Happy New Year!
First thing first. Let’s go ahead and put out there that 2016 is going to be so incredibly awesome in all realms of our life; including relationships, career, and financially. Plant those seeds, nurture them, and watch them grow.
I’m fortunate and beyond blessed enough to say that I enjoyed my 2015. No awesome life changing events happened nor did I hit the lotto, despite trying on a few occasions. However, I also didn’t experience anything bad either. Well, there was my car accident that happened at the very beginning of the year, but even that wasn’t bad for a few reasons. First, I didn’t get injure and thanks to car insurance, I was able to upgrade to a “newer” car. So, in the end, I look at that as a win.
Still, I’m super excited for 2016! Towards the end of last year, I was really honing in on things I wanted to work on in 2016. When I say “things” I don’t mean internally, I mean ideas and projects I’ve been working on for the past few months and which, if any, do I want to put on the back burner for a while.
So, what’s my 2016 New Years Resolutions? Well…
2016 New Year’s Resolutions?
Nope. I don’t participate in making those. I haven’t made a “new year’s resolution” in years and haven’t stuck to one even longer than that. When I think of the words/phrases of “new years resolution” I think of the cliche’ “I’m going to lose weight” “Stop dating this person” “Stop shopping so much”. Most of these are definitely things that are worth working on, but somehow when people put that new year’s resolution tag on those proclamations, they don’t really get taken too serious for too long and ultimately fade away. Well, that’s what happened to me and I eventually got tired of this annual pinwheel of no results.
Stop Saying “Stop”
When it comes to achieving and reaching goals, I’ve learned that it’s best to cut out using negative words and proclaiming you’re going to “stop” doing something. Focus on the positives.
So, I eventually decided to do a slight re-shifting. The thing about the resolutions that people make is that they are based around cutting back on doing “negative” things such as eating too much, illicit activities, and the list goes on. Therefore, I decided that every year, I would pick three things that I would like to achieve by the end of the year and/or least try for awhile. My list of things that I would like to try can easily get limitless and fill up to 2 pages (front and back) of ideas and suggestions that I would like to try. So, I make sure to limit myself to only 3, realistic and attainable goals that make me feel happy and accomplished in the end.
I will admit that at least one of the goals is always very easy to do and achieve. For example, the year before, I vowed that I would be able to physically and financially get my nails (nails and/or feet) done every other week for the year of 2014. Well, I thought that would be easy, but there were a handful of times that I had to rearrange some things to make time to do it, but I did. I was going through a lot of family stuff with my mom and any free time I had, I devoted to my mom’s health and well-being. So, I was old enough to know that I need to devote a some relaxation time for me to be in a better space for her. Even after she passed that September, I still made sure to stick to that help put me back on course for my life. It’s crazy that something so trivial as bi-weekly manicures helped me so much mentally and emotionally.
My Goals for 2016
Back to Now
For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about what three things I would like to try before 2017. After creating a list of about 20 things, filtering out things that weren’t that fulfilling, and overall careful consideration I narrowed it down to 3 things:
- READ ONE BOOK A MONTH….COMPLETELY
I love books. Giving me a book is a safe bet gift idea (second to gift cards). However, I’m sort of notorious for not finishing books and or taking too much time to finish a book. I have plenty of excuses, but none of them are legit. So, I vow to finish reading at least one book a month; fiction or non-fiction.
- EMBRACE THE PALEO DIET (at least) ONE WEEK A MONTH
When I actually sat back and thought of my ideal meals, it consisted of just meats and veggies. Although your girl loves a good chunk of hearty lasagna followed with a bowl of ice cream for dessert, I’ve been gravitating more to healthy meals made at home with little to no carbs, salt, and sugar. So, the Paleo diet spoke to me. You read more about the paleo diet lifestyle.
- JOURNAL DAILY (weekends, too)
In college, I used to journal all the time and I mean all the time, including multiple times throughout most days. I recently came across a few of my journals from that time and reading what was going on in my life back. Despite a few cringe-worthy moments and thoughts that most college students deal with, it was interesting to reflect on things that I forgot I stressed on and thought would crush my future. Thankfully, I can look back at those moments and laugh knowing that they were not as horrible as I thought. However, it has made me want to start journaling more, because writing things down that are on your mind and heart have a way of working itself out once you transfer it on paper, or at least I and 22-year-old me can attest. I’ve been journaling occasionally over the past few weeks, but I’m committing to journaling every single day in 2016.
So, there are the three things that I’m committed to try and stick to this year. Feel free to share some things that you are committed to trying this year below!
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