The "Resolutions" Post

On New Year's Eve I heard part of an ad that was saying, "...breaking resolutions since 1980...." It cracked me up. I thought, That's the way to go! Usually I don't stress too much about resolutions because they overwhelm me, & make me feel guilty and discouraged at the little progress I've made thus far in life (See the first part of Stephanie's blog & think ditto for me). Plus, it's tempting to try to change everything at once, which usually lasts about a week.

But, despite my poo-pooing things like this, I really do want to try to be better. If I did make a goal in the past, it's usually one goal, usually the goal to be nicer to my husband. Or the 'go to bed earlier' resolution (And this year I have been successful a small handful of times, yay me! Especially when I made it to bed [as in, going to sleep, done w/ bedtime routine] for one entire week!*)

Anyway, here are my goals this year, except the first one is a goal I started several months ago and has been helping me immensely:

Goal #1, made about July/Aug 2008, will continue in 2009:
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT beat myself up
for all the times I fail at goals or ambitions or even mundane tasks like laundry and meals (i.e. be a Realistic Idealist!). I started a "success" journal where I jotted down my successes (even if it was "got dressed today," "ran carpools," etc) instead of dwelling on my failures. I will be continuing the journal this year. It reduces guilt and the stress and helps my self-worth so I'm not so critical of myself.

Ok, now for the new goals:
1. Make meals consistently for my family. Plan a routine to decide on meals and decide when to prepare them since the 3-6 pm time is my least motivated time of day.
2. Flylady—GET off my franny! One load of dishes a day, one laundry a day, and 15 min. declutter a day
3. Scriptures & personal prayer daily (you'd think I'd all have this down by now, yet the days continue to get away from me and I didn't put the scripture reading/prayer first, even though it completely strengthens my day and my perspective when I do, and makes me a lot less mean and ornery to others, especially to my spouse and kids)
4. Early bedtime; Going to bed bed by 10 pm.
5. Humility. I've been so grouchy lately, which is when I tend to hold grudges and not feel very forgiving of others who are being just as imperfect as I am.
6. Saying NO to “me” time that is at the expense of my family.
7. Make school lunches the night before.
8. Exercise--twice a week walking, try to make a mile or two. *Maybe* try to walk to school w/ Rob and kids, which gets me up early and gets my exercise overwith. Exercise is another thing that helps me handle the day so much better, yet I often procrastinate doing it.
9. Say NO to me when I psychologically crave food/sweets, but am not hungry/full. And take in candy/chocolate in smaller amounts, a little after a meal, but not the entire peanut butter M&M bag.... Maybe just 2-3 handfulls. I'm being realistic here.

Wish me luck! (Really. Really wish me luck. I NEED it.)


*Well, ok, this really good week was only 5 days, but I'm extremely proud of my progress that week. From Sunday-Thursday night, I was in bed with eyes closed, at least attempting to sleep, by 10 pm. (We won't mention the part where Friday and Saturday night I ended up being up til midnight--I praise the successful days, and stopped beating myself up for my "bad" days. See goal #1. It rocks.)