My Facebook “2012 Year in Review” went something like this, “Your friend died, you hosted many happy hours.”
Unlike my contributors (and many others), I enjoy making New Year’s resolutions. While I can agree with the notion, “why wait for a special day to change yourself?,” I like the scheduled time to reflect on the past year and really think about the changes for the future. I’m constantly seeking self-improvement, so while diet and exercise (and quitting smoking) aren’t necessarilyy on my lists anymore, I believe there are always new things to strive for, including improving on those met goals.
Having a good friend die in the prime of his life shook things for me. I don’t want to seem over-dramatic, but it certainly has shed light on my priorities. His heart attack at 36 should inspire me to upgrade my health, but instead I’ve been eating terribly and skipping workouts. My challenge to get enough sleep each night has worsened, and though I’ve taken a risk with my career (that I do believe is the right thing to do), I feel stuck.
Now that the bulk of the holiday season has passed, I’m confident I will settle into a better routine and heal enough to get over these recent road blocks. And for me, I know that making these New Year’s resolutions will also help me get there.
Click through for my New Year’s resolutions:
First, let’s look at last year:
- Run more races. I’m thinking about a half dozen 5Ks. – I ran exactly 4 races. I trained for one of them. Slacker.
- Up my “training” mileage. I’d like to get up to 5-6 slow miles by the end of the year. – I ran one 5-miler in April, but then essentially stopped any and all “training.” I was not a runner in 2012.
- Get more sleep. I will figure this out! – Eh. This may always be a challenge for me. I like staying up late when I can and getting up at 6 a.m.
- Be more punctual. – I can’t say I noticed a marked change, but I think I improved ever so slightly.
- Read more books. – This improved over previous years, but there is still room for improvement.
- Quit something. I do too much. I need to evaluate my commitments and make the best decisions for me. – I didn’t expect this to end up being “quit your day job,” but I did, and I’m excited for the opportunities this will bring.
- Be a little selfish. See above. – I definitely shifted the focus to building my career this past year.
- Declutter, donate, etc. – We spring cleaned our closets – a huge help! I’ve also become better at getting rid of things.
- Write my updated Life List. – I did not do this. Re-adding to 2013’s list.
- Finish mini projects like sewing buttons, painting rooms, fixing printer, etc. – The “honey do” list is always growing, but we did check several things off of this list.
So, where does that leave me for next year? Here are my current goals for 2013:
- Return to running. I have more time now, so that means fewer excuses. I’m even considering joining a winter training group. I am afraid of treadmills, so that should be interesting.
- Try new fitness. I have offers to try both TRX and crossfit. I’m going to do that and report back to you.
- Try a diet or cleanse. I’m not talking about a starve-myself type diet, but I have been interested in a safe cleanse, and I’m leaning towards doing whole30 for January. Unfortunately, I already have beer-related events planned, but I think events could always get in the way of this.
- Here’s an oldie but goodie: Buy b&w film, dust off my Canon Rebel G and re-teach myself some photography. When I was in high school, I was way into photography and even studied it a bit in college. I misunderstood what I thought that meant for my career, but I have this really nice, semi-obsolete camera (it takes film and doesn’t have a big screen), and I’d really like to make time to use it.
- Try Little Amps. Guys, I know it’s good, but I haven’t been, and Rich bought me a cold jar like a year ago. My fantastic web hosts, Fresh Roasted Hosting, also generously sent me a gift card, so I have ZERO excuses now that I also have my days “free.”
- Make more time for friends. Working essentially two full-time jobs the past year put a real damper on my social life. Don’t get me wrong, I was out and about as necessary, but I didn’t make the kind of one-on-one time with some of my best friends – and suffered for it. See also, Jersey. As we get older and have new priorities and commitments (and worse hangovers!), it becomes more of a challenge to see our peeps. But I resolve to figure out a better way to maintain these friendships than I did this past year.
- Learn more favorite family recipes. On the top of the list: Dad’s sauce and Mom’s cheesecake. It should not have taken me this long to do this. While I’m at it, blog more recipes, including my venison specialties for my husband’s blog, Team Surra Outdoors.
- Build a successful business. I’ve mentioned a few times that I recently quit my day job (one many of you probably didn’t know I had, and that’s OK), and while I’m still figuring out the grand plan, I do have many opportunities ahead. I’d like to check back in 3-6 months and evaluate this.
- Write life list. I forced these on my contributors, and my half-written lists have been neglected. It’s time to dig in and come up with a “bucket list” for myself.
What will you resolve to do in 2013?
