New Years Resolutions

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years! This year, I spent New Years in the Bay Area. My night started with a trip to the ice-skating rink, something I haven't done in many many years. I then went to a dinner at Beni-Hanas for dinner (a tradition that was started last New Years). Finally, S and I decided to go into the city to watch the midnight firework show on Pier 14 in San Fransisco. It was such a nice way to start the year!

Like last year, I wanted to develop a solid set of new years resolutions that I could look back on them each month to make sure I make some progress. So, here we go....

Resolution #1 [Health]: Continue to work on my exercise plan and diet. 
I realize this is the most common resolution made each new years, but nonetheless, I still think it is a great idea for everyone to consciously start out the year with the goal of improving their diet and improving their exercising. Some ways I plan on doing this is to schedule different exercise classes, Yoga classes, or hours to Lap Swim in my schedule each week. I also will be going to my apartment gym other nights that I do not have the time to attend these other options. Finally, I am bringing a cookbook with me to school, in hopes that I wont get bored of cooking the same things and will actually cook nightly, instead of buying food that is bad for me.

Resolution #2 [School Goal #1]: Improve semester average and Master each course! 
I was very happy with how I performed academically throughout my first semester. My semester average ended up being at around a 87%, but I know my coursework gets harder next semester. Instead of having one or two exams each week, next semester I have two or three a week. So, I am going to need to keep on top of it better than I did last semester. More than simply improving my semester average, I want to continue keeping above a 85% (or a "mastery") in each of my classes. I know I can do it!

Resolution #3 [School Goal #2]: Participate a valuable externship or research experience.
There are so many amazing summer opportunities around the country for first year medical students. These experiences can be externships that allow you to shadow in different departments in a hospital or conduct research in hundreds of different fields with some of the most well-known and well-respected researchers in the country. So, I want to make sure that I take advantage of some of these opportunities. I also am entertaining the idea of participating in research during the school year, but I wont decide if this is possible or logical for me to do until I figure out how the semester's course load is for me.

Resolution #4 [Relationship]: Continue to work on the balance between school and my relationship. 
While school is in session, basically all of my "free" time is spent studying. In other words, I really don't have free time...ever. So, being in a relationship with someone who is equally as busy is obviously hard to balance. Last semester, I feel like we did a pretty good job seeing each other almost every weekend. However, most of the time we were together, we spent studying. So, this years goal is to try to take a break and go on dates, go explore Michigan more, and just be with each other. It sounds easy, but this honestly is probably the hardest of my resolutions. For any of my fellow-medical student readers, you all know this feeling of feeling guilty when you aren't with your books. So, by taking off time to "hang out" seems pretty difficult.

Resolution #5 [Friends]: Contact friends from the past. 
I think I do an okay job with maintaining friendships from the past, but I definitely want to work on improving this year. I go weeks (or even months) without talking to some of my best friends from high school and college. I know everyone is busy, but it doesn't take long to send a quick text or make a quick call. Moreover, for those relationships that I have somewhat let go, I want to re-contact those friends from the past. Specifically, some friends from high school that I have lost contact with and basically all of my friends from abroad. Its so hard to maintain all of my friendship relationships from all the aspects of my life, but I want to improve this over the next 12 months!

Resolution #6 [Self #1]: Travel to a New Place. 
Yes, I am reusing a resolution from last year, but I love to travel and will probably have this resolution every year until I die. I would obviously love to travel out of the United States (specifically to somewhere in Africa or to Thailand), but I am happy to go where ever life takes me...as long as its somewhere new!


Resolution #7 [Self #2] Learn a New Skill. 
I realize this is broad, but I don't care. I want to learn something new! Maybe to cook, maybe to draw, maybe to play the piano. I don't care, but I want to learn something and I want to learn it well! :)

So, thats all for now. I probably will come up with some new goal mid-way through the year, but 7 resolutions is enough for me right now!

Happy New Year everyone! :)