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How did I do in 2012?

Semi-bared Santa

Earlier in January, I wrote about working on life resolutions and tasked myself on 12 little things to do. Let’s have a quick recap on how that went, and then I’ll let you know my opinion on this endeavour.


15 minutes of reflection time
Some day, I took more than 15, but often, I’m afraid I’ve been skimming on this. I guess I’m just not very good at staying still and focus on nothing but to reflect and meditate.

Learn a word a day
Has my vocabulary been enriched? Definitely. Most of my learning revolves around French and while I am pleased that I’m improving my language set, there’s still a lot more work to be done.

Go away a weekend each month
Towns in France, countries for abroad: 01 – Versailles (not very far); 02 – stayed in Paris; 03 – Malaysia, Chartres; 04 – Iceland; 05 – Louan, St Nazaire, Guérande, Brière; 06 – Ireland; 07 – Rennes; 08 – Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Étretat, Piriac; 09/10 – stayed in Paris; 11 – Côte Sauvage, Pornic; 12 – Switzerland, Ireland. In the months which we’ve stayed in Paris, we were busy entertaining visitors. September/October was our “peak” period, at one point having visitor(s) consecutively over 3 weeks (minus about 2 nights?)!

Cook and eat seasonal
Largely a mixed effort. It seems we’re not very good at avoiding certain unseasonal vegetables, picking them up nearly all year round but when it comes to fruits, we fared much much better!

De-clutter
Work in progress but I’m certainly trying to keep things to minimum possible. Good progress with books and clothes, less so with kitchen-y items. You don’t want to know how many new recipe books I’ve picked up…

Be more a saver, less a spender
Just as well I saved since the tax bills nearly crippled me (oh how I miss my student days where my stipend was tax-free). I definitely didn’t spend much on tangible items, but I splurged too much on sweet treats. It’s my major vice!

Stop worrying about what others think of my weight
This certainly went well. Now only one person’s opinion matters – mine! (And every so often, the boy got a say but really not much, to be honest.)

Healthy body, healthy mind
Oh I totally sucked at this. I think I averaged about 1 run session per month? Must work harder this year.

Don’t procrastinate
I bombed this too. You saw how behind this blog have been… Slowly working at getting it back on track. Another one to top my priority this year.

Free hugs, virtual or in real life
There had been plenty of hugs in 2012 and I love it. No question about keeping this up :D

Project Life
After consideration, I decided this is not for me.

Smile. Every day. Even when it’s tough to.
There were a handful of really rough days but the boy has been a real rock in supporting me through those. Otherwise, yes, smiling, (pretty much) every day.


Overall, it has been a good year. I cannot change everything overnight, but I am making conscious effort to be a better person. There were moments where I found it difficult to find a balance of everything within my life, but I’m rediscovering ways to juggle all without letting anything/anyone down (too much). I am glad too that I did not go down the usual new-year-resolutions route but look more at keeping my life grounded and well-rounded.

Drawing inspirations from bloggers Anne and Jennifer who put things in positive and motivating manner, 2013 would be a continuum of what I’ve started in 2012, and this time I would also like to put through a thread of focus on self-development.

In 2013, I would like to explore more of my creative side while creating something practical. A couple of things that I’ve always promised myself I will take time to learn – the time is now. I am determined to achieve fluency in French, even if I can’t shake off my Anglophone accent. Last but not least, photography, which is something I’ve been doing just for fun, perhaps it is time I take a big big step forward and get to know its technical side. I cannot always rely on luck for the right settings to get the right shots!



Category: Musing

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4 scribbles & notes

  1. Chloé says:

    Well, it certainly seems like a reasonable summary. You didn’t do everything but you’ve done quite a bit :) Fair enough I say!
    I also see you’ve even managed the book challenge! Ok, so my “new year resolution” from me to you is to stop talking to you in English and only in French now! Well… you asked for it! Sev will be proud :P
    I agree that I’m not very good either at staying still and focusing on nothing but to reflect and meditate… but I think maybe I should think about 2012 a little and make my own summary ;) At least, the answer to “was 2012 better than 2011?” was 100% obvious to me :D Now, to make 2013 even better!

    • Lil says:

      Yes, at least I didn’t abandon most of them, so a fair effort.

      Oh dear… well I guess talking French is for my own good, and indeed Sev will be very proud! ;)

      Now, to make 2013 even better – good luck both of us!

  2. med says:

    wow….u actually remembered this hehehe….not bad at all lil ;)…cheers to a better 2013 ahead yah!!! GO GO GO

    • Lil says:

      well the blog certainly comes in handy in reminding me of what i would like to achieve, and wishing you all the best for 2013 too!

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