Friday, December 27, 2013

Goals and Such

Well, it's happened. Christmas is over and I'm already jumping ahead to the new year and the various personal goals I have as we move forward. I've always been a little skeptical of New Year's resolutions...and I've always been pretty terrible with keeping them when I've attempted to make them myself. That's why this is not a post about New Year's resolutions. It's a post about my goals for 2014. The things I would love to change about myself and/or learn how to do; the ways I want to use this new year for personal growth and crossing stuff off my lists. I know that sounds like New Year's resolutions...but it's not. Just take my word for it.

My goals for this year are many, and they cover many different arenas of my life. Because of that, some of them are more personal than others, but I'll do my best to be as transparent as possible.

Reading Goals:
  • I have thought long and hard about this one. I love my little countdown of the 94 (now knocked down to 81) books that I've owned but haven't read, and I want to continue that. But I also want to make sure I allow myself the privilege of reading new books too. I've also struggled to find a number of books to shoot for that is both a challenge and realistic. And since I don't really have a concept of how many books that would be for me (I tend to read in spurts, making it hard to know how much I'm capable of reading if I do it consistently), I'm shooting for 40 books total, 20 off my list of books I already own and 20 new books
  • This is a silly one, but since I'm relatively new in town, I want to get a library card from my local library. It's kind of a no-brainer way to read the new books I want to read while restraining from buying all of them outright. I'm guessing that's why libraries were invented, after all.
  • Related to the previous goal, I want to get my Kindle set up with the local library system as well. I do love my Kindle - and miss using it with all this reading of paper books I already own - and want to take advantage of that system that is, once again, free.

Personal Goals:
  • Figure out an exercise routine and stick with it. This is a little self-explanatory, but the goal is that I actually follow-through. Whether this is the year we are able to start a family or not, I want to make exercise a consistent, long term part of my life. I've had seasons of my life where that's been the case, but I want it to stick. Honestly, I need it to stick. It's about time. 
  • Figure out a quiet time routine and stick with it. Also self-explanatory, but a little bit of that transparency I was talking about. Just like my struggles with inconsistency in my exercise routine, I have struggled with keeping a consistent time in the Word for a long time. I've done them in the mornings, in the middle of the day, and at night, but I'm currently living without a dedicated time, place, and plan. I need all of those things, and I need it to be permanent. I need it to be just as much a part of my day as eating. I'm willing to experiment with different times, places, and plans, but the point is that I need to stop winging it and make it a priority. 
  • Finish the book. That's right, everyone. I've been withholding a pretty big secret: I've been writing a novel - based on a friendship I had growing up - and now that what I've written so far has been given as a Christmas present I feel like I can talk freely about it. I meant to finish it before Christmas but it just didn't happen, so I want to finish it as soon as I can so I can start the editing/revising process. I'm sure that will stink. Maybe something will end up happening with it and maybe nothing will and that's not on my goal radar as of right now....right now I just want to finish it. 
  • Since we moved to Berryville, we've spent our fair share of church hunting in between the hubs having to work alternating second and third shifts (including an awful lot of weekends), and right when we found one we truly love and that we think we want to be our home, those pesky alternating work schedules started up again and we haven't been able to go back. This year, though, since the work schedules should be back to normal for quite a while, I want us to have dinner with the church's pastor so we can get our questions answered and know for sure whether we want this church to be our new church family. 
  • If this church is the one, I want us to join a Bible study together. We miss our Woodbridge couple's study so very much, and all the friends we felt like we were just starting to make because of it. We still miss them, but we're excited to finally feel like we have friends and community here in our new town. 
  • Time with friends is so important, and even though this introvert loves her time at home, I very much cherish time investing in the relationships and friendships God has blessed me with. I would love to have lunch and coffee dates every week with friends, but that just takes way too big a hit on our budget, so instead I want to maintain at least one out-of-town friend date a month. Obviously there will be months where there will be more, but I want to make sure I'm seeking out the friends that mean so much to me that live a little bit farther away from me now since we've moved. 
  • This may seem like a random one, but I want to learn the basics of how to sew. It's something I don't feel comfortable doing - and haven't done at all other than seventh grade Home Ec class - and I feel like between pillows and curtains it would be an easy way to save money around the house.

There are more things that I want to accomplish this year, obviously, but these are the things that I want to be intentional and vigilant about. I'll keep up with my list throughout the year in the sidebar, for your tracking and viewing pleasure. 

2014, guys. Kind of sounds weird, doesn't it? 


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