Fresh.

I know I talked a bit about goals yesterday, but since today is officially a new start, a fresh canvas on which to paint my twenty-seventh year of life, I'm going to elaborate a bit more on what I want to do this year, how, and why.

I don't normally make resolutions; they seem so trivial, and are so often being broken before they've even begun to take hold that I see no real point. But I do know that there are aspects of my life that need change, and a new year is as good a time as any to start the effort towards accomplishing that. So instead of taking all of those goals from yesterday, and breaking my brain by trying to get them all done in the next week, I'm going to focus on one or two each month, cultivate them into habits, and making sure that the change is permanent before moving on to the next thing. Make sense?

This month I have two large goals: not buy anything new, and get back into the habit of logging my food daily.

And while it might not look like it at first glance, they do actually compliment each other. If I can hold back on my shopping, and focus more on eating at home, watching what I eat, then perhaps by the time I do go shopping, it will be for a different size.

The shopping problem is kind of a new thing. (And really, it's not a problem, but I'd like to make sure I have it in check before it becomes one.) For a long time (five years, to be exact) I shopped very minimally. Only when it was absolutely necessary, or when my parents were visiting and my mom took me shopping. It had to do a lot with how broke we were for the first few years we lived in Austin.

Then, slowly, I realized how awesome thrift shopping was; it became an adventure to go to a thrift store, and find the treasures hidden amongst the piles of crap. After we moved here last year, I realized while going through a lot of my clothes just how rarely I splurged on myself and bought clothes new. It was a treat to go to the mall and get new things, and it kind of bugged me. I decided that I deserved nice things, and started buying what I wanted.

Which is good, I think people should buy what they want, and treat themselves nice, but then it became a thing, in which I bought stuff because it was nice, in my size, and/or on sale, and not really because they were something I would wear. And instead of balancing my thrifting with my regular shopping, I've just being on a spree for the past few months, which, along with not getting rid of too much, has resulted in my having two whole packed-to-the-max closets. And that's just being greedy.

I started last night, and am continuing today, to go through my closets and find things to donate that don't fit, or I don't wear. It's a slow process because the first time I went through I only came up with two pairs of pants. Then I thought about it a bunch, and went over again, and got out two more pairs of pants and a shirt I think I wore once. It may take a few times of going over it again (I can already think of another shirt I've only worn once) but I will make a dent in my collection before I allow myself to shop again.

Tucked in along with that goal is my intention to only buy things I really love, and intend to wear over and over. I've always favored very classic pieces, clean lines, and the most basic colors: black, grey, and white. For the past few years, though, especially when I was buying something used, and it was cheap, I've been trying to expand my taste, challenge myself to wear different colors, and honestly? It's useless. I like what I like, and I'm done trying to keep up with fashion trends, or force myself to wear things I don't really like.

It's also, in a way, teaching me a lesson. I feel bad having wasted money on things that I didn't love. Money I could have saved and put towards something I really want (uggh Prada rain boots). Definitely not making that mistake again this year.

As far as food goes, I plan to start by logging everything daily to get an idea of where I'm at, then incorporating changes to meet my nutritional goals. Being gluten-free definitely makes it trickier than before, but I know it can be done. Once I get that in check, then I'll move on to adding in work-outs next month. (That's not to say I'm not doing anything in the way of exercise now, only that it is minimal and mostly consists of walking/jogging, because I want to make my body is getting everything it needs before I start anything intense.) By the end of the year, I want to run a 10K.

I'm posting this all on here as a way to keep myself honest, and hopefully, get some encouragement along the way. So if you're planning anything similar, let me know!