With 2013 knocking at my door, I spend some time reflecting this last weekend over what I desired for the new year. 2012 has been a great year filled with growth, friendship, and opportunity and I hope 2013 is filled with even greater things.
I learned early on in life that I am in control of my destiny and the path I take, therefore if I want great things, I need to work (hard) for them. In the past couple of years I have traveled down a few bumpy roads and hit a few crossroads due to my divorce. My plans and aspirations for my future now just don’t include me, they include my son. Even though he is still pretty young, I strongly believe that what I do in this early stage of his life is vital in building his future. A good education for him is very important to me in addition to him having proper childcare, healthy meals, and a roof over his head. Your values and priorities definitely change when you become a mother, and change even more if you are a single mother. I have a new level of respect for the single, working mom’s out there who are doing it alone to provide and give their children a good quality of life.
Alright, back to my resolutions. Normally, each year I have about 5 or 6 resolutions of high importance and 3 or 4 resolutions of low importance. The funny thing is, I am not very organized in carrying out these resolutions. I normally get burnt out in January on the high level resolutions and then only successfully carry out the low level ones.
This year I’m doing it a little different. I read an article where experts say that it takes 21 days to break a bad habit or form a new one. This makes a lot of sense as routines can’t be built immediately, they take practice (and practice makes perfect). I will carry out this 21 day theory in by separating each resolution by month next year. Each month I will work on that specific resolution/goal and hopefully the end result is a good one.
January | Budget
February | Time Management/Organization
March| Work Life
April | Writing
May | Exercise/Health
June | Friendship
July | Travel
August | Reading
September| Reflection and Personal Growth
October | Style
November | Giving
December | Love
January | Budget
One thing I think we have all struggled with is money. Unfortunately, I am not Lisa Hochstein where my only concern money-wise is whether to purchase a Louboutin or a Choo. This year I strive to save more than I spend and really cut back on the wants vs. needs. It’s important to me to have an emergency fund and a substantial amount in savings just in case something happens. I work for the government and am VERY fortunate to have a job in this recession, but you never know what the future will bring. I plan frugalizing my variable monthly expenses (groceries, dining out, entertainment, shopping, etc.) and seeing how I can save money. Dining out is often very convenient, but puts a large dent in the pocket book. Finding alternatives to eating out like freezer or crock pot meals will benefit me financially in the long run and are often healthier than take out.
February | Time Management/Organization
Managing my time better and becoming more organized is a huge goal for me. Naturally, I am a pretty stressed out person. I have a lot on my plate and like any person who is juggling children and a career, one might become a bit flustered. When I get flustered, it’s easy for me to become overwhelmed and my organization and time management just goes right out the door. First and foremost, I need to establish a better morning routine. For a working mom, it can be pretty tiring to have woken up, showered, dressed, eaten a small breakfast, gotten a child dressed, fed, and ready for the day, then driven 25 minutes to the nanny’s house, then another 15 to work by the time SAHM’s are just getting up for the day. Since I have such a process each morning, sometimes I am not the best at making it to work on time. I need to fine tune my morning routine and practice a better time management in the process.
March| Work Life
First and foremost, I would like to say that I am absolutely blessed and am very happy with my job. I don’t ever want to take my job for granted or lose my professional edge. It’s easy to get comfortable in your career and forget about the small professionalisms and work etiquette that you once swore by when you were first hired on. This year, I hope to excel in my career and learn new things along the way. Personally, I like to keep my work-life and home-life separate. Fortunately, I am pretty good at keeping these two dynamics separate, but I have seen it slip in the past year or so. I will continue to work on keeping the dynamics separate and continue looking for ways to grow and excel.
April | Writing
A newcomer to the blogging community, I strive to become a better writer. Putting time, attention, and heart into my posts is important to me. Like pursuit, wouldn’t feel right to go into this only 50 percent. Hopefully, with time, practice, and heart, I can create something great.
