Challenges

The new year has well and truly rolled around. With summer soon ending, and the first quarter of the year finishing not long after, the 'new you' has probably been put back inside the box ready for 2015, where things will 'definitely be different'. Resolutions forgotten, we go back to the normalcy of day to day life and are too busy worrying about getting through the day and then the week and then the month to worry about wasting valuable time on self-improvement. That's why, this year, I chose a resolution that I would probably enjoy doing. Watching 250 movies.

But not just any 250 movies. The Top 250 Movies as listed by everyone's favourite entertainment website, IMDb. As a person who not only enjoys good quality movies, but has immense appreciates for the beauty of a movie with a perfect score or an amazing director, these movies were something I was sure to enjoy investing time in. And so far, I have been right - out of the 24 I've watched, there has only been one I haven't liked: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Even then, I appreciated the directing and the shot selections, I just didn't appreciate the story that took over three hours to tell.

Despite how easy it is to enjoy this resolution, there are times when it feels like a chore. Looking at the list of movies that I've yet to watch is sometimes overwhelming and feels impossible. I know I'm not the only one who feels this, because most people give up on the resolution they make for the new year. Sometimes, it's challenging, because the movie's in another language, or in black and white, or really old and therefore has terrible video quality and even more horrific effects (by today's standard). But the feeling of highlighting a completed movie is so rewarding, I know that I'll try my best to stick to my huge commitment.

While watching 250 movies is resolution enough for two people, I have another goal to reach this year: reading 50 books. To the average person, 50 books may seem even more impossible than 250 movies; however, reading comes easily to me and I can devour a book to which I'm invested in a matter of hours. Broken down into about four books per month, and then again to about one book per week, this seems like a very achievable goal to me.

So how on Earth am I going to have time to be a full time student, watch 250 movies, read 50 books and create regular blog posts? Trust me, I'm asking myself the same question. That's the thing with challenges; you don't know if you can complete them until you do.