Resolute

A little late to post this, but punctuality has never been my strong suit. Let's just get to it.

The new year's not so much "new" anymore, but hey, close enough. I don't know if I believe in making new year's resolutions - I mean, I do, but I don't think that "it's a new year" is any more reason to do it than "I moved to a new apartment" or "I bought a new phone". (And I did both of those right around NYE, incidentally.)

But resolutions themselves, yes, those are perfectly fine ideas (when we manage to follow through, of course). First off, I guess I resolve to actually follow through on things, because sometimes it takes me a while to actually get there. I've been promising myself I'd get on a regular schedule for comic-making for years... and I finally did it, but far later than I hoped to. (Shameless plug: check out Welcome to Hereafter!)

Beyond that? Let's count 'em down:

• I want to continue to change some of my attitudes. I feel that I've become a much more optimistic, positive person than I used to be, but I still have some ways to go. More than ever I believe that negativity and cynicism are huge roadblocks for personal growth. They're a crutch, one that's held me back for too much of my life, and I can't let myself fall back on that again. I don't even want to be in the frame of mind where it could be an option.
  

• Related to the last one: I want to be less judgmental. I have strong opinions about a lot of things. That's fine. That's not changing. But I need to know when to cool off and where to draw the line. I want to become more understanding of others' perspectives, even if I can't agree or personally relate to them. I can have strong opinions and confidence in my beliefs without being arrogant or self-righteous, or potentially alienating others.
  

• I really need to read more books. Actual books. Of all kinds. (In fact, please recommend me some.)
  

• I need to create more, and possibly consume less. This one's tricky, because pop culture is a huge part of my life, and I don't want that to change. I will always be consuming a lot of comics, movies, television, music, games, etc... But I need to work harder to match my consumption with creation. I'm doing better with this already, I just need to keep at it.

• Related to the last one: I want to branch out and connect with other people doing creative, interesting things. I want to meet people with similar interests. I want to collaborate, talk about ideas, influences, and hopefully learn a few things.
  

• Perhaps most importantly, I need to put more effort into staying involved in the lives of the people I care about. Many/most of them live in different places than I do right now, but that's never an excuse, is it? I go through spurts of sending lots of emails, then I'll get busy and distracted. The former's understandable, the latter isn't.

And I guess I could also resolve to update this blog more, but I'm not going to. The whole point of a blog, for me, is that I update it when I feel like updating it.

(But hopefully I feel like updating it more often.)