Happy New Year!

I am your constant companion. I am your greatest asset or heaviest burden. I will push you up to success or down to disappointment. I am at your command. Half the things you do might just as well be turned over to me, for I can do them quickly, correctly, and profitably. I am easily managed, just be firm with me. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with the precision of a machine and the intelligence of a person. You can run me for profit, or you can run me for ruin. Show me how you want it done. Educate me. Train me. Lead me. Reward me. And I will then...do it automatically. I am your servant.

Who am I?

I am a habit.
The author of the above is unknown

So many people go into New Year’s with an open mind, full of great intentions but with a closed heart which makes it impossible to reach any goal. Resolutions are not meant to be punishment or a forced commitment. If you have no intention of working towards it, and no plan to help map out your success don’t waste your time and set yourself up for failure. I speak from experience. I have always started out with the resolution to lose weight or work on me. I have never followed through with it, even those first hours or days of the New Year. I don’t think I ever truly wanted it enough. I just followed the trend of making the resolution to essentially lose weight!

Looking back at 2008, I moved to a new state with my new husband to start a new life together. Well, here we are a year later and things are good. I don’t have much to complain about and the things I can complain about are frivolous. In June of this year Karly went to my mom’s for the summer. Having few friends here I had the chance to really focus on myself and what I wanted for my world. I wanted to be healthy. This meant losing weight, eating well most of the time, and most importantly to get my body moving. I was so ready and jumped right in! I also spent a lot of time focusing on me, trying to find more confidence and self esteem. Learning to care less what others think of me and my world. I will say I only did ok with this one. I am slowly getting there.

I am going into 2009 with the same hopes, but a different outlook. I know how to tackle what I want and just how much motivation and drive it takes to get there. The only resolution I plan on making is to continue to grow as a person and to better my world and those around me. In order to reach this I have smaller goals that I will take a day at a time and do the best I can that day. I will not beat myself up for failures and mistakes, but commit to picking myself back up and getting back on track. I will practice and forge new habits! I will start exercising again, at least 3 times a week. I will get back on track with healthy eating with one cheat meal a week. I will continue to develop my voice and self confidence. I will be more patient as a wife and mother. I will perform one small act of kindness a day, whether it is helping someone in the store, calling a friend, or just passing along a smile or compliment. Not only will I do this daily, but make a point to notice the good feeling and positivity this spreads to my world. I will be kinder to those around me and more positive daily. I will work on letting negative things go instead of allowing them to poison my world. I will get back into creative things as allowed with time and finances. I will also start taking steps to a more financially stable future by looking into career options and paths and working towards getting there. This is a goal I realize cannot be completed this year, but I want to set the ground work and commit to it. As a family I would like to see us spend more quality time together. Hiking or kayaking on the weekends, game nights, or just sitting around talking. As a family I want us to get ourselves out of debt so that we are in a better position to buy a house by the end of 2009. I do realize this is a lot of little things...

I am not expecting perfection. I am expecting growth!

I encourage you to look at your world, decide what isn’t working and make a plan to change those things. Focus on the positive, rid yourself of the negative.

Cheers to an amazing New Year full of hope, love and positive change!