Hey everyone and welcome back to the Understandable English Podcast.
I'm Oliver, of course, and today we will be talking about New Year's resolutions and the year ahead.
So first, what is a New Year's resolution?
Well, in the West, we often come up with new ideas of things we want to do in the new year.
I'm pretty sure that people do this all around the world, but in the UK and the US we call this a new year's resolution.
So it's simply something that you want to change in your life for the new year.
So often this could be to lose weight, to stop smoking or something like that.
It's usually something which is healthy and beneficial or good for your life.
So my question for you today is what is your New Year's resolution or your New Year's resolutions if you have more than one?
First i can tell you a little bit about mine.
So some of the things i want to change in the new year, in 2022.
The first is i want to eat healthier.
I have a very bad habit of eating a lot of fast food and easy to prepare quick meals.
For example, ones that you heat in the microwave, frozen food, all that sort of stuff.
In 2022, I want to cook more.
So I want to prepare the food, eat healthier food and cook much better food than I did in 2021.
Because honestly, when I eat very unhealthy, like most people, I feel quite bad.
So I feel very tired.
I have maybe less energy.
My mood is worse.
And when I eat healthier, I feel much better, much more energetic.
My second New Year's resolution is that I want to develop my Instagram and TikTok a lot.
So I want to work on it every single day, put videos stories, all of that stuff, and really grow it and develop it into my own business and my own way of earning income.
That also includes, of course, this podcast.
I want to make more regular podcasts and work a lot harder on it.
This really connects with my third new year's resolution, which is that I want to balance my work and my life much better in 2022.
One of my main goals is that I want to be able to spend more time with the people I love and with doing things that I enjoy, and things for myself, too.
I was very bad at this in 2021.
Reflecting back on the year, I worked far too much in my job.
I was very unhappy in the role and the position that I was in and I really did not give attention to the people around me, as well as the other things I love doing, like my Instagram, TikTok and all the projects and ideas that I have.
So that's a very big thing that I want to change.
The third is probably the most important to me.
Having time with people I love is very important.
And having that balance between my work and my life is one of the things that I want to get the most in 2022.
Looking back on the last year, it really was quite a crazy year.
I would say it was probably one of the hardest years of my life so far, if not the hardest.
I had so many changes in my life.
I finished my university.
I moved to Russia.
I've moved to probably about four different departments with lots of problems.
I had the end of a long-term relationship.
I've started a new relationship with a wonderful girl and there's been so many happy, sad and difficult moments.
But despite all the difficulty, I'm still very thankful for the year.
It was a strange one.
It was a difficult one.
It's not a year that I would like to repeat or do again, but I don't regret it.
I'm happy that it's happened and I've learned so much from this year or this past year.
And those lessons and things that I've learned, I know that I will take with me for the rest of my life.
I've also met some amazing people this past year, especially in Russia, and those people are new friends, new people, people that I love spending time with, and I'm very, very thankful for that.
And I'm also very thankful for, I guess, my health and for being in a very good position and for really not having too many serious problems in life.
Often when we have these problems in our lives, like a breakup or losing your job or position in my case, and you can think you know my life is so bad, or I have it very bad in life and when you look around and you see some of the serious, very serious problems that people deal with, you realize you know my life is not so bad, things are not too bad.
So i often, at the end of a year or the beginning of a new one, i like to reflect and remind myself that my difficulties or my problems you know, of course they are bad and they've been difficult for me.
We've been tough, but I have learned from them, I've survived them and it's not anything too serious.
I hope that you have also had a good year in many ways.
I hope your year was much better than mine overall.
But I wish each and every one of you listeners a fantastic 2022.
Really strive and go for your goals this year.
There is never a better time to start doing something that you love and to make those important decisions that matter.
That's something that I learned this year, and it might sound cheesy, but you'll feel a lot better after you make those decisions.
And after making some of those difficult decisions myself, I can say I don't regret them.
They are difficult to do at the time, whether that's changing a job or ending a relationship.
But in doing them, not only will you become more confident, you're also listening to yourself, to what you need, to what you desire.
And as we say in English, you're being more true to yourself.
You're being honest with yourself and you'll feel much better as a person in doing so.
It's not always easy.
It's something I struggle with all the time, every year.
And I know that almost everyone does, but it's something that we can all continue to work at.
So that's the end of today's podcast.
It's quite a quick one, a short one, but I just wanted to say to everyone, before it's too late, happy new year.
And I hope you have a fantastic 2022.
I also hope you will be hearing me a lot more on both these podcasts and my Instagram and TikTok.
Finally, I would like to announce and say that if you're listening to this and you would like to have conversation classes with me, please message me on Instagram in private messages and we can organize something.
I'm trying to do a lot more private teaching in 2022.
I have very limited spaces, so if you message me quickly, that would be great to make sure you get a space for a lesson.
These are conversation classes, individually or in groups with me, of course just me and I would love to see you there and I would love to help you develop your English.
So have a fantastic day.
Wherever in the world you are, whatever you're doing, you're great.
I love you all very much and thank you for listening goodbye.
