Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Unfolding Resolution

People balk at the idea of New Year's resolutions.  Most are broken within the first month of the new year.  Perhaps people don't really want to change.  Perhaps the resolutions aren't attainable.  The whole idea has gotten a bad rap lately.  I was going to title this post something like, "Goals...Not Resolutions," but, you know what, a resolution isn't a bad thing.  The dictionary defines resolution as a firm decision to do or not to do something.  I have made some New Year's resolutions.  I have made a firm decision to do five things this year.

Our family sat down New Year's Eve, and each person came up with five goals for the new year based on an idea of a friend.  (Thank you, Linda!)  The categories for our goals were personal, family, spiritual, friends, and school/work.

I want to share my resolutions with you.  If you so choose, you can hold me accountable.  This may be part of the problem with resolutions.  It is certainly easier to remain true to your decisions if  others know of them and are given permission to ask you how they are going.

Therefore, I resolve in the personal category to eat better, exercise more, and lose 10 pounds.  My family resolution is to have more dates with my family.  I want to have more date nights with John for sure, but also to go out with my children and get to know them as they grow older.  We used to take them out individually when they were younger and do something special with them, but we got out of that habit.  It is time to get back to it.  My spiritual resolution is to have better devotional times with God.  I have been very lax in doing so and need to give God more of my time.  I resolve to communicate more and better with my friends this year and, finally, I resolve to figure out what it is I love to do and use it to help our family, in the area of work.

Our move south and out of my comfort zone has me out of my comfort zone personally.  I have been trying to evaluate my life, and this is how I have come to these resolutions.  I look forward to the changes that God can bring about through them and look forward to sharing my progress with you.  Again, feel free to hold me accountable.