Happy 2015!

Happy New Year, friends!

Instead of giving you a cliche blog post about how it's a new year and a new you, etc etc etc, I would like to start out with some personal stuff.

I've been sick since Christmas Eve (UGH), and I was hoping (by some miracle) that my sickness wouldn't carry into the new year. Alas, I am still sick and it's day 3 of 2015. After a series of unfortunate events involving a shitty human being, my dog, and some pepper spray, I've had sinus troubles for just about 10 days now. It's been a fun bunch of days, let me tell you. I've also been working every day since Christmas Eve (except for today, thankfully) and the combination of sinus problems and working has not been all that wonderful. But I am trying to make the most of my free time. And by that I mean going to bed at 10 pm and waking up at 10 am. Which gives me a solid 2 hours per day to sit around, eat, and read. So it's safe to say that my 2015 hasn't been all that great or eventful, but I'm going to be positive and turn things around by the time this sickness finally goes away. As I'm sure you know, being sick does not make it easy to be positive or have fun or do anything that you would even remotely consider fun. So I've been a sick, cold, sleepy mess.

In other news (although I'm sure you don't really care, but I'm going to tell you anyway), I am being tapered off of all my antidepressants aaand I could not be more ecstatic about it! I have been on medications since I was roughly 16 (I'll be 24 this month, do the math). I have only ever been off of any sort of medication for about one month when I was 17. So now I'm slowly coming down off of the medicines I've been on for so long, and although I don't feel any different, I feel entirely optimistic about it. By the middle of this month, I will no longer be taking any medication and I'm beyond excited. My point is this: new year, new me. So, in turn, you can do the same.

Let's get down to business for today's post, then: how to make the most of 2015, and here's how to do it in 2 simple steps!

1. Make a list of things you wish to accomplish over the course of the year. They can be ridiculous things that you may never do or get done, or they can be things that you do daily anyway. Whatever you decide to write down, make it fun, and make sure it will make you happy either writing it down or DOING it. Here's my little list to the right. When I originally wrote this list, I wrote some silly things (fly to the moon, be Batman, etc), but decided I really wanted to take care of some business this year. So I went with things I know I can accomplish and successfully do. And I can do all of them with a little bit less stress. They're also mostly fun things to do, so that makes them more appealing and more than likely easier to do and get done. I've already started planning things to get my room all ready for some decorating (I'm getting a new bed, woohoo!) I'm working a lot, so there's the saving of the money. I'm going on vacation on Monday, I'm talking more with my coworkers, I'm being more positive, I'm drawing more, photographing more, and exercising more. Doing all of these things will lead to my ultimate goal, which lies at the bottom of my list: BEING HAPPY. Which I highly suggest you put on your list as well. The main thing is to keep it simple and keep it fun.

2. Stop dreaming, start DOING. Time to get down and dirty! To the list! Cross some of those things off that list! Go bungee jumping, skydiving, paint, fly, write! Do whatever it is your little heart desires. Try new things, foods, people, places. This year is all about YOU. Get out there and do something. Volunteer, work, travel, eat! Whatever it is, DO IT. RIGHT AWAY. DON'T PUT IT OFF. What are you still doing here reading?! GO GO GO!

That's all I got for you, amigos. I'm not much fun right now as I am trying to keep my brains from falling out of my nostrils (Yeah, that pepper spray really got me). But anyway - HAPPY 2015! MAKE IT A GOOD ONE!

xoxo, Clare