Well this has been quite a journey and it still continues. You think you found the perfect path and then you hit a dead end, a crazy detour, or get lost and end up back in the same spot. So you turn back to your trusty compass and gaze at your map. Circle the paths that were working and figure out a new route. There is no time better than the present. Today is the first day of the new year. And rumor has it the end of the world is nearing. If that be true I want to leave as the best version of myself. Of course with my Christian belief the Bible states (my paraphrase follows) that we don't know what hour our Master will return - so basically, let's get to work and do it now. So if this journey is to be FULL of Health that means my goals should be all encompassing, a little physical, a little mental, emotional, spiritual, you get it, it should be for the whole picture so lets count em down. 12 goals for the next twelve months in this fabulous year of 2012.
12. Lose 102 pounds. The weight isn't my number one priority but it is a goal. It is an unusual number. I like even stevens usually a bold hundred a perfect ten. But 102 pounds would bring me to 178 pounds. I have never seen that number on a scale in my adult life. 179 is the lowest number I have seen and it was when I was nineteen - twenty years old. So let's eliminate decade within a year. Its a daunting number but attainable - pound by pound. It also means I have lost nine pounds since this journey started 2 1/2 years ago. But also in that time I did gain a total of forty one pounds (mostly pregnancy related) so in actuality I've lost fifty pounds again. So we'll keep on the downstreak!
11. Another physical thing is to continue the new produce or grain once a week. This helps make a game out of eating healthy and stretching the horizons of what we imagine we could eat, should eat, and would eat. This allows 52 opportunities to consume a variety of vitamins and minerals in combinations we wouldn't otherwise know.
10. The perfect ten has to go to cooking myself at least twice a week. And not just cooking but learning a new recipe at least one of those two times but hopefully twice. This enables me to take more control of my health. It will help me not get caught in the trap of helplessness, boredom, or being overwhelmed by all the life matters we can't control.
9. To round out my physical improvements means I need movement. Documented exercise. I want to work out thirty minutes five days a week. But even more specifically to cover at least 366 miles this year of walking. I will count walking as part of my exercise during the week. But it would be awesome on those days I can count it as a bonus. That means one mile a day. Let's pound some pavement or at least some carpet!
8. I need to be more charitable. It is time to research some charities. And to be more consistent in giving and less about the taking, demanding, and whining. My goal is to donate to at least one charity every month: whether it be time, money, or donated goods. There are a lot of people who are doing amazing things to help those who need the extra hand. My soul thirsts to be more like a servant as I have ignored the calling several times.
7. Speaking of the Call. It is time to reconnect in a stronger fashion with God. I plan to read the Bible in one year's time and to take true meditative time with God on a daily basis (not just in times of distress which is too common for me). God is blessed me with too much that I have taken for granted too often.
6. Another calling - what next? I finished my B.A. this year which feels pretty darn good to mark that of the to - do list. It waited for nine years but it is crossed off. But now I have to figure out what's next? A new vocation? Start a business? Attain a masters? Lots of ideas but no true road map. Time to get research done and by 2013 working towards the next great challenge.
5. Let's get creative. This may be my favorite goal. I love to be creative and playful. Each month I am going to learn either a new skill or build upon a creative process. This might mean taking a class to learn how to do pottery. This may mean picking up a how to learn a new language. This might mean trying out for a play. Perhaps I establish a routine to write fiction/poetry. But it is time to get the juices flowing and the heart pumping. It will feel good to awaken that part of me once again.
4. Time to ...I even feel anxious typing this. Time to Socialize more. I tend to lead a hermit lifestyle. In the past I used to have people demanding jobs that I was pretty good at. But I tend to get easily connected emotionally to people and it would zap a lot of my energy. Other people's dramas, creating my own drama, and then stressing that I wasn't helping enough or that I wasn't capable to do more and I had a rough year that I shut down. I lost 10 people close to me in one year. All different levels of intimacy and relations, some were sudden some were expected. And these deaths were sandwiched between my mother in law being diagnosed with cancer (a survivor of 8+ years Amen!) and my own mother's diagnosis of cancer (a survivor of 7+ years - another Amen!) and in that time I quit college (nothing to due with what has already been mentioned I just didn't know where I was going or what I wanted at 22), got married (to the most amazing man in the world and still my best friend), moved, and started my first salaried position where forty-four people's lives were under my care. That was all in one year and also in that one year I gained seventy pounds. Sooooo yeah I kind of needed a break from people, responsibility, and instead of taking a break I kind of just shut down. So its time to wake up and get out. So I plan to have at least one extra outing a month not just family or work related. For some that sounds super easy but this may be one of the hardest areas for me to stretch. (and in honesty if I try a class or group activity - I'm counting it!)
3. Budget - I don't like to budget: not money, not calories, not time. I like to be spontaneous, at least I say that. But really it is another way to say I don't like to be controlled or pressured or to stick to rules. It crushes my freedom, it suffocates the spirit of fun. But not really I just allow myself to feel that. We all can use a cushion for "those days" and if you have read my blog I tend to have a lot of out of those blue kinds of experiences. So my hubby and I are going to sit down and comb through expenses and start true rainy day funds and not just talk about it. Blech! My stomach is already churning.
2. Time to organize the chaos. Some people are naturally gifted in completing tasks in a timely manner, keeping things together, and just letting objects gleam in cleanliness. I am not one of those people. I try hard to have routines that keep me and my family being swallowed up by household clutter and try to designate areas for those have to grab items. But it is a challenge. I am going to do a thorough cleaning (this is not the weekly or daily cleaning necessary to keep the household moving - laundry, dishes, vacuuming, ect.) in every area of our house once a month and each week take an hour to truly organize (actually create an address book, gather recipes that we enjoy in one spot, designate locations for important papers - declutter the filing cabinet).
1. The big number one is to truly be grateful within each and every day. To count a blessing every day. Hopefully this will take down the stress but more importantly remind me that it truly is a wonderful life and that all of us are granted a gift of life on a daily basis.
May your 2012 be a chance to let go of what brings you down and to welcome all that builds you up. 'Til we meet again. . .
