I have to be honest, I have always found New Year's resolutions to be kind of a joke. Partially because I never think of any good ones - mine are usually really lame like, "I will floss daily" - but also partially because I do not think anyone ever actually sticks to them fully. Sure, it is a positive action to think ahead and set goals for yourself, but doing it while you are shitfaced on NYE does seem a little counter-productive, no?
I digress....
The point is, this year we are more committed to becoming better human beings than we have been in the past. Maybe after the Mayans went and botched the whole "end of the world" thing, we realized we might be around a little longer than expected? Or maybe we are simply starting to buy into the idea of self improvement and continued growth? Either way, we have made the executive decision to attempt to better ourselves.
How does this differ from a New Year's resolution, you may be asking yourself? Honestly, it doesn't. In fact, on paper, it looks more like a bunch of New Year's resolutions packed into one year. Maybe it is? The biggest difference, I would argue, is that much more thought has gone into what we chose to do this year than goes into your standard one-off resolution. But then again, maybe I am just really bad at resolutions in general?!
What was both fun and interesting about this exercise was that we sat down and did our lists individually, then reported back to each other to share our thoughts. Me being the obsessive compulsive type that I am, took to the Notepad app to create a clean, concise and organized documentation of what I titled "2013 Goals, Expectations and Resolutions!" My husband, on the other hand, opted to categorize his lists in a simple email as "Fun" and "Personal" in nature. Both were a success; however, more impressive was the amount of overlap we shared without having discussed anything!
No worries, I will not bore you with our lists in their entirety. But for some added filler to this post, below are a few of the shared goals we have set for ourselves in 2013:
- Learning Spanish - at least conversationally.
- Being better spouses - this makes our marriage sound like it is in shambles. I assure you, it is not. By this, we mean small things like my husband agreeing to one vegetarian meal during the work week for me (I am weird about meat). Or me being more of a team player when my husband has one of his classic freak outs when technology fails him. Small stuff like that....
- Taking better care of ourselves - mind, body and soul! I am a work-a-holic. That stops this year. I am SO committed to creating more of a work/life balance for myself. This will open up more free time to hit the gym, which will in turn make sure we are staying on track in eating healthy during the week (and, of course, cheating only on the weekends!). Basically, just feeling better about ourselves overall. Less stress, clearer minds...the whole nine yards.
- Making more of an effort to stay in touch with and visit old friends. Sure, our schedules are always a bit crazy (it is only the second week of January and already my mid to late January, February and March is jam packed with work trips!), but we both want to be better about making the time to call and communicate with old friends. Hell, some even live in the same city we do!
- Being better siblings. My brother is only 3 hours away and I go months without seeing him. He may even argue we go most of the year. In my defense, I do talk to him quite a bit. Multiple times a week - almost daily. But still....I could try to squeeze in time for a day trip here and there. My husband sees his sisters more frequently now that he travels to St. Louis often for work, but he also wants to be better about communicating and talking with them when he's not traveling.
You get the idea.... Certainly nothing too extreme, but definitely a good guide to a healthier, happier and more fulfilled life in 2013!
