New Year. Better Me.

February 23, 2016
New Year Decisions

With a new year come dreams of new goals and resolutions to be better. We’re not even two months into the year and I’m still seeing the phrase ‘New Year. New Me.’ everywhere. To me, resolution is one of those words that gets overused and has lost its meaning. If I were to define the word resolution, I would say it is a decision to make a change. According to the Oxford Dictionary, resolution means “a firm decision to do or not to do something”.

Wait! What?! A firm decision. Interesting. In the past, my resolutions have been kind of flimsy. Like I’ll do my best to workout or eat healthy but if I don’t feel like it, that’s totally fine. I gave it my best shot.

The mention of “firmness” brings about the idea of commitment in my mind and there are definitely a few things I’d like to commit to change in 2016.

  1. Be more present in my life. – For example, when I’m on a date with my husband or playing with my son and I give in to the strong urge to check my phone. What if I didn’t look at my phone, all during my date or playtime with my son or *gasp* all day.  I want to respond to a text from my man, my friends or a call from my parents if I’m not preoccupied with something but those can definitely wait in pursuit of enjoying the moment. I want to be more aware of what’s going on in my life rather than having it pass me by while I focus on a bright backlit screen.
  2. Read more books. At least one a month. – I love reading but what if I took the time I was wasting away on my phone during my kiddo’s nap time and used it to read a book. Last month I read two books and this month I’m reading Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. So far it’s a great read!
  3. Really think through my decisions. – I recently read the Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst. She is one of my favorite authors because she keeps it real and is 100% honest. There are some really good tips and truth nuggets to think on that I want to apply some of that to my daily life. For example, in the past I have been a yes-woman. I’ve said yes to things because I didn’t want to disappoint people. However, Lysa says, “If the person you are trying so hard not to disappoint will be displeased by a no, they’ll eventually be disappointed by a yes”.To me this means that you cannot please everyone all of the time unless you were literally living for them and boy is that unhealthy. Definitely some good food for thought and such a powerful book!
  4. Blog twice a week. – I’ve always loved writing since elementary school. I was on my high school newspaper and actually considered studying journalism in college…which I didn’t complete but that’s a WHOLE other story. I want to write not only with the hopes of inspiring others and sharing my life but to do something that I love that’s all mine.
    Of course there are more things I want to do but I don’t want to strike out before I even start.

What are some of your firm decisions that you plan on doing or not doing this year? Sound off below in the comments!

(P.S. I’ve tried for my life to fix the spacing on this article for the life of me but I’ve decided to let it go like Elsa in Frozen. Not worth the stress!😜)