New Year’s Resolutions

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[I]’m constantly reminded of time through my profession as a photographer by the IWC timepiece that now almost never leaves my wrist. I love the dance I have with the seconds of the day, capturing the present which instantly becomes the past and thinking about what is just a moment away in the future. Sometimes I look down at my wrist and watch the ticking second hand bouncing away on a subway commute or in bed when I can’t sleep at night.

Then a funny thing happened, I took off my watch for a couple of days and the time stopped ticking. Once I wound it up and was back on track I thought about the jarring nature of time stopping, something thanks to digital we never have to experience anymore. And I thought to myself, you have to be present in the moment and show up in life otherwise, time will just cease for you. I like that notion over the usual “time marches on” which always makes me the slightest bit sad.

In Savannah I took some time to look back on the year, process it, and then think forward to where we go from here in this new year of new adventures…

Ten New Year’s Resolutions for 2015

1. Start Running

2. Learn a skill unrelated to my career

3. Create more with my hands

4. Cook more

5. Purge the “stuff”

a friend taught me to ask yourself – “does it bring you joy?” if not, get rid of it

6. Take time to find inspiration outside my own world (or the internet).

7. Go to Japan

8. Stop checking email after 7pm

9. Give myself downtime (aka stop feeling guilty when not working)

10. Spend more time with the ones I love

 What are some of your personal resolutions? How do we constantly remind ourselves of these personal goals? 

  • Definitivamente eres inspiradora y real.- You are absolutely inspiring and real.

    I need to get better at what i do. I’ve done so many things but i have nothing as “the thing i do”.

    • Life is the journey, it’s ok to do many things and take the time to figure it all out. 🙂

  • Lisa

    Numbers 2 and 3 are also some of my goals this year in addition to writing more letters and exploring my creativity through photography…

  • Justine Johnson

    I have many similar resolutions, especially also being a photographer. Life can be hard when you let any one thing consume you! One of my goals, though, is to take more photos for pleasure — to regain the passion.

  • Melanie Pogson

    I keep meaning to start number 1, because I know how much the people who do it love it! But it’s a tough one. Best thing to do is just throw on those runners (and a sports bra) and run out the door. That’s the hardest part.
    I wish you well with your resolutions this year 🙂

    • A couple of my friends are runners so I got some starting advice from them- don’t torture yourself in the beginning or you won’t keep it up. The distance will come through time, just get in the habit of it. So far it’s working!

      • Melanie Pogson

        Good for you 🙂

  • Ronny Cheung

    I miss your “dinner and a movie” series. So I’m so excited about no. 4 even though you will just cook and not do a blog post about it.

    • I’m hoping to incorp more cooking stories throughout this year. Thanks for the feedback. 🙂

  • Buki of James1542

    1. Designate time to write because it helps me process experiences as well as remember them.
    2. Enjoy more sunsets. When I do this I am reminded that some of the greatest masterpieces are painted in the sky right outside my window… How careless it would be of me to miss them!
    xx

    • YES. I also just figured out that writing things down helps me remember the experience. But for me, not on a computer, I have to hand write it. I originally wrote out all my resolutions in my journal and it’s helping me remind myself daily about them. 2. We can never have enough sunsets 🙂

  • I’m trying to do number 5 currently with certain aspects of my life (ahem, ahem, my closet being the primary goal)!

    And number 7 may be happening in late Spring/early Summer for me! Hopefully I’ll run into you there! 😉

    Good luck with all of your resolutions Jamie, hope you enjoy your 2015! <3

  • Diana Cooks Brooklyn

    I will read more books and write more letters. I will talk to people who
    are not like me. I will spread more love, find more joy, and remind my
    loved ones that I’m grateful for them. When some of these goals
    inevitably succumb to the hustle of my busy life, I will not beat myself
    up about it.

    Thanks for inspiring my list, Jamie. Happy New Year to you and yours.

    • “When some of these goals inevitably succumb to the hustle of my busy life, I will not beat myself
      up about it.” Loved this. I need to remind myself of this sometimes.

  • I am completely with you on getting rid of “stuff”. I read a quote once that said, “Keep nothing in your home that isn’t useful or that you believe to be beautiful”. After reading that I found myself looking around my home surprised by how much I have the doesn’t fall into either of those categories. With my youngest now about to fly the nest, my husband and I are thinking about beginning our lives with just us at home and it’s pretty exciting!

    I want to read more this year. I want to write. I mean physically write, handwriting. With all the time on phone and computer, it often feels like the muscle memory of holding a pen is fading. I love the act of actually writing!

    I also want to spend more time with family. My father passed away last month and I really miss him. Being at his funeral, seeing all my family and catching up with them made me really miss being around them. I am such a girls’ girl and have missed having girlfriends since moving here 3 years ago. Then it occured to me, I have 3 sisters, 4 female cousins and 1 Aunt, most within 1-2 hours of me! I have a whole tribe of girlfriends in my own family! It’s time I cultivate those relationships!

    Anyway, thanks for getting the wheels turning!

    Serene

    • So sorry to hear about your father passing away. It sounds like you are coming from a wonderful place, so positive, and I wish you all the best this year in your marriage, friendships and family life.

  • I sent a list of my resolutions to a friend to hold me accountable. This way I know I have someone to report to.

  • jaminpaul

    It’s kind of a cute, kind of a silly movie, but there’s a line at the end of “About Time” where he’s revealing his secret to enjoying each day without using his inherited time-travel abilities. He says

    “I just try to live every day as if I’ve deliberately come back to this one day, to enjoy it, as if it was the full final day of my extraordinary,ordinary life.”

    That really resonated with me. In our industry there’s so much looking-ahead; so much time spent planning the next, next thing and I’ve really felt time slipping too quickly away from me. It’s sounds a tad preposterous to say this ‘out loud’ but I try to find at least one extraordinary moment in every day, imagining, perhaps, that I’m 60 years old and remembering this one specific moment in my life. Listening to Edith Piaf when it rains, listening to my daughter’s heart beat, any small and special thing that makes me stop looking for tomorrow and reminds me I’d been looking forward to today.

    Time may march on, but there’s a small comfort in knowing the march is endless and we can march aimlessly when we choose to.

    • amyirenesenn

      When you are 60 and still perfectly remember holding your tired and fever-y boy to your chest and running you hand through his soft hair and gently rocking back and forth…
      Or you little girl raises her arms and pleadingly asks “ho(ld) you?”
      Or your 2 year old says she has a song “I know my eyebrows are pretend but they won’t fall off…”
      And that your heart still moves to “love you, mom”….
      Yes…even at 60 you feel the warm summer night air from 30 years ago while
      crossing the Penrose Avenue Bridge with Linda Ronstadt crooning Blue Bayou into the dark….
      Yes….even at 60……

    • “Time may march on, but there’s a small comfort in knowing the march is endless and we can march aimlessly when we choose to.”

      goosebumps, what a beautiful comment.

  • Danielle Louise

    Your resolutions sound fantastic, I could adopt them all!

    My Resolution this year is to be satisfied.
    To be thankful for what I have and appreciate the now. I’m so lucky that I have all the opportunity in the world, yet that freedom gets me down, as I agonise over whether I’ve made the best choice. So this year I have decided to take a step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the experience happening right now, wonderful people around me right now, and to celebrate the fact that I have a choice.

  • So glad to see 9 and 10 on this list!! When I made, and kept, those resolutions in 2014 it changed my life for the better in so many ways.

    • Yep. Exactly what we talked about 🙂

  • Also, YES to Japan. Dying to go.