Do you make New Year's resolutions? I don't, but I do. See? Even that explanation isn't a resolution. A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something. If forming new or changing old habits were that simple, it would be a different story. But making changes isn't that simple. I'm sure there are some out there who can make a firm decision and stick with it from that moment on, but, let's be honest, most of us are not like that. We need time to build new habits, change old ways, dig ourselves out of the groove in the record where we find ourselves stuck (did I just date myself? Record grooves?!).
So I don't make New Year's resolutions. But I do find myself making "new starts" all throughout the year. At my birthday. At New Years. As the seasons change. As the moon is new, then full, then new again. Every Monday morning. I like to call it setting goals rather than making resolutions. Goals have a path to get to them... a sometimes meandering, often detoured, path but a path nonetheless. Not something resolute and static like a resolution with its sense of either success or failure in black and white terms. You either did or did not lose 10 pounds by December 31st.
This year I find New Years a particularly convenient time to start tackling some new goals because we are finally feeling settled into the new house we moved into the first of November and I'm pretty happy with the results of some goal setting and path wandering I started a few months ago. Our homeschooling schedule is starting to feel like a better fit, the budgeting and meal planning I started has settled into what feels like a natural habit and, with a little help from the Flylady, I am making great strides toward establishing and maintaining house care and cleaning routines. Whoo! Doing pretty good! Time to shake things up again and make some new positive changes... this time with an inward focus. Because I am That Mom. I am the mom who is an expert at ignoring my own needs in favor of my family's. I know that because my loving husband has told me, over and over again.
Knowing I need an inward focus on my next set of goals to tackle, I have selected four in a self-care vein. Blog more. Read more. Move more. And meditate (but I can't say "more" on that one because I don't already do it). So "Blog more. Read more. Move more. Meditate." A pretty good mantra for 2014, don't you think? What are your goals or resolutions for 2014?
I like your list. I'd substitute "Write more" for "Blog more," so I'll both finish my book and develop my audience.
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