resolutions worth keeping.

As we approach the new year, most of you are probably mentally scrolling through all the things you'd like to accomplish next year. You'll most likely want to lose that extra weight, train for a half marathon, volunteer more, get engaged, be more organized and finally grow that garden in your backyard so you can make homemade salsa. Don't get me wrong - those are all lofty goals. I'm personally a big fan of resolutions, whether they're made in January or in the middle of the year. Anytime you decide to better yourself or the lives of people around you, you ought to be applauded. What I also think, though, is that there are so many simpler, more feasible things you can do every single day to make the world a better place. Here are some of my recommended resolutions worth keeping in 2014:

Be polite. This should be a no-brainer, but sometimes we are so self-involved that we fail to realize how unintentionally rude some of our actions are. Here are some simple things you can do to exercise this civil obligation:

• When someone opens or holds a door for you, thank them.
• When crossing a parking lot and a car stops for you to pass, show a little respect by giving them a "thank you" wave and, if physically possible, hustle your ass across the street. This goes for drivers too - if it's raining, snowing or otherwise inclement weather, stop to let pedestrians cross. Seriously.
• Be nice to customer service representatives. Usually, they're just the messenger, and if they are able to do you any favors, they sure as hell won't exercise that power if you're being a jerk.
• If you're in customer service, be nice to your customers. Part of your job is to make a consumer's experience as pleasant as possible - unless of course they're rude to you. But even then, kill 'em with kindness. 

Be more self sufficient. How much do you rely on something or someone else? Whether you're living on someone else's dime, checking your phone every 5 minutes or constantly filling your free time with trashy reality television, we could all learn to be slightly more reliant upon ourselves and less so on other people and mindless forms of entertainment. Read a book. Have a conversation. Take care of the people who take care of you. Eat those leftovers before they go bad instead of going to Chipotle instead. 

Pay it forward all year. Around the holidays, you always hear about people paying it forward. Newsfeeds are full of people who had their coffee paid for by the car in front of them, by strangers paying off gifts on layaway. Who says we can only do that in December? Surprise someone by paying it forward on a random June day, or by donating to your favorite charity organization with a fraction of your tax return instead of during the holidays. Imagine if we kept up the notion that there is still hope for humanity for 12 months a year instead of just 1 - maybe at Thanksgiving, when people are inundating your Facebook newsfeed with their "daily thankful" post, we'd have more to talk about. 

Be conscious. How many times have you arrived at work in the morning only to realize you don't have the faintest recollection of the drive there? My morning commute is so habitual, I could do it with my eyes closed. How much of our lives are we living that way? Make an attempt at being more actively engaged in your life - it is yours, after all. Instead of zoning out, turn the music up. Instead of letting your brain flatline on your way to work, think proactively about your day. Glance at the person in the car next to you and imagine what their life is like - use your imagination, think creatively, and learn to realize when you're going unconscious. 

Speak less, listen more. Make a decision right now that you will not mouth off unless you know what the hell you're talking about. So much of this country's problem is how quickly we are to speak before we listen. The freedom of speech is a beautiful thing, and technology has allowed us to really utilize this in a way that, often times, is really pretty awesome. That being said, it's also allowed us to communicate too easily before critically engaging ourselves with the topic at hand. Learn to back up your argument. Educate yourself. Stop repeating things you hear about politics, healthcare, the government, voter rights, welfare, immigration, the war, diet and nutrition, exercise, animal rights and every single celebrity who had a baby and wants you to know about it, just because you heard it from so-and-so and therefore it must be right. Imagine if we all had the tools to speak and communicate whenever we wanted, but we thought first instead of lashing out. Imagine if we actively realized that what we said on Facebook or in a text or in the comments of a news blog would actually be on a screen for someone else to see across the world. Imagine if we realized how permanent the things we say are now, how quickly spread our ideas could be - and made sure to speak accordingly. 

Go private. Social media has allowed some of our most precious moments to be publicly seen and heard across the world. Our Christmas gifts, newborn babies, new puppies, engagements, weddings and what we had for dinner are all just part of a normal day on Facebook. (Side note: I did not know how popular it was to propose to people on Christmas until yesterday's Facebook newsfeed viewing). But before Facebook, there was a time when those moments were shared with the select few people you cared about the most. The surprise dinner your husband prepared for you was made specifically for you to see, not the people from high school you don't even keep in touch with anymore who are scrolling through your photos. The engagement ring your fiance picked out was something he spent months saving for, weeks picking out and days planning the most perfect engagement. He confided in his closest friends and your families, and you just showed everyone like he picked it up at the supermarket (don't get me wrong - I totally did it too - but putting it in perspective makes you think). The pictures you post of your kids will still be on the internet in 10 years when they're old enough to Google themselves. Those are special moments. Those are YOUR moments. By all means, share things you want the world to see and know - but think critically before you take some of your most precious memories and moments and allow them to become someone else's. 

Push yourself. Think critically about the things in your comfort zone and the things outside of it. Make a resolution to force yourself outside of that comfort zone and into something you know will turn you into a better person. As for me? That's running. Half marathons take discipline and training that I don't normally have the mental or physical energy for - but making a commitment to do it makes me physically and emotionally better in the long run. Whatever you think you can't do but secretly want to - decide to do it in 2014. 

Engage. Take everything I've said up until this point, combine it all and become more engaged in your own life. Have more face-to-face conversations. Ask your grandparents questions before it's too late. Run a race. Spend too much money on the best meal of your life. Rescue an animal. Have a baby (on purpose). Chat up a stranger in a waiting room instead of mindlessly checking Facebook again. Read. Learn. Go for a walk instead of watching another SVU rerun (that one will be hard for me). Give someone a chance. Don't be so quick to judge. Soak up a beautiful sunrise on your morning commute instead of getting pissed that you got stuck behind the school bus (God, I hate that). Ask your friends questions instead of just talking about yourself. Take a minute in your most monumental moments to reflect on how you feel. 

Also, have better grammar. And don't post your shit on Facebook unless you do it with the appropriate versions of your and you're. 

Being a better person in 2014 isn't always about losing weight, eating clean and volunteering all your free time. Don't get me wrong - those are all on my list, too. But sometimes the best things you can do are the ones that change your perspective. The ones that change how you see the world, and that change how someone else sees the world. Your actions, however large or small, have the opportunity to change someone else's reality and you get to decide how that happens. How will you make 2014 a better year for you, and how will you make it better for the people around you? If you have the time, watch this:

http://postgradproblems.com/frustrated-with-growing-up-shut-up-and-watch-this-video/

Note: This post was inspired by a woman walking out of Kroger this afternoon who didn't even bother to acknowledge that I had stopped to let her pass with her Starbucks. On the bright side, without her lack of awareness, this post wouldn't exist, and I wouldn't have inspired anyone to be better in 2014. (God, please tell me I inspired at least one of you).