I don’t know if you know this but New Year Resolutions are so 1900s! I can’t remember the last time I made a resolution. To be honest, it’s because I got tired of failing every year. I was a serial resolution breaker and it didn’t feel good.
I am slightly addicted to learning and my sense of adventure is kind of epic. Knowing that about myself, I decided to flip the script on the annual goal setting ritual and chart my own course. Behold the annual three to try, three to learn list.
I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn …
Maya Angelou
Each year, I think about three things I’ve always wanted to try. They might be things I never thought possible, or see as a way to challenge myself. Those three things might only happen once, but my goal is to have the experience of trying them out. If I like it, I might take it up as a hobby or regular practice. If not, no harm, no foul. It’s a great way to keep life interesting.
One of my favorite “try” activities was tap dance. I might have watched the Syncopated Ladies one too many times and got my entire life. Learning to tap was promptly added to my list, tap shoes ordered from Amazon, and I enrolled in the adult tap class at Westlake Dance Center. I made it through one class and realized tap is not my lane. I had a blast though and that’s all that matters.
I also want to make sure I’m constantly stretching myself and growing. When you stop learning, you stop living. Yes, this is fact. Just accept it. That is where my three to learn comes in. I make it a practice to learn three new things every year. I choose things that will help me be better professionally, personally, and spiritually. Sometimes I choose practical things like learning to swim (really, I needed to learn to tread water because I swim just fine) and other times I choose difficult things like learning a foreign language. Qu’est-ce qu’il y a à manger? (Ya’ll know how much I love to eat!)
Sometimes, I’m very successful at accomplishing all six items on my list. Sometimes I’m not. Either way, I’m guaranteed to try something new and learn a new skill. This year, as I’m celebrating my 40th year of life, I decided to up the ante because you only get one life and I intend to live fully through every second of it.
Behold, my 2019 three to try, three to learn list!
Three to Try
- Solo travel to an international country. I’ve always admired the brave souls who jetset around the world solo. This year I’m going to be one of them. I’ll be living out my Indiana Jones adventure fantasies in Petra!
- Aerial arts. Shout out to Groupon for my first ever aerial dance class happening next month!
- Write a weekly devotional based on common black mom sayings. This might seem like an odd thing to add to the try list, but an attempt to write 52 devotionals is quite the undertaking. I’m going to give it all I got, so let’s see how it goes!
Three to Learn
- How to produce and distribute a successful podcast. I am launching a podcast next month and I’m learning all I can about the recording and editing ahead of my launch. I’m so excited to share it with you guys. It’s gonna be juicy!
- How to edit videos in Premiere Pro. I’ve been editing videos on iMovie and I’ve gotten decent at it. But now it’s time to put on the big girl panties and learn a robust software. I’ll be taking three editing classes this spring and summer to take my creations to the next level.
- Learn how to make a traditional meal from each country I visit this year. With my trip to the motherland just around the corner, I want to make sure my experience can last me a lifetime. Since I’m greedy, it only makes sense that I learn how to make the food I’ll feast on during my travels.
And now for the fun part. I get to live into each of these six experiences over the next 12 months. I’ll check in regularly to let you know how it’s going. But I can already tell you it’s going to be one crazy year! (I mean that in all the best ways.)
How are you growing this year? What will you do differently? What will you say yes to in 2019?
