back on the year and reflect on failures and successes. You’ll most likely ask yourself whether you’ve managed to achieve your new year’s resolutions or goals. Perhaps as you down some shots to celebrate the festive season, you’ll regretfully remember that as 2015 approached you resolved to quit drinking. I didn’t make any resolutions per se but I knew how I wanted the year to go and started out 2015 with a few goals in mind. And let’s just say, many weren’t achieved.
The end is nigh! The end of 2015 that is and for many it’s time to look back on the year and reflect on failures and successes. You’ll most likely ask yourself whether you’ve managed to achieve your new year’s resolutions or goals. Perhaps as you down some shots to celebrate the festive season, you’ll regretfully remember that as 2015 approached you resolved to quit drinking. I didn’t make any resolutions per se but I knew how I wanted the year to go and started out 2015 with a few goals in mind. And let’s just say, many weren’t achieved.
My diet’s never been out of control but I wanted to make a
more conscious effort to eat healthily. However, I knew I’d seriously slacked
off when during the third quarter of the year I walked into a popular fast food joint and was greeted with, “It’s been a long time. Where have you been?” This 'restaurant' receives a lot of traffic and is often full to capacity, yet I’d been
there enough times that some of the staff noticed my absence. So much for
healthy eating. See me inhale pieces of fried chicken and you'd never guess that I used to be vegetarian.
Learn to drive
In my twenties I’m yet to learn how to drive, in part due to
fear of taking the wheel. I’ve been put to shame by teens, even below legal
driving age, who can move a vehicle more easily than me. I took all of three
lessons this year. Three’s the number of lessons I took last year so I’ve
convinced myself that it’s not a failure. I haven’t failed, I’ve just maintained
last year’s (mediocre) standards. However, I curse myself (and the conductor) every
time I’m shortchanged on a public bus. Living in a part of Lusaka where tarred
roads are a rarity and finding a paved sidewalk is an impossibility, curses are
in order every time I move around my neighbourhood. I’m inevitably covered in
layers of dust whenever a car goes by me. At those times I bemoan the fact that
I’m not in a car leaving pedestrians eating dust.
Exercise more
For all their annoyances, my dusty walks now constitute the
majority of the exercise I get. This is despite the fact that I planned to work
out more in 2015. Prioritising flexibility and low impact exercise, yoga was my
go-to choice. I woke up bright and early on the first day of the year to do a
few yoga sequences but in the weeks that followed I failed to keep the momentum
going. Seeing the benefits of yoga from previous years (among other things, it
helped keep me sane in my time at university), I recommend it to anyone who’ll
listen but for now I’m not practising what I preach. Hypocrite.
Become a better
photographer
I take some decent shots, if I don’t mind saying so myself
but entering 2015 armed with a new DSLR camera I aimed to take my photography to
the next level. I successfully shot a few events but otherwise my biggest
achievement is that I’ve now adopted the annoying habit of photographing my
meals with my cellphone. To my credit, I don’t put up “This is what I had for
lunch” posts on social media. Not yet anyway.
Watch more TV
Yes, that’s right, more not less TV. Granted, this is a
weird one. TV-related goals are typically concerned with cutting down
time spent staring at the screen. Last year I drastically cut down on TV time
and I felt a little clueless about what was going on in the world. I missed out
on some major news stories and this former news junkie wasn’t comfortable with that. I
also missed the relaxing and entertaining nights I used to have in front of the
tube. In case you’re wondering, I don’t count Telemundo as entertainment fit
for human consumption (sorry Mum) but I allow myself to occasionally watch some
reality TV. If only to ogle at how ridiculous some people’s lives are. The
thing is, two of the people I live with are TV addicts and prying the remote
out their hands is a real battle. I could watch TV online but hey, internet
bundles are expensive and I have to leave something in my budget for all those
fast food runs.
Improve my French
When my schedule proved too busy to keep going for French
classes, I decided to take up an offer from a francophone friend of a friend to
meet at my convenience. He presented a great idea, I’d help him with his English and
he’d help me with my French. However, when subsequent conversations were peppered
with overt flirtation and talk of music and meals to go with our lessons, I
called off our planned experiment worried he’d try to turn our meetings into
dates. French may be called the language of love but our lessons didn’t have to
be loved up.
Stop procrastinating
I’ll get to this one later. Seriously though, old, overused
joke aside, I’ve actually made some gains on this goal. This one is a work in
progress with some successes, writing being one area I’ve stopped putting off
but there are other areas I haven’t been so successful in. At university I
tried to practise what I called “productive procrastination” and I’m
considering trying it out again. Cleaning my room and going to gym were two of
my preferred modes of positive procrastination when I struggled with an
assignment or assigned reading. Not always great for my studies but on the plus
side, I was fitter than I am now and my room was always spotless.
How to actually
achieve your resolutions
Varying studies have concluded that anywhere from 8 to 12
percent of people actually achieve their new year’s resolutions. There’s no
real secret; psychologists agree it’s ultimately down to willpower.
Additionally, focusing on one resolution at a time works better than focusing
on multiple ones. Telling people who’ll hold you accountable and building up a
support team is important too. Breaking down resolutions, especially vague ones,
into concrete steps is particularly effective. Celebrating small milestones on
the way to the to a big goal is highly advisable. Finally, making resolutions
is not bad idea but putting them off until a later stage only means you’re
putting off success. It’s merely a form of procrastination. There’s another
joke that goes, “Procrastinators are the leaders of tomorrow.” But for some of
us, tomorrow never comes so it’s best to start now on your journey to self-improvement
today, rather than at some arbitrary date in the future.
