Ah – New Year’s – a time to start fresh, have a clean slate,
and set goals to have the best year and become your best self.
I didn’t think that I was someone who was big into New Year’s
resolutions or having a word of the year or any of that mumbo jumbo.
But… turns out I am!
I am a slave to making lists (it’s like an addiction) and am
perpetually striving for more organization in my life, so naturally, I cannot
resist the temptation to set goals, make lists, and aspire for even more
organization! I have a couple of goals for the year, but the more I thought
about it, the more I liked the idea of choosing a word or theme for my year. It
didn’t take too much thought or consideration to pick two words that summarize
my goals for this new year.
Drumroll please….
My theme for 2013: Health
and Control.
Everything I am striving for this year boils down to these
two little words.
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Physical health
-
Cognitive Health
-
Emotional health
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Control of my finances
-
Control of my body
-
Control of my food
-
Control of my space/time
Physical Health and Control of Body and Food: 2012 was a
year of many revelations for me, especially about my health. I started getting
treatment for migraines that had plagued me since I was a teenager, which
uncovered many other health issues (none too serious, but eye-opening
nonetheless). This led to seeing a nutritionist and learning about the type of
diet I need to maintain to prevent long-lasting chronic health problems in the
future, like diabetes. When someone says, “If you don’t change, in 20 years,
you will be diabetic”, you listen.
Thus
my goal to improve my overall physical health! I plan to do this by training to
run a 5k per month (Starting in February – had a minor setback for January) for
the entire year of 2013. I have felt like I am defective, or damaged goods, much
of this year and want to do away with this mentality by making my body do what
I want it too! This will obviously entail more control over my food and
understanding what is actually in the food I put in my body!
Cognitive Health: I am continuing my graduate studies and
want to stay on top of these for the year! Plus, I want to maintain my reading
goals for 2013 too – I met my 2012 resolution to read 52 books! I even went
over that! I am not going to put a number on it this year, but being in 2 book
clubs ensures that I will be reading 2 books a month at least. Plus, I’d really
like to learn something new this year, like a skill or instrument, perhaps I
will finally pick up my banjo!
Emotional Health: This is just to stay sane throughout what
promises to be a very busy year. I am going to try to let go a little bit of
the “keeping up with the Jones’” attitude that I often get caught up in and
just do the best I can for me and my family, and stop striving for that “pinterest
perfect” home/life/wardrobe.
Control of finances: Hi, my name is Ashlea, and I have a
spending problem. I have surrendered my credit card to my husband already – I did
this a few months ago in fact. It has helped immensely to know that I can only
spend money I have right now. He didn’t ask me either – I gave it up freely! I
think this will come as I work more on the emotional health goal and not
worrying so much about what other people have and I don’t.
Control of my space and time: This is going to be a
challenge this year because of how busy I expect it to be, but I want to stay
organized at home, which will save me time in the long run. I don’t want to
have to come home and clean my house to have a clean house… do you know what I
mean? I want it to look nice and picked up daily, which will require me to develop
some better, less lazy daily habits to make this happen!
Whew – this seems like a lot to strive for in the new year,
but I really want these things for a lifetime, not just one year, so it is OK
if it takes more than 2013 to get it all nailed down, but it feels really good
to have it all out there!
Maybe I will even get around to blogging more!
But let’s not count on it ok?
