Friday, December 31, 2010

With a Purpose

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011! Reflecting yesterday, I am happy about the year, but I can always reach for so much more! I love setting resolutions and goals...and usually I fail miserably, but I always start out with high hopes. This year is no different. I think overall, I want to live each day with a purpose and act with intent. Clint and I recently went through a study with our church called 'Merge' that discussed how we are to be the spiritual leaders for our children and to help them grow and know Christ. We can't just depend on others to do it. It made Clint and I realize that we have so much to improve on. It's easy to say, well, we'll start doing XYZ when baby(ies) come along. We need to start doing these things NOW and not simply 'for the kids', but for us, for those around us. They need to become habit, a natural part of us! So, I want to live each day with a purpose and act intentionally, not just let things happen. And I think a BIG key to all of this is going to be time management! Here are some specifics I've come up with:

  • Devoted quiet time every day. And in this quiet time I want to read through the entire Bible this year, maintain a study, despite whether our small group is in one or not. Small group is nice in getting things started, but I can't rely on it alone to study the word.
  • Healthy Eating (or eating healthier more often). Following Dave Ramsey and setting up a budget, we have become better about this, but we still put a substantial amount of money in the 'eating out' fund each week. I want eating out to become much more of a treat rather than the 'necessity' we act that it is. Really, it boils down to laziness and lack of time management; we don't plan ahead and then we're too tired to want to cook. Of course, just eating at home doesn't mean it's healthy, I want to start eating better meals at home too. Cut out the junk and fake stuff!
  • An established training/workout plan with race goals! Over the years I have backed myself into a corner. I worked my way up to bigger and bigger races. So big, that if I want to do anything bigger, I just about have to leave the country to do so. So, why not go back to some shorter races? I'm scared I'll be slower or worse than I was before. Stupid really, but that's how my mind works. I'm scared of failure in the short stuff and don't have the time/money to do the long stuff, so I do nothing. That changes in 2011! I was going to do a marathon in February, but I realized that I was hiding in it again because it was a trail marathon so I was able to tell myself 'times aren't comparable, so my time, if slow, doesn't matter (meaning, no one will look down on me).' Well, due to the PRIDE classes, I can't do it anymore anyway, which is good! I am setting out to do the local half marathon in March, and then the three local sprint triathlon races this year (and we'll see about other stuff along the way). It's time to face my fears, if I'm slow, so be it, work harder to get faster. I've gotten myself so worked up about what others think and worrying about being a failure that I no longer enjoy the sport I used to love. I'm coming back, no matter how ugly my results may be, I'm going to have fun. :)
  • Lose weight. Yep, isn't that the standard for everyone? If I'm doing my two previous points, this will fall into place.
  • Ditch the TV! Okay, so perhaps I don't want to totally get rid of it. I'm thinking I'll watch the news, sports (we love us some football, but really, even then, we don't see too many games), and then if I'm on the trainer I can watch it. Really, I just don't want to come home in the evenings and automatically flip on the TV. Too many times I plop down in front of it and then nothing gets accomplished. It's not that I'm addicted to the shows, so much garbage these days, but I think it's just a way of checking out from the day. There are much more useful ways to check out from the daily grind.
  • Read LOTS! Without the TV, I'll have much more free time to read. I have books written down all over the place that I want to read that people have told me about, I've heard about, etc. Books on adoption, raising kids, addiction, books for fun, educational books such as photography. I could live in Books A Million and still desperately need to get a library card because I can't afford to buy every book I see!
  • Take more photos! We have a wish list of things we want and one of the items I want is a nice DSLR camera. I've already picked it out! If/when I do get it, I want to take LOTS of pictures. Stay tuned, perhaps this blog will get a little more colorful :) So see, I need to do my reading so that I know HOW to take said pictures.
  • Volunteer more. Being in Leadership Longview has been great; I've learned about so many organizations in our community that need help. I want to volunteer at our church more and continue to mentor 'my' girls. I'll also be helping our Leadership group install the new gardens at the ARC. Still, there is so so so much more I could do.
  • Be more active in my tri club. I'm the club president again this year. Last year, I'll admit to just going through the motions, doing the bare minimum. I'd like to really reach out to the beginners and establish some group workouts that help the beginners feel comfortable in getting started. Triathlon can definitely be an intimidating sport. I may even go to the level 1 coaching clinic so that I can be a certified coach. Might be a way to bring in some money on the side when I am a SAHM in 2012.
  • Follow through with my projects. I have a handful of projects such as organizing my photos and creating photo albums; putting together a recipe book of all the recipes that I've found over the past few years; and home improvement stuff. It's time to stop saying I'll do them, and actually do them!

And those are just the major ones. I don't think people care to hear about my minor resolutions like wearing my mouth guard every night (I'm a teeth grinder) and not sleeping with my contacts in, yada yada. Oh, and while these are some of my daily goals, Clint and I have some life goals for this year too, 1) Foster/Adopt (well, at least get the licensing, we'll see when the state is ready for us), 2) Take a real vacation (still undecided where, but it will require a plane!), and 3) a fully funded emergency fund.

Hmm, does 2011 come with 30 hour days? Looks like I've got a full schedule for the new year!

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