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Are you the type to make New Year’s resolutions?! Some people use this time of year as a starting out point for new projects and goals, for self-improvement or even just as a time to reflect on what worked and what did not work for them the year before.
Resolution making goes back quite a ways. Babylonians celebrated the New Year with a festival called Akitu. During this 12-day event the people crowned a king, started plans for their farms and made promised to pay off debts. This new year ritual was so popular it was adopted by other cultures and passed on through time. Over time the actual date of this celebration shifted until it became January 1st on our modern day calendars. Fun Fact: January was named after the god Janus. Janus was a two-faced god who looked forward for new beginnings, but also backward to reflect and think about how to learn and grow from what was.
I really don’t make resolutions myself, but I do reflect on the year before and create goals for the year ahead. These goals include categories of family, health, career, community and fun. Here are the goals I have set for myself for 2023:
Family: Nurture relationships
We have spent the last couple of years in Pennsylvania. This is pretty close to my family and friends from my childhood to young adult years. I have enjoyed this time and being able to spend it with these amazing people, but with an upcoming move our time is quickly coming to an end. I plan to be intentional about spending time with the people I have in this area before leaving for our next adventure.
Health: Spend at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week being active.
My health journey has been very up and down since I started. I quit smoking and that stuck, which is great! Also, my eating is more healthy than not. I do not eat a lot of fried foods and make almost all of our meals from scratch, along with growing many of our summer veggies at home. However, my fitness routine is something I am yet to master and want to be more consistent this year. I don’t put myself first most of the time, because I have so much going on. It always seems that working out is last on the priority list for things to do in a day, but I hope to be better about making my health a priority.
Career: Be more consistent with content and working towards my goals.
As the Tin Box business grows, I am finding it more difficult to stick with a routine. It often changes as I’m trying to figure out what works best for my time and my family’s time. Balance is important to me. This past year I tried MANY different ways to work and provide consistent content and intentionally work towards my goals. This coming year I’m going to choose one way that was working and stick to it for the first 3 months of the year. I will re-evaluate at that time, but working one way for a longer period of time is how I hope to find what works for me. I have also set new goals for the business that include both financial goals and growth goals (no, not always the same). I have some big hurdles coming up for the business later this year and although I’ve pushed through them once, it won’t be as easy this time around. (Stay tuned for more information on this as I get details)
Community: Make a plan for our next community.
We have a move coming up later this year and while we do not officially no where yet, we do know it will be somewhere new. This goal will start with assessing our current home (and items in our home), taking inventory about what will go with us, what will be donated and what will be stored and thinking about what will be needed to wrap up our lives here. When we find out where we are going, there will be lots of research. Research about where to live, how to get there, policies about the dogs and final decisions on what will be coming with us and what will not. Moving always brings a lot of excitement and some stress along with it. Stress is definitely something I will be working on taking control of this time around, because I love moving to new places and want to make the most of it this year.
Fun: Create a bucket list of activities to work on for the year
Not to continue on the moving topic, but it is a driving force around my goals this year. With under a year left in our current home I will be thinking about areas we still want to explore, places & people to visit and things to do and see close to where we currently live. When Jorge and I first moved in together, we lived in San Diego. I loved the time there (for the most part), but I always regretted not going out and seeing more and doing more. I felt like we left a lot on the table and while he disagrees with me on that, I never wanted that to be a regret again. Since moving from there we have taken advantage of some great travel opportunities and have been loving exploring this amazing country we live in.
Well that’s it. My goals are pretty in tune to where our life is taking us this year, but also with helping us to grow. Do you set goals or resolutions at the start of each year? Do you reflect on the year before and what you hope to get from the upcoming one? I can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments!
As always, thank you for reading and taking this journey with us. Happy New Year! Simply, Beth