It’s that time of year when I, along with millions of others across the world, step back to think about the new year ahead of me–the one that is full of hope and possibility. I love this moment in time each year when everything seems clear and everything seems possible. I know what I want to do and I have the faith I can make it happen. Life is sitting in the palm of my hands asking me, “Okay, what are you going to do with me now?” I’ve taken some time to think about what I want to focus on in 2009. I looked back at 2008 to see what went well and what didn’t go so well, I took a peek at my “Things I Love to Do” list for inspiration, I thought about the person I want to become and I thought about the things that are bugging me that I want to do something about. Here’s an early draft of some goals for 2009:
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Health: a) Diet: eliminate meat, virtually eliminate dairy, replace white grains with whole grains, eliminate artificial sweeteners, drastically reduce sugar (All of this is thanks to inspiration from The Skinny Bitch–I highly recommend it! It’s unbelievable the crap we put into our bodies.), b) exercise: start running again, take yoga classes at my gym at least 1-2x/month, hike at least once e/o month, c) skin care: see a dermatologist (investigate laser removal of my brown spots), start an anti-aging skin care regime (ugh)
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Family & Friends: have a family fun night with the kids at least once/month; visit Mom, Richard, Connie and Eddie in May, visit Andrew and Julie, get together with Johanna, talk to Jean, go on a girls’ excursion with Laura, go to the Stagecoach festival with Kathy
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Leisure activities: learn to sail, go horseback riding, take at least 3 weeks of vacation, write on my blog several times each month, create a short list of books I want to be sure to read this year, learn to speak Spanish, go scuba diving in the Caribbean with John
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Travel: South Carolina, Vancouver, somewhere in the Caribbean with John
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Financial: increase retirement savings (max out John’s 403b); pay off kitchen; start automatic monthly savings for property taxes, vacation and increased cash savings; refinance the house
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Spiritual: do less, be more; lots of reflection; listen to my inner wisdom–follow what feels right more often
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Professional: explore new career opportunities, develop some mid and long range career goals
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Personal Growth: I know what my issues are–do what I need to do
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Home: continue to get rid of excess stuff, install new lighting under the kitchen cabinets, ask John about redoing the guest bathroom
I’m excited about this list! If I can make some solid progress on these items, I’ll have a lot of fun, will be much healthier and will have enjoyed life more when December 31, 2009 rolls around.
Hidden in this list is a little gem that really captures the spirit of how I want to live my life in 2009–do less, be more. I want to be more present in my life, to really BE in the experience of my life. I don’t want to do for doing’s sake, rather I want to be for being’s sake. I’m not interested in checking things off a list–I want to live a life that is rich and full where I truly allow myself to soak up the joy of my experiences. This includes resting and relaxing more in my spare time, not filling my time mindlessly with silly little chores that add up to nothing. If I want to, I can just sit back and listen to music for a while or take a long mid-day nap on a Sunday. (That’s the do less part.) I’m actually off to a running start. John and I just returned from 7 days in Cozumel where I am proud to say I fully embraced my “do less, be more” mantra!
Happy New Year!