this post is going to be a little sentimental and a little motivational. after all, this is a letter to my future self. (inspired by a lovely video created by troye sivan)
i’m a firm believer in goal setting. if you don’t have a goal in mind, how are you going to get anywhere in life? sure i like being spontaneous and adventurous, but you can’t do that with life. you need to know where you’re going, and to me, that’s built up with goals – big goals, small goals, goals in general. that being said, i love making new year’s resolutions.
a new year is always refreshing. you have a clean sheet of paper before everything gets messy and confused – a clean sheet of paper to make things RIGHT. i’ll admit that most of the times things don’t get right, but it doesn’t hurt to try. the new year also makes me realize how fast time moves the older you get. and how i need to get my life together and i don’t really know what i’m doing. basically, it makes me have an existential crisis. but anyway, GOALS. and writing letters to my future self.
dear xan, circa 2017
the year is over and beginning yet again. i hope you’re proud of what you have and haven’t accomplished in the past 365 days. at least you made it this far! let’s start with the basics. did you take care of yourself this past year? wake up earlier, see the sun more often, run in the mornings? how’s your body? no injuries, hopefully, still able to dance, and in better shape, i presume. pleeaaaaase tell me you’ve improved your dancing and grew as an artist. if not, can you at least say that you’ve completed BBG – twice or thrice? you should’ve treated your body the same as you treat your lovely hardcovers.
it’s clear to me, even as your past self, that you’ll be reading a lot this year. after all, books are incredibly dear. i don’t care how many books you’ve read, but i hope you organized them all in a bookish spreadsheet. also, have you done a better job tackling your TBR – the physical books you already own? your bookshelf is already running out of space, so i hope you solved that problem: get an additional shelf or control your book buying habits.
those are the bookish things i hope you’ve accomplished, but what about the blogging ones? last year you managed to cross off five out of ten of your blogging goals, which really isn’t thaaaaaat bad. maybe it’s better that i’m expecting less from you this time. have you conquered some other unfathomable number in the stats? i’d set some solid goals, but blogging is much more than numbers and i’ll just go with the flow. aside from that, have you met any of your blogger friends in real life? did you go to YALLWEST? I NEED TO KNOW THAT I’VE MET SOME BLOGGING PEEPS.
tell me you went to YALLWEST, and tell me it’s because you FINALLY got your driver’s license (also persuading skills). but really, are you able to drive wherever in the world you’d like? like THE LIBRARY OR BOOKSTORE. along with YALLWEST, tell me you went to varna and helsinki for the international ballet competitions. i hope you can tell me you did well and that you made it to the final rounds. most importantly, i hope you make me proud because you’re growing and breathing and caring and living wholeheartedly. (it’s really not that difficult, but sometimes i set the bar too high – you should know better than anyone.)
I love this! It’s a good way to break the monotony of just a regular list of resolutions.
I used to hate goals, because I could never succeeded at them. But I’ve learned the hard way that goals are necessary, and they need to be realistic. 😛
It’s awesome that most of your goals are about continual growth in the things you already love. 😀
This is lovely! I know what you mean about the start of a new year, it’s so refreshing! I hope your 2016 is amazing and that you can accomplish your goals 🙂
I love this! It is an excellent way to list your goals! I do very much hope that your future self can tell you they completed all of these things!
I love this! Especially since its a great way to list your goals and then reflect in a year’s time 🙂
*366 days. ;D I hope you reach all your goals! Setting goals definitely gets you going even when you don’t know where exactly you want to be. Have a great year!
I think this is a lovely way to really address the things you want to accomplish in 2017! After all, an optimistic attitude is half the battle to make things happen. Wishing you lots of luck on your 2016 goals! <3
This is such a beautiful letter for you to look back on Alex! Goal setting is definitely important, and it’s the best way to see whether you achieved things that you wanted. Good luck with these goals in 2016!
This is absolutely beautiful! I love this idea of writing a letter to yourself, and despite that this was a totally personal letter for you, I felt like this was really touching my heart as I was reading! What a lovely way to set goals. Good luck for 2016!
This is an amazing post! It’s such a cute idea, wishing you an amazing year in 2016 🙂
What an amazing post and such a wonderful idea. All the best for 2016!!! I hope you reach all your goals.
“You should’ve treated your body the same way you treat your lovely hardcovers” needs to become a proverb. A tattoo. Stitched on a pillow, at the very least.
I LOVE this post so, so very much. It’s almost a kind of time capsule, without the hassle of fresh dirt and all that usually comes with time capsules. It was incredibly lovely and brave of you to share your bookish hopes publicly, too. I really hope YALLWEST is a blast. 🙂
– Lexie
This post is so so lovely. I LOVE IT. THAT IS ALL…just kidding, pfft, I always have more to ramble on about in comments. ;D Ahem. So I love the idea of writing a letter like this! And I totally hear you about the existential crisis when a year starts. Me = always. I just always make big goals and then 2 weeks later panic that I’ve made them too big. But I do love goals so much too…I love the beginning of the year and how it’s full of possibilities. :’)
This post made me smile all the way! This is so amazing and it’s a wonderful idea!