10 x fallen resolutions of 2021

The new year has started, so we are all super motivated again and ready to become the best version of ourselves. Of course, that comes with some nice resolutions. Maybe you have exactly the same resolutions as last year and all the years before. Personally, I have a number of recurring standard resolutions every year, such as exercising more and eating healthier. Often I stick to these for at most a month, but still, I dutifully make a list in my notes every year. I once pulled out my resolutions for 2021, well, that was quite an ambitious list, I can tell you. Here I share my failed resolutions from 2021, which probably didn't turn out as desired for you either.

1. Order less food
After the lockdown in 2020 (during which the UberEats delivery people really stood at my door ridiculously often), I resolved to cook more in the new year. Less UberEats and more cooking. In January 2021, I definitely stuck post-its in cookbooks, only to do absolutely nothing with them afterwards. And I still see those delivery people way too often at my door. So ‘less UberEats’ is just back on the list for 2022.

2. Come out of the corona crisis fitter
With the idea that I could also do ultra-short workouts at home, I thought this resolution should work. But unfortunately, it has remained at most twice a week. I really had to spend those ten minutes of my day on more important things, like scrolling on Instagram or complaining about corona. By the way, the resolution to take 10,000 steps a day already failed in the first month of 2021.

3. Eat no more fish
After watching ‘Seaspiracy’ and ‘My Octopus Teacher’, I was sure: I will no longer eat fish and certainly no octopus. But well, last summer I was back in Italy enjoying calamari. What do you mean, little discipline? This is definitely something I will put back on my list for 2022, because I really want this.

4. Learn a second language
Unfortunately, I haven't gotten further than writing this down in my notes. I didn't even think about which language I would want to learn. Spanish maybe? I will definitely scrap this resolution for the coming year.

5. Read more
Watching fewer series and reading more, I would have loved to do that last year. I even applied for a library card. Unfortunately, I have only read exactly two books. For the idea, the same book has been sitting on my nightstand for months, untouched. I will add this again to my resolutions for 2022.

6. More trips to nature
My boyfriend and I spent one night in a wooden cabin in the woods, where we had to light the stove ourselves and pump water to shower. Well, we found this quite something. It was really a traumatic experience, as we had to make a huge walk in pouring rain from the car to this destination. The atmosphere was quite grim, but I did give this resolution a serious chance. For 2022, I will just stick to walks in Westerpark with Sjaan.

7. Live more in the ‘now’
This was quite impossible last year. As long as we are still living in a pandemic, I will leave this resolution as it is. I only want to live in the now again once all this misery is over.

8. Learn to play an instrument
I took piano lessons for a month, but I found doing the homework quite a task. I hadn't realized that I couldn't read notes yet (and still can't) when I started this. Unfortunately, I didn't stick with it.

9. Take a course
Take a course in whatever. I seriously considered taking a home course in making clothes, but you guessed it: I didn't get further than the free trial lesson. Of course, all sorts of materials had to be purchased for this course, and I found that all just a bit too much hassle. However, I do want to take a pottery course in 2022. Most likely, that will also be another success story.

10. Keep a diary
I really wouldn't know why this was on the list for 2021. Luckily, I didn't stick to it, because I don't necessarily need to be reminded of 2021. It would have been a very unpleasant diary: ‘19-12-21: Dear diary, from today we are back in a lockdown. We didn't expect this to happen again, but nothing could be further from the truth.’ No, a diary won't happen for 2022 either.