Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2013 Goals Revisited - I Did Pretty Good!


Happy New Year!  We spent a fun (non-late) evening with our small group, with an ingenious 2013 pictionary game invented by Kim and lots of food.  Then Tony and I spent New Years Day with a pilgrimage to the Atlanta Ikea (cinnamon rolls!) and lounging in stretchy pants.  Actually, just me in the stretchy pants.  Tony is actually out with Harper while I type this, because he is awesome.

I wanted to revisit the Goals I made for 2013 one short year ago.  

In the past, I've made all kinds of different goals lists.  One year, I had one phrase.  Two years, I had a list of 50 things I wanted to do (2010, 2011).  Last year I went with 8 things.  You can read that full post if you are so inclined, but here's a little breakdown on how I did (hint: not too bad!)


1.  Be Happy - January of last year hit me at a time when Harper was 6 months old and I had come out of the newborn cave, blinked into the sunlight, and was left stumped as to who I was and what my life was now all about.  I had lots of "groundhog days."  I wasn't very happy.  I just hadn't found my stride, my groove.  Happy to say that I added things to my plate, mentally rectified where I stood as a person and a wife and a mother, and made peace with it.  I figured myself out and got out of my slump.  I got happier, for sure! 

2.  Try Harder - I think I can cross this one off too!  Um, I pretty much got nothing accomplished at home in terms of cleaning or fun stuff when Harper was a baby.  What was I thinking???  I had so much time then!!!  She napped for like, 5 hours a day!  And I didn't work!  And she didn't move! Hindsight, amirite??  Again, adding things to my plate and making the most out of my time helped me check this baby off!  Our house is still a mess, let's be honest, but at least I'm making a genuine effort!


3.  Read Read - eh, I'm going to half check this off.  I did read a lot of books, however, they were mostly elementary level ones I was reading with my tutoring students.  I read some of my own books for pleasure, but not as much as I would have liked to.  At the end of the day when I do have time, I'm more likely to zombie-stare at the tv then go right to bed.  Maybe I'll work on that.... maybe not...


4.  Get Hired - Ha!  Well, this one gets checked off, but certainly not in the way I thought it would!  When I wrote these goals, I still planned on getting a teaching job in the fall.  Turns out, that didn't happen - read here  as to why.  I did get all my stuff in order, applied, got calls for interviews, all that fun stuff.  But I am meant to be home with my family right now.  

However, I did get a job - two in fact!  I tutor, which fills the teaching void and keeps me somewhat current with that world, and my work-from-home, 15 hrs a week job that allows me to bring in some money for extra expenses and feel like a productive human!  Neither of these jobs is the perfect teaching job I envisioned getting, but it works for me and where I am now.  I have less free time, certainly, but this has actually forced me to be more productive with the time I do have (see above).  I like that I can help our bottom line a bit while still being home with Harper.  It's an imperfect balance that works for me!

5.  Be Honest - I tried to do this.  I think I somewhat succeeded.  I probably did better at this on the blog than in real life (this post and this post).  I liked it.  More to come.

6.  Get Fitter - Well, I'm going to cross this one off, even if the month of December is a bad example of this... I started walking more and more throughout the year, with Kacy and Kim before they got super pregnant, then alone while they recovered.  After we did the Whole30, I lost nearly 20 pounds and felt great!  We continued to eat really clean - until the "holidays" hit and we nose-dived.  This is probably a good place to start with my 2014 goals....


7.  Be Creative - Eh, not a lot on this front.  I did some creative things, but not as much as I would have liked...


8.  Show Love - This was tied in with #1, as I wasn't happy and I was taking it out on Tony.  I'd certainly say I got better at being a nice partner as the year went on - hopefully he'd agree!  This is always an area I can improve in, though - being intentional with gratitude and love and thanks and appreciation.  


*****

So there you go - I'd say one of my most successful years in terms of goals yet!  It was a good year, one that got better and better as it went.  Babies are hard, right?  I'd say this year stretched us as spouses and parents and individuals - but we are growing into our roles and finding joy there.  

Here's to 2014! (and 2014 goals later this week!)

1 comment:

  1. I'd say you did awesome. Can you believe it's been a year? You rocked it.

    ReplyDelete

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