May | Exercise/Health
I hate to admit it, but I am really bad (shameless even) at hitting the gym. However, when Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is aired I am normally convinced I will be the next Courtney Cook and end up taking my lazy behind to the gym. Back in my Facebook days, when your workout didn’t count unless you tagged yourself at the gym, posted one of those ‘fat is sweat crying’ inspirational pictures, or updated your status accordingly, I was never jealous or felt bad that I wasn’t working out. Now that I am getting older, I am scared (read: terrified) of a possible shift in my metabolism. As much as I don’t enjoy any workouts that aren’t dance related, I am starting to believe more and more than I need to start up some sort of fitness plan. I’ve recently stumbled upon Barre Ballet and its pure gold. Another goal I have is to eat a little bit healthier. I’d eat to be healthy then to eat to lose weight. Even though, I am no Miranda Kerr, I am pretty confident with my body but I would like to be healthier and have more energy. With fine tuning my diet and doing barre ballet a few times a week, my goal of meeting my diet/fitness resolution is promising.
June | Friendship
I have been blessed with a few wonderful girlfriends that have stuck by my side for years on end. I am the type of person that has a few really close friends, but not a lot of female friends. Some women would hate this dynamic, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. As life took its course, this group of stand-up gals moved away for job offers, found love, got married, and had children. Due to the life changes it’s become more difficult to catch up. This year, my goal is to keep in contact and maintain correspondence with these gals that I rarely get to see. Also, I hope to maintain my current friendships and hopefully find new ones in the new year.
July | Travel
I love to travel.
I remember a time where I drove to from Washington to SLC for a family party, flew from SLC to Mexico City, travelled from Mexico City to Guadalajara, flew back home to work for the weekend, then flew to NYC on Monday morning for another vacation. Lately, my travel plans have really just consisted of trips to SLC/Park City, Utah, weekend trips to the Coeur D’Alene Resort, or short stays in Seattle. This year, one of my main goals is to travel. Now that I have a son, my vacations are more kid friendly stays in Texas or the beaches of LA and less the booze cruises of Cabo (not that I’d want to do that anyway, no offense to anyone that would).
August | Reading
This year, I will try my absolute hardest to find the time to read. Honestly, nothing is more relaxing than diving into a good book. Unfortunately, sometimes I haven’t used the time that I could be reading wisely and end up filling the time watching Brandi Glanville’s attempts to get along with other Beverly Hills women.
September| Reflection and Personal GrowthThis year, I really want to spend some time reflecting on the positives in my life. My recent life changes have made me grow significantly as a person and as a mother and I’m very happy with the new road my life has taken me on. I’d like to find a way to stay on course and continue going down this road. I’m a firm believer on never settling and feel that if you want something, you are the only person in charge of making it happen. I’d like to spend some time finding out what else I want in life.
October | Style
Recently, I’ve discovered a lovely little thing called Pinterest. Okay, maybe I’m a tad behind in what’s popular, but please know when I’m not at work I normally spend my time watching Dinosaur Train, gluing alphabet decals everywhere, and cleaning up mystery messes. Pinterest has inspired me that weekend wear is not just yoga pants, a Northface, and Toms. Pinterest is just wonderful. Anywho, I feel that I have become a little lax in the area of fashion and need to make an extra effort.
November | Giving
By nature, I am a giver. I love to give. This year, I would like to really ‘give’ in many different ways. I’d like to give back to the community, give of a few random acts of kindness, or volunteer. My birthday is in November and although my mindset is never really on what I am going to get, I’d like to focus that time on service and giving. Note: Hopefully I will be so distracted by volunteering that I will forget my birthday (and that fact that I’m getting up there in age).
December | Love
This year, I am going to really focus on spending extra time with my loved ones. As of late, everyone in my family has gone down different paths, some good and some bad. Since life has been changing so quickly for all of us, it’s hard to get together as often as we’d like.
What are some of your new year resolutions/goals?
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