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 1^st because I’m usually still in Christmas-mode. Aaron  said he knew December 31^st what his two resolutions were going to be, but he refused to share them with me until the 1^st.

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.