New Year, New Goals

Oh my gosh! January is almost over and still no resolutions. This is so unlike me. I'm usually the type of person who has goals picked out well before Christmas, but I'm struggling this year. It's not for lack of things I want to see happen. I just seem to be having difficulty laying out my goals in a way that is simple but also "trackable." I seem to do better with goals that involve tracking and accountability, like my reading and mileage goals last year. But I also feel like I need to tweak the motivation behind them, or my way of thinking about things, or something. I don't want to be reading a bunch of books just to meet my quota. And mileage is great, but feels too narrow. I still want to lose weight, but I want it to be more about my health than a number. So some of what I've come up with is frustratingly vague (to my way of thinking, at least), but I will share what I have anyway because putting it off isn't helping either.

My fitness goal is to consistently work out at least four days per week, including at least two days with weight lifting. So far I have been doing well with this. Of course part of this is to lose weight, but it's also about reinforcing healthy habits so I don't end up in a vicious cycle of falling off the wagon and beating myself up about it, then restarting only to fall off again. Unfortunately, I have difficulty sticking to a weight lifting routine because in my brain it's not a good workout unless sweat is dripping off me. I know that weight lifting is beneficial and produces results, but ultimately I am a cardio queen. But that's kind of the point: I want to change how I think about things. I don't want to measure the quality of my workouts by how many miles I go, or something like that. I want to base it on how I feel after: Did I push myself? Am I doing my best? Am I consistently fitting this into my life? And so on. So I don't want to set up goals for mileage or a certain amount of weight loss. I want my clothes to fit better again, and more importantly, I want to feel good because I'm taking care of myself. I will try to share here frequently what kind of workouts I'm doing and if I'm meeting my goal, to help me stay accountable. 

My health goal is to climb back on the gluten-free wagon and stay there. It's funny to me how difficult this can be, considering I've been gluten free most of my life. But it is so easy to fall into a pattern of cheating because it's less work, it's less expensive and it's yummy. But, and this is a huge issue: it makes me feel terrible! Physically, because my body can't handle it. I end up sick and bloated most of the time, and the headaches become even more constant and intense than is normal for me (which if you know me, is really saying something). Plus, it's not just gluten-y food, most of it is just not very healthy for anyone. And it's taken a huge toll mentally and emotionally. I feel awful for doing that to myself. Whether it's laziness, self-destructive tendencies, a desire not to be different, whatever. It had to stop and I've been sticking to it since December. So far so good, with a couple little accidental slips. I struggled a lot last year with my lack of motivation to take care of myself. Ultimately it's a circular argument I was having with myself, and I decided to just suck it up and do the things I know I need to do, even when my motivation disappears. Because continuing to do those things, and enjoying the good results they bring, is the only thing that can bring back my motivation. Otherwise I just end up in a downward spiral, and I'm sick of that. 

My spiritual goal is to make my daily bible reading and prayer time a priority, which means doing it every day even if I'm not really in the mood. I've been sticking to this so far as well. I have a One Year Bible devotional that's helping me stay on track. I'm also trying not to be such a stickler about every single detail, so some days I don't do all the reading recommended. Maybe I'll just read the Psalms and Proverbs. Maybe I'll read everything. Whatever I feel I need so that it's meaningful and not just me checking another thing off my to do list.

My financial goal is to pay off my debt and live within my means. Granted, I just have the one credit card with a balance, and my debt is significantly lower than a lot of peoples', but it causes me so much stress. I HATE having debt. And I know that it's kind of a necessary evil, because there are expenses and emergencies and whatnot, but I want my debt to be as minimal as possible. This is completely manageable, I just need to keep myself in check and not spend my money frivolously every month. A little frivolity is fine, but I need to keep my budget under better control than I did last year. It would be fantastic if I could lower my monthly expenses more, but we'll see how that works out. I want more money to go into my savings once the card is paid down, and I would really love to open an IRA.

So that's what I have for this year. You'll notice there is neither a mileage goal nor a reading goal. I'm still logging miles, and I'll probably share that here. And of course I'm still going to read and share what I read as I have been. But I have too much stress in my life to put more pressure on myself. I've also added a feature on the left to show what I am currently reading. I change that as my reading material changes, and I will be including the magazines I read because I enjoy them just as much as books and they teach me and inspire me.


If you've made resolutions/goals, I would love to hear about them and your progress!

Video

I know this has been out for a little while already, but whatever. I just heard this song and found it very powerful, so I found a YouTube video of it and here you go. You're welcome. xoxo

There's another video of this song with lyrics that I like better and it has a quote from Matthew West at the end about the song, but it won't let me put it on here for some reason. So here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6h6QiFqi4&context=C315598aADOEgsToPDskIR7X-eaHlEM7_vqDpmkV0r

December Update and Year Totals

Hi all,

First up is my walk/run goal. In December I did 38 miles, so my grand total for the year is... 353.5 miles! 53.5 miles over my goal. The crowd goes wild!!! I feel pretty good about myself for accomplishing that goal.

Next is my reading goal. I read three books in December. I cut myself a little slack because I was tired and had some magazines to catch up on. Plus, I had already passed my goal, so no pressure. That makes my total for the year 52 books! I'm proud of that accomplishment too, especially considering how insanely busy I feel sometimes. It's important that I make the time to slow down, relax and do the things I enjoy (like reading).

Here's what I read:

The Eyre Affair

I can't even begin to describe these books in any way that makes sense to myself. Read the descriptions on Amazon. Better yet, read the books. I love these and decided to reread them again for fun.You read that right - I reread them again. I can't remember how many times I've read them and I always enjoy them. This is the first book.

Lost in a Good Book

This is the second book. I plan to read the next ones this month, and hopefully get the most recent one soon so I can read that too.

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War

I actually started reading this way back in August but I had a lot of trouble focusing. Once I decided to focus on it, I quite enjoyed it. Good history, told in a very smooth narrative style that kept things going. And I enjoyed learning more about Clara Barton. I never knew much about her other than the superficial things one gets when learning history. I liked the insight this provided into who she was. And it shows that even the history makers are still human. Very interesting. I would recommend it.

I had a lovely week off in which I didn't have to think too much, and I'm proud to announce that I managed to watch all 105 episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place during that time, plus the movie. There is only one episode of the show left to air. I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment too. I often have trouble sitting still and doing nothing and letting myself (and my brain rest), but I managed it. Mostly. I did squeeze about 3.5-4 days of work in there (putting things away, running errands, cooking, cleaning, working out, etc.). It was a good week. :D

I don't know yet if I'm going to set a mileage goal for this year or focus on something else. I think I do want to set another reading goal, but I don't know how many I want to aim for, if I want to increase the number or maybe try for more of a certain type of reading. We'll see where I land on that. I haven't settled on my goal(s) yet, so that will have to wait. I hope to be back soon with more on that once I get my brain to focus again. Happy New Year!! xoxo