Preparing For The New Year

Photo credit:  Barefoot Five on Facebook.  Side Note:  I LOVE BAREFOOT FIVE.  A friend introduced me to her page, and--moment of honesty??  Some nights I just go and look at her quote memes.  It's nice to know someone just GETS my soul.  If you haven't, follow her.  She is amazing.  

While I’m dying to show you some of my finds for Christmas gifts this year, I’m trying to wait until January 8th has come and gone. I want to include some of the gifts that I’ve purchased for my best friend’s birthday. My goal for gifting this year was to keep as much of it local as I could. What wasn’t purchased from local businesses, I tried to purchase from small business owners in the US. I did end up buying some “filler” gifts, like gift cards for chain restaurants and such, at the end. But I am quite proud of myself for keeping the bulk of my gifts from local or small businesses.

Anywho, more about that later.

So today let’s talk resolutions. That has been at the forefront of my mind this week. I won’t say that I had Oprah’s “ah-hah” moment…or anything quite so cliché. But as my best friend put it recently, I’ve had these moments of clarity lately where I have truly focused on where I am at in my life and where I would ultimately like to be.

As every new year rolls around, dieting and exercise seem to be at the top of everyone’s list. Now I don’t know about y’all, but the holiday sweets have just about killed me. I joked about my pancreas just giving up the other day. With our office being bombarded with sweets, and my mom baking so much during the holidays, I have just had weeks of steadily feeling gross. Will power…I have none.

While I’m not looking to set myself up for failure, by setting an unreachable goal, but I would like to be healthier and stronger. This past year, I implemented yoga into my weekly routine. KW has been amazing, and I go once a week. During the summer, I went twice a week, and could tell my practice was getting better and I was getting stronger. In the Fall and early Winter months, I found myself getting more lax as schedules got more hectic. My goal this year is to hopefully be more consistent with my yoga practice and possibly implement more exercise.  I would also like to lessen my fast food intake.  It's so bad, but I do love it so.  Alas, I must put my love aside...

Another resolution at the top of everyone’s list is better management of finances. I am no different. This past year I’ve found myself struggling possibly more so than years past. For that, I can only really blame myself. I simply indulged too much. While I am a planner...and excellent at planning around car payments and Christmas and everything expected....I'm not so great with planning for the unexpected.  And life always has a way of throwing a ton of unexpected things at me all at once. For me, it’s time to break out the old, trusty budget… My actual goal, financially speaking, is to put more back in my savings.

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with writing this year. It’s such a weird thing. Because I tend to write memoir-type stories…part of me craves hearing that I’m relatable and that people "get" my stories…but sometimes I end up feeling like I’m living in a fishbowl. At times I begin to feel as if a lot of my life is on public display.  In those times, I cling to privacy. That's precisely where I found myself thish past year, so I held back. But ultimately, I’m at my happiest when I’m writing. And this year, I plan on doing more of what makes me happy. This also includes my photography. No, I’m not a photographer. I’m just a girl with a camera. Am I good? I wouldn’t say that. But it is something that I enjoy.

As for my last resolution… I’m figuring out more and more about myself. One of the things that I’ve learned this year has been that I’m extremely prone to taking on other’s energy and emotions. It can be a good thing, because it makes me more empathetic to people and their feelings…but it can be a huge energy drain too. I’m going to have to be more aware of those that I surround myself with for that very reason.

Again, my ultimate goal here is….to be happy.