I started this blog back at the start of 2019 as a way to try to keep myself accountable. Like many people around the world, I found myself wanting to make New Year’s resolutions. It’s true that there’s no strict rule that says this is the only time you can only strive for self-improvement. Just because a man-made calendar says that the year is ending doesn’t actually mean anything; it’s not like you’ll undergo a magical change that makes you more likely to make a difference in your life when the clock counts down to 12.

But the power of the mind is nothing to scoff at- the placebo effect being one of the most obvious examples. If you believe that you are suddenly unburdened by the past year and find yourself motivated to accomplish something new, then by all means do! You might surprise yourself. Or, like me on multiple occasions, you might fail.

I failed a lot.

And as we celebrated the transition from 2018 to 2019, I looked back at all those failures and realized that the real problem was in the resolutions I was making. “Eat healthy,” I told myself, “Be happier. Lose weight. Be less lazy. Make all meals at home…” You get the picture. In setting those goals for myself I was doomed to fail from the very start, for two very important reasons.

Why? How?

Why did I want to achieve this goal? How did I plan to achieve this goal? Without fully understanding those two components, my resolutions simply fell apart.

For example, let’s talk about eating healthy. That’s such a broad goal, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget why this is important to you. In my case, I want to have a more balanced diet so that I can have more energy throughout the day and not have to worry about needing supplements to get the nutrients my body needs. Keeping this in mind helps make me be more conscientious of what I eat.

The next step is determining how I plan to do this. I could say that I’m going to cut out all fat and sugar from my diet, and only buy organic, freshly harvested produce, but that’s too drastic a change to really work for me. Such a goal is so intimidating that I would be tempted to give up before really trying. Instead, it might be better to focus on smaller things. For example, every time I cook at home, I try to integrate at least one vegetable, and try to balance things out so that the vegetable(s) make up at least one third of the dish.

On busy days, I try to incorporate small things to increase the nutritional value of my meal. Even if all I have time for is a quick pasta-with-tomato-sauce-from-the-jar dinner, it doesn’t take too much effort to add in extra fresh onions, and extra canned tomatoes and canned mushrooms. It might seem like a small improvement, but it’s still a step in the right direction.

So that’s what I did. I set a few goals for myself at the beginning of the year, paying extra attention to those “why”s and “how”s, and documented everything on this blog (starting with my very first post, which you can find here if you’d like to follow my journey from the very beginning). Everything from decluttering to working on my relationships to reading more books… and it worked.

I wasn’t a brand new me. I was just a slightly better version of myself. And I was proud of that.

Over time, this blog has transformed from being merely a means to track my progress to becoming a creative outlet that allows me to share my thoughts and practice my writing, which is why I decided to rewrite this “About” page to better describe what this blog is actually about (you can still find the old “About” page here). Here you’ll find posts covering a variety of topics, from discussing my self-improvement journey to sharing some of my favorite holiday traditions, to just general musings on whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment. I’ve added some categories to the right side of the page to help you navigate through the various different types of content, if you’re so inclined.

Moving forward, I will continue to use this blog and all that I’ve learned to continue to keep myself accountable, one small improvement at a time.