Goals for MY New Year

Happy New Year! Oh, wait—what? I’m a month late?? Haha… if you read my post about my take on New Year’s then you know that I treat my birthday as my own personal New Year, rather than give into the hype (and pressure) of January 1st. Luckily for me my birthday is at the end of January so it doesn’t seem so far off and I can use January as a trial period. I set three pre-resolutions in THIS post, and basically failed epically at all of them. Well, maybe not the junk mail one, only slightly failed at that. So I’m keeping those on my list and adding the bigger, full-tilt goals below.

  1. Be More Consistent. I tend to be very gung ho when I start a new project, and then my enthusiasm fizzles. So I usually don’t make it very far before giving up. I want to change this. I want to maintain enthusiasm. I don’t want to give up so easily. I want to form good habits. I want to see upward progress that makes me want to keep going. I’m setting this goal primarily in regards to this blog and my online presence. I want to grow my blog this year. Grow my audience and be more engaged in community. Both here and on social media. So my first goal for MY new year is to be more consistent on all of these fronts. Here’s the breakdown:
    • Post on the blog at least twice a week (Wednesday and Saturday), every week;
    • Post to Instagram (grid and stories) every day, engage with followers, and like/comment on other’s posts;
    • Use my Facebook page to get the word out about the blog and what’s happening;
    • Use Pinterest for more than just pinning home decor, outfit inspiration and yummy recipes.
  2. Get Stronger. I’m wrapping the “lose weight” resolution in a different way this year. They (you know, the infamous “they”) say you should make your goals more specific. Set a smaller goal to hit first, then another, etc. I’ve read that building muscle helps with weight loss, speeds up metabolism because muscle burns more calories than fat. So I hope that by getting stronger it will help the lose weight goal. But the truth is, I really just want my body to feel better more than anything else. I want my back pain and stiffness to go away. So I should probably do my PT, huh? I plan to. Now I have this new ailment that my elbows ache if I bend my arms for an extended period of time. Does this happen to you too? Is it because I’m unfit or old? Whatever the reason, it’s very annoying. Sometimes my forearms go numb too. It’s primarily when I’m holding my phone while I’m laying in bed. Maybe I shouldn’t hold my phone as much while I’m in bed. Or in general…
  3. Use My Phone Less. The iPhone has the new Screen Time feature. My daily average makes me sad. That’s all.
  4. Stop Saying I’m Sorry. It’s one thing to say you’re sorry if someone is having a bad day, like “I’m sorry to hear that” because I genuinely feel bad that they’re struggling. But I have a very bad habit of apologizing for things that are not my fault. I assume I have some responsibility for other people’s issues and thus apologize for my role in their woes. And I get very upset. I need to stop saying sorry. I may just have to go cold turkey on this one and figure out a different way to respond.
  5. Go On A Spending Freeze. Wednesday was my birthday, and not gonna lie, I treated myself to a little shopping spree. But that was Wednesday. So starting now, I’m going on a stricter budget and enforcing a spending freeze so I can ramp up my savings for the future, whether that be for upcoming home improvements, not too far off down payments on the farm house, or way down the road for retirement. I did a trial run in the fall and actually didn’t do too badly. Yay me! Let’s see if I can do it for the rest of the year…

How are you doing with your resolutions so far?

Many thanks and much love,
laf

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