I love New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
I know I always say that Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I think it may actually be New Year’s.
I love the promise of a fresh start.
The idea that you can leave the past behind and start anew.
The belief that in this new year, there is the potential to do anything, be anything, accomplish anything.
Every year, I feel like I set New Year’s goals for myself and I do great until around March.
Then, life just gets in the way.
Normally, that’s fine, and I think it’s the way most of us deal with the resolutions for the New Year, as well.
However, 2012 ended with me being sick, exhausted, overwhelmed, and emotionally wrought, and I can’t let that happen again.
It’s bad for my family, it’s bad for my marriage, it’s bad for my career, and most importantly, it’s bad for me.
However, I don’t quite know how to approach the new year differently than I approach any new year.
I’ve created lists of tasks to complete in the new year.
I’ve created general goals that I want to meet by certain benchmarks in the new year.
I’ve followed calendars that give you day by day steps to a better you.
I’ve done it all.
So, I need something new for this year, because, apparently, everything I’ve tried in the past hasn’t worked.
In addition to my Twenty Wishes for 2013, I’ve decided to break my goals for 2013 into two categories:
Better Home & Better Health
Why these two categories?
Because I feel like these are two all-encompassing areas for the changes I want to make. As long as I am pursuing something in either of these areas, every day, I’ll feel like a success.
I know that if I feel like I have to meet specific tasks each day, I won’t feel like a success, and let’s be honest…while success breeds success, failure also breeds failure.
Under the umbrella of “Better Home” is hammering out a new organization system for papers. I feel like we are still drowning in piles, and the piles get moved around, but they never really seem to get any smaller.
Part of that is the reality of 4 children, three of whom bring home copious amounts of papers, every day, from school. Part of that is a half-finished office that isn’t quite functional for me, yet. Part of it is also no time to actually tackle the piles, and so they just keep growing, and I keep getting more and more tense as I look at them.
Also, under “Better Home” is dealing with laundry differently. I must say, in a rare pat on my own back, I’ve actually gotten much better about dealing with laundry since we bought the new washer and dryer. I’ve even gotten a little better about getting it put away as soon as it’s done.
Better. Not perfect.
So, I need to come up with some sort of system or schedule for laundry. Part of this will be Monkey Girl getting her laundry put away when it is done. She does her own laundry, and hangs the hanging clothes as soon as they are done, but everything else gets shoved in a laundry basket, which she then lives out of for the week. Drives me nuts. So, yes, I could let this go and say “It’s her laundry” but I think it sets a bad example for the rest of us, so I’m going to help her get herself straightened out as I straighten the rest of us out.
There are other things under this umbrella, and as I move through the year, I’m sure I’ll discuss them.
For “Better Health,” I plan on working out some type of exercise schedule for myself and I need to work on cooking more healthy meals for us. We eat dinner together every night, however, in busy times, I rely on pasta more than I should. We are also a bit lax on the veggies, so I plan on attacking our meal plan in the new year, as well. This may not go into effect until March, after the play is over, as rehearsals run until 5 in February, and I know myself enough to know I’m not going to be in any mood to cook fancy foods after a 5:00 rehearsal.
“Better Health” also includes some downtime for me. Whether it takes the form of an hour, once a week, with no interruptions to write or read, or actually going somewhere, I realize that I need to listen to what people are telling me, which is I’m no good to anyone if I don’t take a bit of time to refresh. I didn’t do this in 2012 and it resulted in my ending the year being sick, overtired, overstressed, and overwrought and it was bad. Just bad. So, I’ll be trying to carve out some time for just me in the new year, and I thank goodness that I have a supportive husband who is willing to help me find that time.
So, I don’t know what this is all going to look like or how it will all work out, but I have confidence that 2013 will be a better year than 2012 was, and overall, 2012 wasn’t too bad.
I’ll be starting a new page on the blog to track my progress, and I’m calling it “New Year, New Me,” which is incredibly cliché, but who cares?
So, feel free to hop on over there every now and then to see how I’m doing. Feel free to call me on it if you don’t see frequent updates there, as well. I can always use a kick in the butt!
Happy New Year to all of you and may the new year bring you succes, joy and love!
