HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Just days into 2020, I decided it was time to sit down and reflect on this past year, and what I would like to accomplish in 2020.
2019 truly was a great year, full of so many new things. Some of my favorite highlights:
- We packed up and moved to a brand new city that we had never even visited. This was terrifying by the way…
- We both started new jobs and are blessed to work with some great people that have welcomed us into their lives with open arms.
- We bought a home and are excited to continue to decorate and make it our own.
There were plenty of other little things, along with our fair share of lows, but I will keep it short and sweet as the purpose of this post is to focus on the future. 😊
It wouldn’t be a new year if we didn’t all throw out some goals, right? I figured if I publish my goals, it might hold me more accountable, but if nothing else, I can always look back at the beginning of next year to see how I did. As I went about my day, I started jotting down a list on my phone so I wouldn’t forget them. The list grew and grew – should I make some cuts and just focus on a couple of key goals? Nah – let’s share them all so I can make a conscious effort to make positive lifestyle changes. Some goals are simpler than others, so heck – let’s go for it!
- Drink more water.
- We’re starting simple here. Hydration is so incredibly important in so many ways. I am very aware of this, but for some reason I still find myself barely drinking any water throughout the day, whether I’m at work or on my day off. My goal will be to go through my 40 oz. Hydro Flask twice a day for a total of 80 oz. Should be easy right? Right!
- Exercise more often.
- I do think that I’ve started to be better about getting some exercise in lately. It helps to have a gym at work that I can use before heading home for the day and it certainly doesn’t hurt that it’s nice to wait out some of that rush hour traffic. I will admit though that if my coworker isn’t going with me, it’s much easier for me to skip too.
- Mike has been working on growing our collection of workout gear down in the basement of our home, so that should be hugely helpful for the two of us. Between the random odds and ends, I think I can come up with a decent workout – better than nothing!
- One of my very favorite YouTubers, Jessica Braun, turned me on to the idea of never going more than 2 days without doing some sort of exercise. This can be a full on hard core workout, or as simple as some crunches on the floor, or a walk with the doggos, but as long as you get moving, you’ll be on track! (On a side note, if you have some free time, go check out her YouTube channel because she is the absolute cutest and I could spend hours watching her. And by could… I mean I do.😳) Anyhow, she credits this idea to another YouTuber, Matt D’Avella, and you can watch his video here. Hoping to implement this in 2020 – let’s get moving!
- Stick to our budget.
- My husband is an accountant… you would think this wouldn’t be an issue. While on one hand that is a perfectly correct thought – we have an extremely well thought out, analytical and organized number of excel spreadsheets that don’t miss a beat. But when it comes to the sticking to the budget part – this is where we fall short.
- January is honestly the perfect time for us to make this more of a priority. Finances were a little bit all over the place through the home buying process and getting out of our rental. We had some double months, and more expenses than usual, so it was hard to sort through and determine if we were on budget or not. Is this an excuse? Absolutely! We could’ve budgeted regardless, but we’ve dropped the ball. Not to mention I tend to go overboard holiday shopping in December. Darn it Amazon with your 2-day shipping – making it way too easy to click buy now! Thankful for our poor delivery drivers. 😇
- Moving forward, we would like to make it a point to check in on our budget weekly to make sure we are on track, and see if we need to dial it back on any particular category. We LOVE using Mint to help us keep track so we don’t have to do all of the hard work.
- Cut down on sugar and dairy.
- I think this one will be a huge step toward a healthier lifestyle. To put it bluntly – I am completely addicted to sugar. I have the biggest sweet tooth, and cannot help myself when it comes to sweet treats – especially late at night.
- Dairy on the other hand is my necessary evil. Who doesn’t love cheese? And ice cream, and all of the other creamy delights… I have Crohn’s Disease and have become lactose intolerant over the years. Lactaid pills (I like to stock up on the Costco brand) have been my savior because this girl loves a good milkshake. Even though the lactose pills help tremendously – I know that I still don’t feel 100% after indulging.
- Both sugar and dairy are extremely inflammatory, which Crohn’s patients certainly don’t need anymore of. So in an effort to deal with less bloating and gain more energy, I think this will be a great change! Also putting it out there – I am not going to say I will stop enjoying these completely, because let’s be real here… that just wouldn’t happen, – but here’s to making a positive adjustment! Sheesh! I’m making it sound like I have a drug addiction to kick. 😂
- Meditate.
- I’d like to take some time for myself each week to really center myself and get things off my mind. I take things personally. I have a hard time letting go. I stew over things and replay conversations over and over in my head that I wish could’ve gone differently. After a rough day at work, I’ll sit awake all night just thinking about what I could’ve said differently; how I could’ve made the situation better. It’s hard and it takes a toll on other aspects of my life.
- I think that doing some meditation will allow me to work on some of these issues, and to focus on the positives rather than the negatives.
- I’d like to start by meditating twice a week and see how that goes. Starting slow is the key to ensuring success, right?
- Prioritize family.
- My family is so important to me. We are very spread out, and unfortunately don’t get to spend much time together anymore. Mike and I are here in Denver now, my parents split the year between Seattle and Palm Springs, and I have one brother in L.A., and one brother still in Seattle. We try to make it home each summer to have one family gathering all together, but this just doesn’t feel like enough! I’m not great at keeping in touch with people – I really don’t enjoy talking on the phone, but when there’s so much distance in between, this might just have to be the answer. FaceTime has also been been a saving grace to at least see each other’s smiling faces, especially around the holidays, and to keep up with my cute niece and nephew!
- My goal is to make the FaceTime calls more often and pick up the phone if that’s what it’ll take to be more in tune with my family. 🙂
- Start a blog.
- Check. ✔ Okay, so maybe this one should be keep up with blogging. I have been toying with the idea of starting this blog for years. YEARS. I think about it so often. I have a list of blog post topics on my phone that’s been on-going for any time a new idea pops into my mind. I had even written the introduction post long ago and had it sitting as a draft for months and months and months. Why did it take this long to hit publish? What was I scared of? Well… lots of things, but here we are, and let’s keep it up!
After giving these goals some quality consideration, it has lead me to my 2020 motto:
“Don’t sweat the small stuff”
So here’s to 2020 – a year of new, a year of better, a year of letting go, and what will hopefully be our best year yet. Looking forward to sharing the highs and lows, and I promise to share updates on these goals throughout the year. Wishing you all a great start to 2020 – may it be filled with many great successes. Feel free to share your 2020 goals below so we can work on them together!
Laugh Often – Rachel
Simply Stoops 