I get really excited about my New Year’s Resolutions. The idea of new beginnings/reinvention has always appealed to me, which is why I love new years, new weeks, and even mornings. Each one is an opportunity for change. (Of course, you could change in August, on a Thursday, in the afternoon … but it’s not as exciting.)
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to whittle down my growing list of resolutions. I started out with 16. I now have 27. Despite my incredulous husband (and likely the rolling eyes of anyone reading this), I am sticking with that number, but I AM renaming them my New Year’s Goals instead. Goals are better than resolutions, because you can’t “break” them, you just aspire to them. Hopefully this way I can avoid that mid-January depression when I realize I missed a day of running 10 miles or whatever. Semantics, maybe, but it’s all mental anyway.
Without further ado — a drumroll, please as I present my New Year’s Resolutions Goals for your criticism approval:
(I’ve categorized them in an attempt to get a good start on #19.)
relational:
1. read eli a book every day
2 .write more letters
3. call someone every day (stop being a hermit)
4. be purposeful about date nights with nathan — especially after baby2
5. have someone over for dinner at least 2x a month, once we’re in our new house
financial:
6. pay off all debt except for mortgage (including car)
7. establish business as an event pianist
8. tithe regularly
physical:
9. exercise 5 days a week — even if just a 5-10 minute walk
10. be able to do 10 chinups again
11. continue to do yoga @ least once a week
12. restrict sugar consumption to weekends (…mostly)
recreational:
13. travel to a new state (preferably california!)
14. explore museums in raleigh + charlotte
15. learn to use the manual settings on my camera
personal:
16. more books, fewer movies/tv shows
17. volunteer at local pregnancy center at least once
18. turn off my computer for one full day every week
19. be organized (this should help)
20. learn basic arabic grammar and alphabet
domestication(al):
21. cook through a cookbook (still have to choose one)(it WON’T be Mastering the Art of French Cooking)
22. find the perfect roast chicken recipe/method
23. cook vegetarian 2 days a week so we can afford to eat ethical/healthy meat
24. have a designated day for each household chore — and DO it
25. not move anything into my new house that isn’t useful, beautiful, or meaningful
26. sew SOMEthing
27. plant an herb garden and not kill it
I’m posting these in an effort at accountability — I’ll try to keep the blog updated as I work on each one.
7 Comments
is it weird that this made me cry? you are just totally amazing to me. i’m so grateful for your example. i want to be like you.
btw, i love your revised haircut. :)
Hi! I’m a friend of Brite’s and she led me here. I’m supposed to be going to bed early but decided to look at one more blog!
I enjoyed reading through your goals. They seem very attainable! Which is a good thing in a goal. I am curious about your learning Arabic. That’s interesting. I like that you specified that the cookbook you cook through will not be Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That sounds like a very fun goal!
I hope you have a successful and fruitful 2010!
wow. You made me excited for this year and your life and I’m not even you.
I actually DID start one of my NYR in August last year…as far as the losing weight things goes. That was weird but it worked!
Hope we cross paths this year! xoxo
I love your goals. And I love you. And I love your new bangs! Why didn’t I know about those? Maybe one of your goals should be keeping your mother informed of important happenings in your life! :)
Wow- what a great list. I hadn’t made even a tiny resolution until I read your list, but I’m kind of glad I waited. I think this gave me a little perspective. I’m still in the “organize every corner of your world since it’s January stage” but after that I’ll move onto resolutions.
What an amazing list. I think you can do it, and will add this to my prayer list for you. I really am excited to see what you do with your new home. It’s going to be so fun. I can’t wait to use the new guest room! Love you,