Recap: My 2012 resolutions

One of the many reasons I love New Year’s is the idea of starting anew; wiping the slate clean of the past year’s dusty transgressions and poor habits. So every year I write a short list of resolutions, usually minor things like ‘stop biting my nails’ (a resolution that has been made and broken twenty years running).

However, when I moved from Asia to Europe in the first week of January, I took the continental switch and the timing as the perfect catalyst for change — a chance to really take some risks and make big strides in my career, travels, and love.

So when I arrived in Paris, I wrote five “Realistic Resolutions” for 2012. Hard to believe nearly twelve months have passed since I wrote that post (one of the first ever on this site) — and here’s what I have to show for it:

Participate in London 2012: 

Check. Not only did I get to the London Olympics, but I was there as an accredited journalist — the ultimate dream come true. I saw both Opening and Closing Ceremonies, got to interview Muhammad Ali’s daughter, and covered swimming and track and field (and Phelps’ and Bolt’s press conferences) most nights. More on my London 2012 experience here.

Rock at long-distance: 

Check plus, thanks in large part to Skype, Facetime, and Google video chat. Mike and I flew out to see each other every 2-5 months and were able to travel together in Ireland, Paris, Bristol and Singapore over this past year. On my birthday he proposed, so we’re now rocking a long-distance engagement. Read our story here.

Visit at least three new countries in Europe: 

As I predicted, due to my work schedule I didn’t get to travel as often as I did in Asia. In the end I managed to visit Ireland and the south of France for a week, England thrice, and Azerbaijan for a month — Ireland wasn’t new but France was, so I’m calling this one as a (barely-achieved, but it still counts) success.

Become fluent in French:

Well…no. This one did not pan out as well as I had hoped; I now have conversational French but am nowhere near fluent. The intensive language courses fell to the wayside, and hoping for complete immersion was naïve considering how many people in Paris speak English. But excuses aside I have no one to blame for myself; I could have studied more and even though I did make a few French friends, I still spent most of my time with the American ones. But my friends are fantastic people, so I have no regrets about that part.

Make something of this blog:

In my humble opinion, I’d say this is a Check. So far this year I’ve published 140 posts (and the month isn’t even over yet!) In early May my post on Dublin was featured on WordPress’ Freshly Pressed, and in July I overhauled the site design and moved to self-hosting. When I started out, I had only ever written two guest posts and interviews and now I’m up to…well, just take a look.

I also started three series: The 5 best things I ate in…, I Love My Neighborhood, and Expat Entrepreneurs, the latter two of which have introduced me to some very interesting and inspiring expats from around the world.

More than any stats or page rank, what I’m most pleased with is how this blog has changed me: It’s made me a better writer and photographer, tapped a creative side of me I didn’t know I had, and helped me become a much more motivated person who may still struggle with procrastination — but now struggles less.

Best of all, starting this site has introduced me to some amazing people, including new best friends I may never have met otherwise — and for that alone, every late night I spent staying up editing photos and rewriting copy was 100 percent worth it.

Did anyone else make resolutions for 2012? How did they turn out?