(The photo is from a nice little walk in Ubud, Bali. It’s one of my favorite pictures from 2018.)

Hello hello! It’s been a while since I posted personal updates, mainly because I’ve been hacking away at writing something about being back in America. (Stay tuned.) 2018 is almost over! I don’t think I made any New Year’s Resolutions last year (my trips to New Zealand and Melbourne were enough to keep me occupied) so I thought I’d write some down this year.

I’ve also got some travel updates for you if you’re out of the loop! In general, I’m trying to plan less, but I have a rough idea of how January-April is going to look. Exciting!

So without further ado, here are some resolutions that I may or may not stick to in 2019:

Stay off Twitter.

I deleted it in December because it was depressing. Apologies to all of the people who enjoyed my hilarious thoughts about dumb stuff.

I want to stay off social media and my phone in general, and I guess Twitter’s a good first start. It’s also not as important to my blog and work, so…away it goes.

No S#!t Beer 2K19

This is a fun one. Craft beer is the love of my life, but drinking is not. My No-S#!t-Beer policy is a little experiment to help me drink more mindfully. It’s what it sounds like: I’ll turn down a Coors (as we all should, right?) but still get to unwind with a beer that was made to actually taste good. Two Birds. 21st Amendment. Victory.

My roommates in Melbourne who would accompany me to Blackheart and Sparrows and help me pick out blueberry saisons know that this shouldn’t be a problem for me. Maybe I’ll just end up spending more money, but hopefully it’ll be a way to drink a lot less and get something out of the beer I am drinking.

Of course, the hostel I booked in Santiago has free wine on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I haven’t worked out how that plays into my resolution…

Put $500 Away Each Month Toward My Student Loans

I still won’t be able to pay them off until 2021, but we’re getting there. I only took out $23K after I graduated, but I want to get rid of allllll my debts, honey.

I don’t know if $500 is a crazy amount to pay each month or just the norm for people who took out more loans for an out-of-state school, but it’s definitely a bit of a stretch for me. I’m very lucky to have a handful of consistent clients who I’ll work with throughout my time in Chile and Argentina. For the first time in a very long time, I’m not too worried about putting a little extra money away to pay off debt. Am I an adult now? (*Thinks about sleeping in bunk beds throughout South America*) Maybe.

Complete At Least Two Multi-Day Treks in The Route of Parks

For anyone who is wondering, here’s my travel update. My plans have changed a bit since my time in Melbourne when I decided to go to South America. Out of a little bit of impulse (and possibly delusion,) I recently booked a trip to hike the O trek at Torres del Paine in Chile. Torres del Paine is in the Patagonia region (it’s an actual place) and it looks stunning. Brown cow stunning.

The entire circuit trek is about 7 days long. I have never done a multi-day hike before. Once I complete this trek, I’ll pretty much be confident that I can do anything. But the trek seems more than doable and it’s rather popular. Hikers can even book tents, sleeping bags, and meals at each shelter along the trek. I just booked the meals. Check in with me in March to see if I end up regretting that.

Torres del Paine is just one of the 17 national parks in Chile’s Route of Parks. You might have seen headlines about the route back in September or October back when it was announced. The route will connect the 17 parks throughout Chile and is one of the biggest trails in the world. At the moment, there isn’t a lot for the wanderlust-driven Internet explorer to really learn about the entire trail, and some of it is under construction. But during my three months in Chile and Argentina, I want to get a better sense of how to travel on it and who is trying to complete the whole thing. I’d like to do another multi-day hike before or after Torres del Paine, but I’m going to leave the planning for later.

“You Don’t Have To Explain Yourself.”

When I was in Cairns, I stopped by an acro meetup and started chatting with a woman from America. She asked if I was going to stay in Australia for a second year, and I started mumbling through the reasons why I didn’t want to do a second year and my plans and what I was going to do next and what is the best choice for me. She could tell that I was getting stressed, smiled, and said, “You don’t have to explain yourself. It’s okay.”

I just remember feeling a weight lifted off my chest. I realized she was right. My choices really weren’t her business and there wasn’t any point judging myself or stressing out when I told her my plans.

When I considered coming home earlier than expected (this was back in my first few weeks of traveling abroad,) my biggest fear was facing friends or people who would ask me why I came home so early. These fears are typically based out of my imagination alone, because there are very few people who would actually hunt me down just to ask me to explain myself and then mercilessly judge me and tell me that I’m a failure.

Take my yoga ebook for example. I’ve had to push it back a few months because I want it to be perfect. It’s not going to have the publication date I originally wanted, but it is what it is. I don’t have to explain myself. (Again, no one has asked for an explanation, so I’m off the hook.)

I don’t know, I think it’s just a nice reassuring phrase to direct toward myself and to others. I’ll try it out. See how it goes. Accept things as they are and whatnot.

In addition to these specific resolutions, I want to write more, read more, listen to more TED Talks, the usual. I would love to collect some accountibilibuddies (have I been writing too much about personal development?) in 2019, so let me know what your resolutions are and let’s help each other out!