New Year's Resolution

“I swear this year I’ll actually follow through on my resolutions,” Max firmly said to his image in the mirror. Unfortunately, his mirror self looked somewhat skeptical. “No, really.”

He glanced down at the list he’d written in his leather-bound bullet journal–one of the first things he’d actually written in it, after an aborted attempt at keeping a daily diary.

• better/more stylish haircut
• deal with acne
• eat better
• more cardio
• shower at least 3 times a week
• get new/better clothes

Hmm… the first item sounded like it might require going somewhere and interacting with a human being, which he didn’t really want to do. Maybe he could just order some haircutting scissors on Amazon and do it himself.

For the second, he could probably just get some stuff at CVS or Walgreens or whatever. The main thing was actually getting himself to consistently do whatever the regimen was.

For the third… well, the hard part was being motivated to actually cook something decent instead of just ordering fast food. Maybe he could look into one of those subscription meal box services that sponsored too many YouTube videos. Or get Soylent or Huel, but he kind of didn’t want to do that.

More cardio? Well, obviously he didn’t need any specific equipment to go for a walk, but maybe he’d be more consistent about it if he got an exercise bike or something that he could use while watching stuff.

Showering? He just needed to get himself to do that.

Clothes… He honestly didn’t know anything about fashion, but being fashionable wasn’t really the goal. He just wanted to figure out what clothes he liked and felt good about wearing. His current wardrobe was almost entirely just t-shirts and jeans and it was pretty boring and bleh. He didn’t want to spend too much money in the process of figuring it out, though. Maybe he could go to a thrift store or discount store or something.

For now, he decided to just go ahead and order some scissors. While he waited for them to arrive, he could maybe watch some tutorials about cutting your own hair.

***

The scissors arrived about a week later and he got to work. Unfortunately… he almost immediately fucked up and cut a lock way too short in the front. Trying to even things out, he ended up cutting more and more until he realized… he had accidentally given himself bangs. Or a “fringe”, which honestly was a much better name for it, but he didn’t want to go around sounding Bri’ish.

He squinted at himself in the mirror. It wasn’t a bad look, per se, but maybe a bit overly feminine? Oh well, though. He didn’t want to mess with it any further or he was afraid he’d end up bald.

***

After several weeks of using acne cream, and washing and moisturizing his face every day, his active acne had significantly decreased, but there were still definite acne scars visible across his cheeks. He ended up buying some concealer from the pharmacy. Fortunately, they had self checkout, so he didn’t have to endure any confused or judgmental cashiers.

Once he’d gotten home, he tried it out and was relieved to see it was a good color match for his complexion. Overall, it looked pretty good! He ended up posting a rare selfie to his Insta and was gratified to see, like, five whole likes roll in!

***

In the vintage clothes store, Max found himself drawn to some more flowy tops. They were maybe technically blouses, but this place didn’t really have any kind of coherent organization so they had been among men’s clothing.

***

A year later, Max reflected on how things had gone. All in all, she was pretty happy with things.