Ahhhh...it is that time of year again. A time to reflect on the year past and the year to come. Goals, resolutions, letting go, fresh starts, renewal. I always love the new year. It feels a bit like a clean slate. My challenge of course, as many of you may agree, is the keeping up with the fresh start rather than sliding back to old habits. I always start strong and eventually go backwards. However; last year I did better than usual and I honestly think it was because my goals for the year were published to my Blog and I felt a sense of responsibility to them. I did quite well in accomplishing many of the goals, but this year I'm raising the bar and hopefully will strive to do that much better. I experienced a great amount of change in 2010. Most of it very unexpected. I find myself in a very different space at this time. Not just physically but mentally as well. This year is destined to be different from the start. I have a job that I love, I am really almost finished with my graduate degree, and most importantly I'm going to Scotland in July. So without the ball dropping, it is already a year with great potential. The difference will be what I chose to do with it. Here are the goals:
1. I MUST make my health a priority in 2011. I have hidden behind the weight for long enough. I have always been afraid of the person and expectation there would be if I didn't have my weight to hide behind. However; I have to face my Grandfather this July and he is the only man in my life I would ever lose weight for. He will love me just the same, but I know if NOTHING else has ever really motivated me before--seeing him in July will. There are so many small goals in this that I will break it down by Month. I will attempt to chart my progress with this goal here on my blog. I have purchased the Six Week Body Makeover. I was doing it in the summer before Dave died and had lost 30 pounds. Half of which I have gained back. I trust that it is a program that works for me, and I will be tracking the changes both large and small here on the blog. The goal is to fly to Scotland with ONE plane seat. If I don't lose a significant amount by July, I might find myself grounded in the states. It is real and it is fast approaching. No excuses. Gauntlet is layed down. I HAVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH. Something I find great challenge with. So, here we are...just a week away from the start of something that will very likely have significant impact on my life...
2. I will complete my Graduate degree by May of 2011. I would like to complete it sooner, but that is my tentative goal. I would really like to be an instructor at HCC, and it is imperative for me to finish my degree in order to do so. There is a great amount of work still to be done, so it will be critical that I manage my time and make working on the completion of each task in a timely manner rather than all in the 2 weeks before the end of the term a priority. That means organizing myself so much better and watching a lot less TV. Something I need to work on anyway.
3. Financials. I am mostly out of debt. I have college loans and a car payment. Other than that all my outgoing is current bills/rent/utilities etc. I have one credit card that I pay off regularly and have a budget. this is a LONG WAY from where I have been in my past. I am hopeful that in 2011 those around me will be ever more responsible and I will have even less challenge with this aspect of my life. I find myself broke at the beginning of the year, and it is the superstition of either myself or generations past that your start to the year is a reflection of the year you will have. Ehhhh....not always the case but certainly not the greatest way to start the year. I take full responsibility for this and will hopefully have more control in the coming months. First things first will be feeling as though I don't owe anyone in my life anything fiscally. Hopefully that will be resolved soon into the new year. I have earning potential now that I didn't have before and certainly once I have my graduate degree I will be in an even better position to earn. I just want to continue on a path that is positive rather than red and negative. On the path...
4. Friends and Relationships. I am still a very antisocial person. I'm working on it. I am working on my expectations, my attitudes, my own responsibilities to others. It has been a mess recently but I feel that there are things about myself I need to examine as much as I need to examine those around me. I do feel though that for a long time, I have dealt with life and the challenges in it on my own. I have built walls and have placed myself in situations where I am an island of my own making. I'm working on building more connections. More girls' nights at the apartment, more professional connections, more of an awareness to how and why I have the people around me that I do. I need to be self aware as much as I need to be socially aware. Neither of which I have ever really made a priority in my life before.
5. Reading. I have joined my Mother's famous book club in a hope that I will be motivated to read outside of Harry Potter and Nicholas Sparks. (Although I have great love for both). I have January's book on my night stand and plan on making reading each night a priority.
6. Routine and time management. I need a shift in routine that allows and makes room for being productive. I need to make sure that I am planning my meals and getting in a workout daily if I am serious about goal one. I need to make sure I'm going to bed at the same time each night and waking at the same time each morning to create a better sleep pattern; as everything you read stresses the importance of sleep. I need to make a routine that will inspire success in the goals I have set and limit time spent on frivolous and time wasting activities. I need to get more done in a day.
7. Photography. I love it. I would like to invest more into making myself better. It is a great hobby to have and making a little side money would be great. It keeps me thinking and challenged. I like that.
8. Dating. I would like to make 2011 a year I date. I'm ready. I don't need anybody, but I do want somebody to share my life with. I have made this the least of my priorities for a long time for many reasons that I can blog about at a later date. But the goal is to date. I don't need to find the love of my life, but I need to put myself out there. Not sure where to start...but I will do what I can.
9. Spirituality. This was a very large part of my life for a very long time and I walked away from it because I questioned religion. I feel it leaving a hole in my life that I need to spend time filling this year. I am not sure what that will mean or how I will accomplish this, but it is on the table for discussion after 4 years of being tabled.
10. Community Service. I'd like to be more involved in my community. This may be something that occurs in the fall of 2011. As the saying goes, you cannot give of yourself until you replenish yourself. I feel I have a lot to fill in me this year before I give any of it away. It is on the radar though. Next Christmas I'd like to be at George R. Brown serving food and working with local charities as a volunteer. Again, on my radar.
I think ten is a good solid number and there are hundreds of little goals amongst the larger ones but for now...this is my start.
I am going to go spend the rest of the day organizing life so that I can start on the right foot on Jan. 1.
Accountability is everything.
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