Goals for the New Year

I'm not a huge fan of making New Year's resolutions. I used to come up with things that I wanted change about myself throughout the year, but would wait until New Years to take action. I rarely kept those resolutions, mostly because I put off taking action for so long that it became harder break the habit, and I no longer had the motivation. About 6 years ago, I wanted to start exercising consistently. But I had it in my mind that I was supposed to wait until New Years to start. And then I had a revelation - "Why should I wait until New Years to make this change? Why not do it now while I'm motivated???" Duh. So using that motivation, I developed a consistent exercise routine, and I've managed to continue over the years. At this point, exercising has become a habit. I'm not always motivated to exercise, but I've been doing it for so many years, that I end up doing without too much of a mental battle. So I want to encourage everyone to consistently look for ways to improve yourself. Don't wait until the New Year to make a change, make it at the time that you see the need to change. Use the motivation to develop a new habit. You just might surprise yourself and realize how much you can accomplish when you have the motivation. :)

For this reason, I rarely make New Year's resolutions. Instead I make them all year round. However, this morning after talking to my husband, and then listening to the pastor's message about changing things in our spiritual lives, I've decided to make a couple of my own resolutions...or maybe we should just call them goals. Because that's really what they are. (I believe that I am contradicting myself, due to the content in the previous paragraphs, but I'm ok with that.) So here are my goals for this year:

• To spend more time in prayer and reading the Bible - From the time that my son was born, I've struggled to keep a consistent quiet time with God (quiet time = praying and reading my Bible). Some days are easier to accomplish this than others, but when I make the time, my state of mind is always better. 
• To have a more Christ-like attitude - We've all been through difficult times. I have. But it has always been a struggle to not become cynical from these conflicts. 
• To get back in shape - spraining my ankle has been horrible for my fitness. I've lost my endurance and gained some inches too. Sad face. 
• To blog consistently - If you look back to my previous posts, (don't actually do it) you will see that from 2009 to 2011, my blog was rarely updated. Sad. I want to do better at this, even if my life gets chaotic, which I'm sure it will at times, I still want to update regularly...even if it's not as consistent as it is now. 
• To at least consider growing my photography business - Staying at home with your child is very exhausting and time consuming. This is the biggest reason I haven't worked at developing my photography business to a larger scale. It's not that I don't want more business, but I'm afraid of gaining more clients than I can handle without neglecting my family's time. I need to figure out the appropriate work load amount.

My goals for this year are definitely not anything extreme or overwhelming, but just a couple of things to keep in mind throughout the year. I am pleased with these goals. Do you have any goals for the year? Share.

My son's goal for the New Year is to do more stunts. Like the one he did on Friday night by spinning around on an office chair and flying off at a high speed straight into a door - which resulted in a concussion, vomiting, and a trip to the ER. In case you are worried, he is fine - at least his now. My state of mind is still recovering though.

BTW - my husband and I worked on a great project this evening. I can't wait to share it with you guys. Watch for it later this week. :)