I feel like I start every blog post apologizing for my absence, and, well, today is no different haha. My winter break has been filled with food, shopping, and craptastic Internet connection. I know that I have a bunch of comments, Tumblr messages, and emails to reply to, so please bear with me and don’t feel ignored! Soon you’ll be hearing about my winter break in three parts. Anyways, let’s get on with it…

It’s never too late (!!!) to get started with your New Year’s resolution. As the wise Karen Lamb says, “a year from now you may wish you had started today,” so don’t wait until the next beginning. Start now.

I was going to do a whole 2015 A-Z resolution/goal/bucket list like I’ve done before, but similar to my attempt at 100 Happy Days, big lists just don’t work for me. I got as far as: create a capsule wardrobe, attend a dōTERRA conference, log expenses, experience the city’s First Fridays, learn how to use Lightroom, get dressed in the mornings, start a postcard collection, stop touching your face.

I’ve seen the idea of one-word themes floating around the Internet, but this extreme doesn’t quite work for me either. There are so many things I want to change, to be–how can I choose just one word to encompass it all? And so I found the great in-between of personal mantras from Jen of Jennypurr.

ADVENTURE // Sometimes I want to be that enigmatic girl who loses herself in hidden cafes and musty bookstores, and other times I want to be that intrepid explorer who climbs mountains and goes skydiving. This year, after reading one hundred too many To Adventure blog posts and watching two thousand too many Mr. Ben Brown vlogs (as well as scrolling through alexstrohl, erickimberlin, fursty, ioegreer, jontaylorsweet, ravivora, stephenalkire on Instagram), I’ve decided that while I might not be climbing mountains or skydiving, this is the year to seize the day, to live life, to enjoy all that it all has to offer, and to get my butt out of bed. Do something physical. Do something meaningful. Adrenaline rushing, endorphin pumping. Get in tune. Explore. Discover. Think of all the photo ops. Haha jk (kinda)

PASSION // What I fear most in life is not finding my passion. Especially as a college student, a time during which I must declare a major and start setting my career path, the prospect of the future is petrifying, and the prospect of the future without a passion is utterly horrifying. I want something to look forward to. I want to go to sleep dreaming about something and to wake up pursuing it. I want to talk about something with light in my eyes. People say to choose a job you love so that you’ll never have to work a day in your life, but I think that’s bull. If you want to pursue your dreams, you need to work as hard as something-that-works-really-really-hard to get there. I want to enjoy tirelessly working towards something. But what oh what to invest all of that time and energy into?

My action plan is to live a life of positivity and to eliminate anything that threatens it. Okay, maybe not so dramatically. But my point is, I don’t want to waste time fulfilling the standards of society. I want to find my passion and pave my own path. A quote I often use to motivate myself is “you have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyoncé,” but unfortunately that isn’t true (I still love and use that quote though). Sometimes you just have to make the best of the situation you’re given, and in those cases I’ll try my darndest to maintain perspective and then be proactive enough to do something about it.

KINDNESS // This is a theme I’ve seen popping around the blogosphere. As Ian Maclaren so wonderfully puts it, “be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” This altruistic guide to zen shows that productivity isn’t everything you need to live a fulfilling life. Do you remember how it felt like when life was getting you down and absolutely nothing seemed to be going right? As an introvert, my first instinct is to seclude myself in times like these, but I encourage you and myself to reach out not only to ask for support but to give it as well. You’d be surprised how much of an impact you could make on someone’s day (or life) by simply caring. Here’s a conversational tip to get it started.

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. -Ernest Hemingway

There are some people in the world who are truly amazing members of society, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few. I can never express how grateful I am to have been graced by their presence or even to have had the honor of being their friend. And I want to be someone like that.

(DO YOU GUYS HAVE THAT ONE FRIEND THAT DOESN’T THINK SHE’S ANYTHING SPECIAL BUT SHE’S BEAUTIFUL AND FUNNY AND WITTY AND EVERYTHIGN AMAZING THAT YOU COULD EVER WANT IN A PERSON BUT SHE DOESN’T SEE IT AND YOU JUST WANNA TAKE HER AND SHAKE HER AND SCREAM IN HER FACE ALL OF THE AMAZING THINGS ABOUT HER JUST SO SHE WILL APPRECIATE HOW ABSOLUTELY LOVELY SHE IS (x))

AND SOME FUN STUFF // On the vernacular of good vs. bad, us vs. them, in vs. out

Christmases around the blogosphere: Coco Kelley, Eat Love Merry, Hjartesmil, Ice Pandora, Pinch of Yum, Rainy London, The Cat, You, And Us, The Londoner, The Pink Diary, Wish Wish Wish

On blogging: drive traffic to old posts, streamlined blogging, make the most out of your blog archive

Achieving: your final to do before the new year, bullet journal, why smart goals aren’t so smart anymore, 90-90-1 rule, trying to keep a resolution don’t fall into this common trap

Wellness: on changing dreams, recipe for a well-lived day, one less stranger

Partay partayy partayyy: how to stock a bar cart, 15 cocktails, 10 mocktails, drink toppers

Memories: 50 questions, new year’s memory jar, hold simple evenings, the keeper of frivolous memories, how to scrapbook your memories with not-so-good-photos, memory keeping

Freebies: printable 2015 calendars, printable 2015 desktop calendars, 2015 blogging goals printable

You could rattle the stars. You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you the most. –Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Happy January 3rd! Because every day is worth celebrating 😉