I have always loved January 1. It’s a new year, a new beginning and a new opportunity to make myself better. My new years plans have always included coming up with things to accomplish in the year to come. Today, instead of sharing a recipe, I wanted to share with you my personal plans for this fresh new year.
Each time, the thought process for these plans often starts out with a theme. For instance, in 2000 my theme was “Focus 2000”. That year I focused on the 4 F’s and they stood for the following:
- faith– to attend church every Sunday
- finance– to get a second job to help pay my bills
- future– to build savings
- fitness– to start working out again
I remember this plan so well. It was such a pivotal year in my life. It was my first time living on my own after college. I wrote out this big plan and am happy to say by year end, I felt very good about what I had accomplished.
Since then, I can’t say that I have had such a strong plan. I still make themes and goals, but I have not been as good with my accomplishments.
Last year, my family and I wrote our names on a big piece of paper, and listed a few things each of us wanted to work on. This has been hung in our laundry room all year as a constant reminder.
Tonight at dinner, we reviewed those goals and graded each other on how well we did. My son got a huge kick out of this. We laughed and laughed. What I realized tho, is that I did not accomplish any of the goals I had made but I did accomplish so many other things, like starting this blog. Grant (my oldest) did the best out of all of us. Miles (the baby) didn’t do so bad either.
In the past week I have been working on my plan for 2017. And the number one thing I would love to accomplish once and for all is to finally declutter my home. I am such a pack rat, always saving things for “someday”, that I think it’s finally time to start focusing on today.
So I started thinking of themes and I came up with the year of Doing:
- Declutter my home
- Decorate my home (hang more pictures)
- Do better parenting (more positive reinforcement and no yelling)
- Detach from my phone, especially when I am with my kids
- Develop “Paola Anna’s Guide to Gluten Free Gatherings” (That’s the name for now)
- Devote time to God with this 365 daily devotional “Longing For More”
You might be asking, what about Diet? But here’s the thing, as diet and fitness are commonly a part of everyone’s new year’s plans, I feel like since becoming gluten free, I really don’t “need” to diet anymore. I am no longer bloated and I no longer feel uncomfortable in my clothes. This way of life has truly changed the way I feel on the inside as well as on the outside.
Now, I can’t say that I am the fittest that I would love to be. But the work I really want to do this year, is more internal than external. If I get time to workout, that will be a huge bonus. This will be my 40th year, and right now chasing a 16 month old definitely adds those steps to my day.
So this year I am going to focus on some of the things that will strengthen my personal growth and my relationship with God.
I am really excited about this plan and since I have now shared this with you, I have extra accountability. On New Year’s Eve, I will present these to my family as they begin to come up with their own goals. And then we will write them down, and hang our new big piece of paper in the laundry room as our reminder.
I am so excited to see what this next year will bring.