Personal Goals

Hahaha! I suppose that since it's February now, I've passed by the goal-making time for the year... But I'm going to ignore that fact because these are things I've been thinking about for over a month now. I just haven't had time to post it, but that's probably because I've been writing so much on my novel (I made the 20k goal, btw). However, thinking about them is mostly all I've been doing. I should have been trying to implement them, but since I hadn't put them on my blog yet, I didn't have the accountability of actually needing to do them - or something like that. So here goes:

Gratitude. I've actually always considered myself an optimistic person, but recently I've been annoying myself with my grumpyness. I have been focusing on the negative things in my life rather than on all the blessings that I have. That really needs to change. I blogged about a book I had started to read last fall called One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp which totally blew my mind. However, I haven't gotten past chapter four yet! Partly that was because I was trying to read it with another woman, but she was extremely busy and couldn't continue it, so I'm going to finish it on my own. Also, over on her website aholyexperience.com she has instituted the Joy Dare for the year and challenged us to count 1000 blessings this year. I've even downloaded the free app! However, I haven't been very good so far on this one. Of course, this is the type of goal that just doing a little bit helps and hopefully as I become more accustomed to seeing blessings again, I'll see more of them and get the ball rolling - so to speak.

Excercise. I've been doing well since I joined the gym last February. I try to go three times a week. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I don't, but I usually get two times fairly regularly. I think I'm good with this. The YMCA is 20 minutes away so it ends up taking up most of a morning, and I don't want to take that time away from my kids more than that. However, I need to implement daily stretches. You would think that I've been doing them for years because I should have. I have had several doctors over the years tell me that I needed to do these stretches daily for my health. But I haven't. And I hurt. All the time. I have neck and shoulder stretches that really do help with the headaches. I have back and leg stretches that really do help with my lower back and knee issues. So why do I not do them? Well, because they take time. Because I forget. Because the moment I get on the floor my children are climbing all over me? Maybe. Or maybe it's because I feel like I'm okay for the moment, so it's not so important today. But over time, I'm not doing them at all and I need to. So, I am going to add these in somewhere. Yeah, that's about as thought out as I am about it. First, I'm going to find the papers that have all the stretches. Perhaps I can combine them with the prayer time in the morning, since I'm praying anyway...I can pray and stretch at the same time! Okay, we'll see how that goes. Oh, and I'm going to see how adding some video excercise on the days when I stay home...pilates...or at least crunches, push-ups and weights...yeah, we'll see how that goes!

Skills. Hahaha, okay I don't really know how else to label this one. I kinda want to learn how to knit. And I really want to learn how to play the piano. Random, I know. I'm still not sure I can do much this year. I know someone who can knit, so I think I'll ask her about it sometime. And the piano thing probably means starting a piano fund in our budget somewhere so in a few years we can buy one. But I thought I'd put it out there.

Apparently there was another one, but I can't think of it at the moment. I'll have to write it up later. :) Well, we'll call that done. Thanks for reading.