I am a fan of resolutions. I make them every year. I don’t always keep them for long, but every year I make time to think about the ways in which my behavior could be a little bit better. I don’t think that can ever be a bad thing.

The following is not my full list of resolutions. I have some related to my family, my health, and my career that I’m going to keep to myself. And some of these resolutions are a bit more serious than others, but I think resolving to have fun is important, too.

1. Less unproductive screen time
   I want to resolve to just spend less time on my phone or computer, but 2020 is going to be a year of some serious political activism and I don’t feel like I can make that promise. But I can resolve to spend less meaningless time on social media and to delete those stupid games off my phone. (Except the ones that my niece loves, because I’m not a monster.)
   
2. Meditate More. Or at all.
   I really need to make this a habit.
   
3. Burn candles more often.
   Not an important one, but I love the feeling of a room lit with and scented with a great candle. Also, I have a collection of unused candles taking up space.
   
4. Read because I love to read. Read things I want to read.
   The past few years, I have found myself reading things that I think I *should* read, reading just because I need to meet some arbitrary Goodreads goal that I have set, or reading with this feeling of existential dread that I will never read everything that I want to read or learn everything that I want to learn. Um… I need to chill the fuck out.
   
5. Buy less.
   This is both a financial and environmental resolution, although if I focus on the environment, it feels less personally restrictive. I am a compulsive shopper and a mindless consumer. In addition to buying less, I also want to buy more thoughtfully and try to think about how my purchases are impacting the planet – either due to where they come from or where they will ultimately end up.
   
6. Keep my personal space clean (ish).
   I have not maintained tidy or organized habits, and my personal space is the place where this is most obvious. I want to create some habits for myself to keep my space clean – or cleaner than it has been historically.
   
7. Travel more.
   I need to make time to travel in 2020, even if those trips are just local road trips to explore new things.
   
8. Ignore my concept of my comfort zone when it comes to political activism in 2020.
   Final resolution – and it’s a big one. 2020 is going to be a really difficult year when it comes to fighting for my values and fighting to ensure that the country – and planet – that I love remain in tact for centuries to come. I’m an introvert. I have social anxiety. But I really need to get over that and fight like hell for the things that I believe in. In the words of Jon Lovett, we need to leave it all on the field in 2020.