Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Resolution Refinements

First an announcement: this is my 500th post since starting my blog. Yowza!

Moving on.

I'm finally posting my resolutions! I think it's good to have goals. But I also think it's good to be flexible. I spent a lot of years being almost unforgivable towards myself when it came to failures. Like I was defined by them. I saw myself as all of the things that I wasn't, like not pretty, or not smart, or not fast, or not good, instead of all of the things that I was, like nice and thoughtful and considerate. Maybe that is why I don't chisel goals in stone anymore. I don't always set deadlines. But it is a new year, and like everyone else, I would like for it to be a better year. Who wants a worse year? I committed to making some changes a couple of months ago and I have shared most of them with you, but I want to share them one more time and update you a bit on how things are going.

Health
This year I want to make permanent changes to my health. I want activity to become a regular part of my life. Right now it almost exists as an urban legend. Like there is evidence enough to believe that it has existed in the past, but you can't really prove it right now. I would like to change that. So far, all that I know for sure is that Jenina and I are going to start walking together on Tuesday nights. If the weather doesn't allow outdoor activity, we are going to use her workout room. I used to work out with Jennifer, and though I didn't love Curves, I LOVED being with her. Being with a friend. First of all, anytime that you can see a good friend on a regular basis, it's a HUGE blessing! I loved being up to date with what was going on in Jennifer's life. I am thankful that I am going to get back to being up to date with Jenina. She is one of my oldest friends and being busy just isn't an excuse to lose her. I also think that having a workout partner can be a huge motivator on days that you just aren't in the mood. That will not be my ONLY activity, that's just the only part that I have nailed down so far. More on that this weekend!

Part two of the health changes is my food. Duh! 2009 was a very interesting food year. I had a few fairly lengthy periods of positive eating, but my periods of negative eating (trust me, these are accurate terms) have equal representation. I'm not sure it was quite 50/50 on the food front with the good and bad, but it may have been. This year I want to make permanent changes. I want to cook more. Fresh foods, not foods from a box. I want to consume more fruits and vegetables. I want to eat out less. I want to learn to make good choices when I do eat out without feeling deprived.

I am expecting positive impacts in several areas of my life from making these changes, but it is imperative that I lose some weight. For a million reasons! But the one that is really jumping out at me now that I am 28 is that I don't want being overweight to stop us from starting a family when we are ready. Not that we are ready right now. But we sure are talking about it a lot. I want to have a healthy pregnancy. I want to do what I can NOW to make that more possible.

I will definitely keep you updated on the food and activity front. I hope that you will help me along the way!


Professional
I will not be at my current job in 2011. This is my last year there. The last few years, I have hoped that it might be my final year with this company. This year I am declaring it. I'm done. I do not plan on being there after the summer. Whether I get a teaching job in the fall or not, I will not stay where I am. It is time to move on. That is all that I will say here. (Except, oh my goodness! I start my classes this Saturday and I am so nervous and so excited, and did I mention, SO NERVOUS!)


Financial
I would like to pay off our credit card debt this year. That is going to take a lot of discipline on our part but again, it's part of building towards our future. I want to be financially healthier when we are ready to start a family. We need less debt, more savings and better spending habits. haha... I wish I were feeling more confident about that. But I am saying it out loud because I MEAN it! I want us to be in a better place! We have already committed to putting our entire tax return towards the credit card balance and that is going to take a big chunk out of it. We will keep at it until it is gone. It would be WONDERFUL if that happened this year!


Social
I am SO thankful that I took steps towards reaching out to my loved ones at the end of 2009. I have EVERY intention of continuing that effort in 2010. Jennifer and I have a weekly coffee date set up. Just thinking about that makes me happy! Jennifer is so COMFORTING! She never makes me feel stupid, even when I am totally unbalanced. She is understanding and honest at the same time. I know that if I am being unrealistic, Jennifer will tell me, and she seems to always have options when I think I am at a dead end! She's also a BLAST to be with! I heart her!

I also have a weekly walking night with Jenina, which I've already said is a really good thing that I am totally looking forward to (even though we were supposed to start tonight and I asked if we could wait one more week because I need to catch up on some sleep before I lose my marbles!).

I am committed to making sure that my family continues to meet for a Sunday dinner once a month and I am thrilled to continue my weekly dinner with my mom. (I know that it sounds like I'm abandoning Brett, but my dinner and coffee night are the same night! And my walking is going to happen right after work, so I'm not skipping out on him that night, just starting our evening an hour later!)

And the monthly dinner with my college roommates is still going strong!

So relationship wise, things are looking pretty good. I need to find a way to spend more time with my sister Melanie. I just need her right now. I get anxious when I go too long without seeing her. Probably because she is totally Super Woman and juggling a million things right now. It's UNBELIEVABLE that she can manage so much at once. So much so, that I need to see her with my own eyes to know that she is okay. I also love her daughter and want to see her more, so I am going to figure something out there.

I also want us to go see Jeff sometime soon. He moved a year and a half ago (is that right?) and we haven't been to see him yet. We see him when he comes home, but he is not far, only in Tulsa, so we want to make the time to go see him.

We've been really fortunate in finding ways to see our Houston friends over the past year, so I am expecting that to continue this year!


Spiritual
I want to be consistent in reading the Word and I want to continue to grow in my walk. God has blessed me SO richly... how can he not have a plan for me? I know that he has called me to live a purposeful life and I want to honor him with everything that I do.


Marriage
I just want to keep learning! Being a newlywed has been wonderful! Learning can't be easy all of the time, but we ARE learning and growing and loving each other every day. I am so thankful for that.

Okay, that lack of sleep that I mentioned early is TOTALLY starting to show. I need to get to bed. But those are my resolutions. I know they may seem kind of flimsy, but don't you worry... my resolve is growing every day!

Happy New Year =-)

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Good ones. Love it! Can't wait to see you tonight!