New Year’s resolutions are always a tough thing, and I think that goes for everybody. You want to be gung-ho and do everything, then you fail miserably and give up on all of it. I have a lot of areas in my life that I want to improve on, but trying to do it all at once is overwhelming and I find myself burnt out quickly. So this year, I’m taking a different approach.
In the photography community, there is the 365 project (which I did for Carly’s 1st year) the 52 project (the once a week photo) and the 12 project (for one photo a month). I had already had in my mind to step it down this year and just do the 52 or even just 12, when I heard about Ali Edward’s (fairly famous in the scrapping world) “one little word” project. Instead of resolutions each year, she takes a word and makes it her mantra for the year. So I decided I’d glean from that idea, the 12 photos and combine it with all the resolutions I wanted to make.
My word for the year is going to be FOCUS. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a racoon, attracted to whatever is shiny and cool. I have a hard time staying on course because SQUIRREL!! … uh, because stuff distracts me easily. So I think FOCUS is going to be a good word for me to meditate on this year. With that in mind, I decided to break my resolutions down into themes so that I could choose a theme each month to FOCUS on. That way, when life gets crazy and I find that it’s just not realistic for me to keep ALL of my resolutions up at the same time, I have a fall back plan. A failing-all-else-I-WILL-focus-on-this kind of plan. I came up with 6 themes to my resolution. Here they are and kind of what I intend for them to entail, because if I tell you, then I have to keep accountable for them.
EDUCATION -
- making and sticking to a pre-k home school lesson plan of sorts
- spending one on one time with both kids each day to work on age appropriate stuff together
- to learn something new myself
DEVOTION -
- making time for a daily quiet time with God
- making prayers at meals and bedtime more regular and more meaningful with the kids
- getting and working through some type of pre-k devotional book so the stories are more prevalent in our house
HEALTH -
- staying within my calorie budget as much as possible
- exercising at least 3 times a week
- drinking 8 glasses of water a day
BONDING -
- having a rotation of weekly “dates” with each kid/parent combination, the two of us, and a family fun night.
- spend more time with Penny (our lab) since it sadly is an area we don’t prioritize much with two small kids.
- keep in touch with friends more (via FB, emails, phone calls, and *gasp* old-fashioned snail mail letters even!)
DISCIPLINE -
- sticking to what we’ve learned with the Love & Logic book
- actually making use of the chore chart and reward system
- teach our dog some manners!
PRODUCTIVITY -
- spending 15 minutes, twice a day, to keep on top of daily chores (like dishes and tidying up clutter)
- spending 15 minutes a day on a FLY Lady focus zone of the week (like doing some thorough cleaning in one area for the week)
- making sure I do the things I need to do before the ones I want to do.
To keep myself accountable for this challenge this year, because it WILL be a challenge, and to make it fun, I decided to follow Ali Edward’s idea of making a scrapbook about my one little word. So each month, as I shift my focus, I’ll scrap a page or two about my thoughts on the subject before and after and compare my results to what I had hoped to accomplish. I am hoping this kind of continual project throughout the year will keep me on track with my new goals.
I hope your new year is richly blessed and that you live it as He would have you!
hehe) (also not in bloom during summer), existing pink Crape Myrtle tree we whacked off at the stump to make it grow more like a bush and stay off the roof, a purple Chinese Fringe bush at the corner (not in bloom, but a pretty purple color all year) a pot of hot pink Geraniums, surrounded by the white Dusty Miller, with “Small Scale Monkey Grass” from my mom’s house around that, and Japanese Box Wood to line the West side of the house and obscure the AC unit from the street. Oh yes, and you’ll notice how much nicer the shutters will look once they’re black! Jason thought I was crazy when I told him we should paint them black. This picture convinced him I think!
