Let's get this new year started!

OK, so it is now 2011, which will take some getting used to. I can see myself automatically writing the wrong year for at least the next month. One thing I'm really noticing is how the new year has lost some of its excitement over the years. Not the aspect involving new beginnings and goals and all that, but the celebration part. I'm such a night owl that when I don't have to get up early I stay up way past midnight anyway, so that part isn't special at all anymore. Usually I spend at least a little time watching one of the New Year shows on TV. I think last year was the first when I just didn't care; I just flipped over for a minute for the countdown. This year I was watching The Office with a friend and we paused at 11:59 for the countdown and then went right back to what we were doing. And then continued to watch The Office until almost 4 am. (That part was unusual for me.) I was up until 5 this morning, not because of excitement or celebrating or anything interesting. Just because I couldn't sleep yet. So I guess I'm a little sad that I don't find it as exciting as I used to. And it's somewhat disheartening that hiding behind my eagerness to plan for a new year and set up new goals and reboot things and all that fun stuff, there's a voice that just says, "Here we go again." No excitement, just resignation. Maybe because nothing in my life really seems to change year after year - I make progress and then I slide backward. I want this year to be different, I want to make permanent changes and stick to my goals. But then, I want that every year and here I am in pretty much the same place. Maybe I'm just tired.

And I don't want to be so negative. I know I've made some really good changes this year. I'm learning to let go of things, not only emotionally, but physically too. I got rid of 15 bags of books a couple months ago. That is unheard of for me. And it was extremely upsetting, but I feel good about it now. And I have gone through my books since then and collected another 8 bags to get rid of. Plus all the other stuff that I just need to donate already and get out of my house. I will feel so much better once that's done. Plus all the paperwork I've gone through, the stuff I've thrown out that I've been hanging on to for years for no reason. That's huge. I'm getting things in order, refusing to allow myself to be weighed down by carrying all of this stuff with me everywhere. It's not easy and I struggle with it every day, but I am determined. So, let's move on to my goals for this year, shall we?

I'm doing things a bit differently this year than I have before and I hope that will help me stick to things better. My first step in making goals this year was thinking about my priorities, my values, what's most important to me. And when I really thought about my priorities - what they are in my heart and what is reflected in my actions - I can boil it down to two main ones at this time in my life. The first is God. This is very true in my heart and my mind, but I don't know that it is always reflected in my actions, so I have some goals for that. The other is my health, but when I say that I am including my physical, emotional and financial health all together as one, because they all go together. Of course, so does spiritual health, but I think I cover that pretty well with my first priority, so let's move on. There are other things that I value, like my family, my friends, helping others, etc. But God and health are my two biggest right now.

That brings us to my actual goals. I'm not sure how clear this will be. I was reading something about setting goals and the person said first determine priorities, then set goals and list ways to achieve those goals. I did that, but my actions to achieve the goals are, in themselves, goals. So maybe that covers my short and long term? I don't know, but this is what I came up with.

My first goal is to keep growing closer to God, and to put in more of an effort than I have been lately. What I mean by that is that I have been slacking off in my focus and dedication and I want to be more active than passive. Some of the things I've come up with to achieve that are: having a dedicated prayer time every day (which I haven't really been doing lately); reading Scripture daily (which I really haven't been doing lately); full tithing (I've been working my way up to it and I'm almost there. I just need to commit that last little bit); regular church attendance (I do usually do this, but sometimes I lose focus. And when I can't make it, I often don't get around to listening to the sermon online, which I really need to do); service, service, service (so important and I've been slipping the last few months); having a daily worship time (this already happens because I listen to KLOVE every morning on the way to work); journaling (ugh! I hate journaling. BUT, it really does help, so I will try again); choose forgiveness and grace every single day. Those are some of the main things I came up with. The overall focus here is for me to really make God my top priority.

My other goal is to focus on and maintain my physical, emotional and financial health. All three of these are so intertwined for me that it just makes sense to have it all as one goal, but within that are lots of goals. First, I want to lose weight. My overall goal is to lose 50-60 pounds because I think that would get me down to a fairly healthy weight that I can maintain. My first goal, though, is to lose 10% of my current weight, or 21 pounds - and yes if you do the math you can figure out how much I weigh right now. I've been here before and I know I can do this. The following goals go along with this one. I want to run/walk 300 miles this year. That's almost 6 miles a week, which is totally doable if I stick to my goal. I can do that in one workout, so I know I can do 300 miles in a year. Along with that, I need to work out at least 4 times per week, and at least two of them need to include weight training. When I'm focused and taking care of myself, I like to do 5-6 days, but I'm trying to give myself a goal that won't crush me with its weight. This will also help my emotional health because it helps me relieve stress.

Next is my diet. This is where I get tripped up the most because I end up eating way too little. Yes, I said too little. It is so bad for my metabolism and it messes up my workouts and sabotages my health and weight loss. So, first of all, I need to make sure I eat enough every day. I'm back on my Shakeology, starting today, which is the best way to start my day. I need to eat more fruits and veggies and minimize my sugar intake. I also need to remember to rest. I need 7-9 hours of sleep per night and in order to do that during the week, I need to go to bed by 10. I also find that I need one day per week when I don't have to do anything or go anywhere. This is my day of rest. But I also need quiet time every day. Those are for my physical health, but also my emotional health. I also want to read more books, so I'm setting a goal for that. I'm going to try for 40 by the end of the year. I'm looking forward to trying to meet that goal, but I'm not going to pressure myself because this is supposed to help my emotional well-being, not add to my stress.

Which brings us to financial health, which for me equals emotional health. I need financial stability. When I don't have it, I get stressed out. So my biggest goal here is to stick to my budget!!! I have a good, balanced budget that includes little extras, but I always exceed it. That needs to change. I have worked in the last several months to decrease a lot of my bills and remove unnecessary expenses. Now I just need to curb my impulse spending. I want to go to the library more and buy used books, if I even buy them at all. I need to read the books I have before buying more. I'm going to use my tax refund to pay down my credit card (again) and put more money in savings every month. My goal is to reach $10K in my savings again and then start a Roth IRA. I want my credit card to be used sparingly, like it used to be, instead of all the time, as it has been lately. I would also like to move this year, for both my financial and emotional well-being, but I'll talk about that more when I find the right place.

That's it. Those are my goals, action items, whatever you want to call them. Some of them are extremely easy, some of them I do already, some are going to be difficult. I'm going to do my best and try to keep myself accountable when I slip. So let me know what some of your goals are, if you've made some. Maybe we can help each other. Happy New Year!