Simone Reddington

Happy new year! I haven’t had the best start to 2022 as I unfortunately tested positive for Covid the day after New Year’s Day and therefore had to self isolate since. However, I am determined to stay positive and I viewing my 10 days of isolation as 10 extra days to my Christmas break and am using the time to plan my New Year resolutions before I return to work. Although a lot of people hate January because it’s cold and everyone is skint from Christmas, I actually really like the month as I view the new year as a fresh new start. Although I am guilty of setting resolutions that I don’t stick too, I am still motivated to be the best possible version of myself for the first month of the year. I let go of the minor grudges I held from the previous year, try not to snack between meals and wake up a little bit earlier on a morning to prepare myself for the day.

As I’ve got older, I’ve realised that most New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time. We set ourselves too many goals at once and it’s silly to expect so much discipline from ourselves during the coldest month of the year when we’ve indulged ourselves during the recent festive period. Instead, I prefer to set myself some more realistic goals for the upcoming year that I can use the full 12 months to achieve, rather than striving for perfection in the first few days alone. Here are the goals that I am hoping to manifest in 2022:

1. Learn to drive- I moved out of my small home town at the age of 18 to live and study in Liverpool, where I called home for nearly 5 years until the start of the pandemic, so learning to drive wasn’t something I felt that I needed to do as everywhere that I needed to go was either within walking distance or easily accessible by public transport. However, now that I am back in small town suburbia where cuts to local funding to public transport have left it virtually impossible to rely on using to get to where you want to be on time. I’m currently studying the content that I need to learn for my theory and am on the waiting list for lessons. I would ideally like to be driving my own car by the end of the year but, with the back-log for lessons and test from the lockdown, I want to have passed my theory test at the very least.
2. Move out- When I moved with my parents in March 2020 after the theatre where I then worked was forced to close due the pandemic, I naively thought everything would return to normal within a couple of months. It’s now been nearly two years later and, although I have managed to find myself a stable job, I still haven’t yet made any plans to move out. Its not that I don’t want to or that I’m not financially independent from my parents; I simply have no idea where else I could call home. This year, I need to break out of my comfort zone and find a place of my own.
3. Read more books- Ever since I was a child I have loved reading but, like everyone else, I have so little time to get lost in a good book as we’re so busy all the time. I rekindled my love for reading during the first lockdown, when I was on furlough, as I would read all day in the garden to distract myself from the negative headlines on the news. In 2021, I was a bit too ambitious with my reading target on GoodReads, as I was working full time and found myself watching TV or refreshing social media on an evening and therefore neglected my hobby. I find that reading a book is so much better for my mental health than scrolling on my phone, so I’ve promised myself to set myself at least 20 minutes a day to read. My 2022 target on Good Reads is 16, which I think will be much more achievable. I’m currently on book 2.
4. Get nose pierced- This isn’t really a goal, but I’ve been telling myself that I want to get my nose pierced since I was a teenager yet I still haven’t gotten it done, despite myself that I could walk into my local high street and get a professional to do within 10 minutes. I think they look the epitome of cool and carefree and, as I’m turning 25 this year (I actually feel physically sick writing that) I feel that if I don’t do it this year, I never will.
5. Stop pleasing other people- Over the last couple of years, I have really realised how much of my precious time and energy that I have wasted trying to please other people. I was originally going to call this goal ‘be more selfish’ but I realised that it is not selfish to simply not try and please everyone. Nine times out of ten, trying to please other people does not make anyone else happier; it just makes you miserable. In 2022, I’m going to say yes to the things that I feel would benefit me personally and say no to anything that would put me in a situation where I don’t want to be.