Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The way I see it...

Goals and Resolutions
I guess it’s that time of year when 90% of the population makes a New Year’s resolution. I know most people break them, but I’m a firm believer that it is good to have goals! I like meeting goals; it’s such a great feeling. And, sometimes I don’t, but it pushes me to work harder or be better the next time. 
I never have my goals and resolutions ready on January 1st because I’m usually still in Christmas-mode. Aaron  said he knew December 31st what his two resolutions were going to be, but he refused to share them with me until the 1st.
All day on New Year’s Day my mind was ticking away about what I could do. I thought about different aspects of my life – fitness, health, hobbies, my mental health… What did I want to accomplish?
Let’s start with the most obvious sort of thing that people want to do – improve their health. This is something that for me is a continual work in progress. Ever since thinking I had the possibility of being Blake’s kidney donor, I have been very conscience of my health.
My knees and hip had been hurting me, so I haven’t been running since September. That affected my fitness goal. I wasn’t sure what to do since I couldn’t do a certain mileage. I decided to do minutes of activity – walking, workout videos, whatever. I’m shooting for 1,000 minutes per month, which is about a half hour a day. I’ve been getting pretty close, so if I push myself just a little more, I can do it.
Because of my vast knowledge of the good old kidneys, I know that so much of our health can stem back to simply not having enough hydration for our bodies. “They” recommend 64 ounces a day. I’m going to set my goal at 96 ounces of water per day, which is three of my water bottles. As long as I carry it with me, I should be good to go!
I saw on social media that people were posting reading challenges that they wanted to do. As I’ve told you, ever since this summer, I have made it a point to read more, because I truly do love it and it is such a stress reliever for me. I found a 26 book reading challenge that gives you prompts of what books to read throughout your year. Here are some examples: a book you own, but have never read; a book set in a place you would like to visit; a book you picked-up just because you liked the cover; a book that was made into a movie. You get the idea. I started my first book and can’t wait to see if I can finish this challenge.
The next challenge is going to be a, well, challenge. I really want to learn how to sew. You might remember a few years ago I wrote an editorial about how my husband made curtains for our house because I can’t even thread the machine? Yeah, still no change in that department. I really, really want to be able to make pillows and curtains for my kids’ room. This, to a normal person, shouldn’t be hard at all. To Jamie, this will be like climbing Mount Everest. I have a lot of talents, but I can whole-heartedly admit that this isn’t one of them. We shall see how this goes…
Finally, my sister-in-law gave me an idea about journaling more. I have no idea what she’s journaling about, but I wanted to start a journal where I write down one good thing about that day. That way, at the end of the year, I can go through and see short little happy glimpses of our days.
That’s it. My goals and resolutions for 2015! Whew. Time will tell if I can achieve these, but you never know until you try, but that’s just the way I see it.


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