I love New Year’s Resolutions. I absolutely love planning and goals. I am such a nerd in that way and I’ve never denied it. Last year all of my 2015 goals went out the window when I became pregnant.
Mary Carver wrote something on Incourage recently that really hit home with me. She said
“Yeah, it’s true. I totally get a crush on New Year’s resolutions, the bad boy of all goal-setting strategies, the one I swear off every year because he’ll just end up hurting me. That one. Yes. I fall for his charm (and the possibilities! the potential!) every time.”
That’s me. In fact I have so many possible goals they even have subcategories. I could make a list of lists for 2016. But I won’t, because I know this year is going to be about the essentials.
So besides the obvious like God and family there are two things that I want to focus on this year and that is
- Myself
- My friends
As far as what this looks like I would like to have 10 tangible memorable documented things this year that I do to invest in myself and 10 special outings with friends. If there is more than that great, but it’s easier said than done. Trust me. Every year I resolve to do one date a month with my husband. I say this every. single. year. and it’s never happened. Yet here we are married 15 years and going strong so I guess I can’t worry about it too much. Anyway, all that to say I think 10 is realistic.
We are facing a lot of unknowns in 2016 given the recent diagnosis of our baby girl. I always say Being a mom is a full time job, being a mom with a special needs child is another full time job on top of that. It takes up a lot of time, energy, and resources. I know that if I am going to take care of four kids and juggle all the upcoming appointments I am going to have to take care of myself. I also know that I can’t do it alone and lately God has been revealing to me several times a day that I am not alone. Not only because He is with me, but because He has blessed me with so many friends that care about me.
So of course I have goals and lists that are rattling around in my head. I hope this is a productive year for us on multiple levels, but I am not going to write all of these things down like I normally would at the beginning of the year.
Even though this year is starting out differently than I had imagined we are in a good place. That was my word for 2015 “Good”. My word for 2016 is “Next” and not to be cheesy, but I will share about that next time.
Happy New Year Everybody!
Love this post, I don’t make resolutions but I do have goals and dreams. I also live in reality, life isn’t perfect and doesn’t always go as planned. Once I learn to except this, and understand it, I was able to accept that I AM ENOUGH. Life is a journey and for me striving to improve who I am and making time for those who matter most? That makes all the difference! Best Wishes in 2016 my friend!
I wanted to see the list 🙂
Happy New Year!
Right now, I feel like just sitting down and making a list would stress me out, so I’m keeping things simple. Right now my goal is to finish our first year of homeschool and do what I can to keep little baby healthy and ready to join us in May. Sure, there are other goals, but they aren’t new to this year 😉
I like your goals of doing things for you and your friends. I hope to see you doing that this year. I think both will go a long way in making 2016 a great year. As far as date nights with your hubby go, I understand how it’s just hard to get away. But, like you said, that doesn’t mean your marriage necessarily suffers for it. I like this article Tim Challies wrote about how date nights might not be as necessary as we think (http://www.challies.com/articles/you-don’t-need-a-date-night). 🙂
I’ve tried listing resolutions before and always seem to fail, so I’ve decided they aren’t for me. I always want to be more organized, though, and to take better care of myself. We’ll see if I do any better at either of those this year!