Among the never-ending list of things Cazey doesn't like, New Year's Eve and New Year's Resolutions both make the list. I definitely agree with him on his thoughts about New Year's Eve, as it's a ton of hype for just one night. I don't really have it in me to dress up in a dress that all this holiday bulking is probably going to make really tight on me just to overpay to get into a club that is usually free and then get jostled the whole night in an overcrowded space.

But I digress. What I'm really here for is to support New Year's Resolutions.

Do I have a resolution for 2016?

Yes and no. It's not directly tied to New Year's, but I'm really pulling for a round-two of our office-wide Biggest Loser contest. I lost quite a bit of weight last year, and have let myself slip since Europe and through the holidays. I've enjoyed my bulking phase, but I'll be happy to drop about 10 pounds to be reasonably sized again.

While this isn't a 'New Year's Resolution' per se, I do think there is some merit in making a resolution. To direct quote Cazey:

I agree. I think it is never too early or too late to make a positive life choice. I don't think you have to wait for any catalyst to make a change. However, for us normal people, sometimes you need something to motivate you. Sometimes you need to set a goal with a start date to get the ball rolling. Diets are hard, and I honestly don't know if I would have committed to losing 20-ish pounds without a clear start and end date with an incentive. If the new year inspires you to make a change, then do it!

Honestly, I use all sorts of dates to inspire internal changes.

My Birthday Resolution

While people find the new year as a target date to start goals, my 'new year' starts on my birthday, you know, since it's my anniversary of a new year of my life. I have actually never spoken about my annual tradition of self-reflection on my birthday, but it used to be a tradition that would get documented in my childhood diary. I'm getting older, I must have learned something within the past year with a target to improve in the next year. So every year on my birthday, I discover just what that is.

I've listed out 24 lessons I learned at 23, but what was my goal for 24?

One word: "No."

I'm a rather mellow person when it comes to planning. I'm a total plan B, unlike Cazey, who organized a thematic 'unplanned' New Years Eve Facebook event, which is basically pretending to be a plan B while still maintaining A-ness. Because I generally like everything and have no major problems with anyone, I do almost anything other people want. 90% of the time, I thoroughly enjoy whatever it is we plan. I'm not picky, I just like being busy.

However, there's those 10% of times where I end up tagging along because 'yes' is easier than 'no.' People like yes's, and I like making people happy, so there I go, hanging out with people when I'm too tired to function or eating dinner with someone who doesn't make me happy because I'm too scared to say no.

So 24 is my year of 'no.'

My Work Anniversary Resolution

November was my one-year anniversary at my job, and my first real annual review. I got and gave a lot of positive and negative feedback about myself and my performance. While some of it I totally understand comes from perhaps lack of experience or lack of technical ability, a lot of my problems can be drilled down to confidence.

People aren't confident in me or my ideas or in my ability to do or understand certain topics. The most important person that isn't confident in me is me. I don't have confidence in myself, and I really should. Is every idea fabulous? Hell no. But some of them are damn good. I'm passionate and hard working, which should make me confident.

I once asked someone who just bleeds confidence how he knew his idea would work, and he goes "I don't, but I believe it so I sold it."

So my year-two work resolution is to go confidently toward my projects and let people see the fact I can do what needs to get done.

What is your New Year's Resolution, or are you more of a Cazey and don't have one? Let me know in the comments. :)