I have never really focused too much on setting actual resolutions at the beginning of a new year (or at any time really). I would say the traditional “I’m going to get healthier!” or “I’m going to budget better!” one’s all the time, but that’s really where my ‘resolutions’ ended. This year I decided I’m really going to think about things a little harder, and put pen to paper (well, fingers to keyboard) and get down legit, planned out resolutions.
When thinking about this originally, I just had “goals” to hit in mind. But I realized a resolution doesn’t have to be something that can easily be measured or seen at the end of it. So here are the list of things I really, really, really want to focus on more in 2022:
Focus on getting more physically & mentally healthier: the physical part is the “normal” resolution, but I need to do it still. I know I am generally speaking a pretty healthy individual, but I know I can do more (do I really need that 3rd…or 4th cookie? Am I really just too tired for a workout or am I getting a little lazy?). The bigger one here for me is the mental aspect — I need to learn to be nicer to my brain and my feelings so I can be in a happier state of mind. This is not to say I’m not happy, but I sit and put myself in more negative and bad thoughts than getting myself hyped up with positivity and optimism. Focusing on that will be huge for me this year, and if it takes talking to someone, or writing down positive affirmations each day, or literally just telling myself nice things in the mirror, I will work hard on this.
Find more activities to do with my son: Jakob is almost 1 and a half, and he is insanely active. I want to go back to swim classes. I want to take him to all the parks. Let’s go paint something. Get on that swing. It doesn’t matter what it is, but we are going to go do all the toddler stuff this year.
Learn German: since Tobias is full-on German, and my son will know it pretty completely probably by the time he in kindergarten, AND because we are moving to Germany in a few years to live for a while…I need to learn this. This isn’t exactly a super fun one for me, I’m not going to lie. It’s not that I don’t want to know it, but…it’s a hard language, I’m super busy, it’s hard for me to focus, and did I mention it’s a hard language? I’m starting with some books (well, kids books reading them to Jakob), and I’ll explore either the apps or an actual class, but I am determined to at least learn something in German by the end of the year.
Get to know Tobias’s family more: on the topic of German, this one is big for me. We plan on visiting his family again this Spring in Germany, and I am really going to focus on getting to know his family a lot better this time (maybe even talk some in German!). I want our son to know both his parent’s families super well, and this will be a great time to continue that.
Get officially married and plan a ceremony/reception for 2023: Tobias and I officially will be tying the knot (woohoo!) this year. Right now we plan on just legally getting married in 2022, but we are planning more of a ceremony & reception to have in 2023 (giving time for German family members to plan on coming over and such). We’ve already started some planning and arrangements, and all of this is not my speciality, so having this to organize for basically the rest of the year will probably be a mix of fun + stressful + financially tough + exhausting.
Ride in at least 1 or 2 more horse shows before we move: I got back in the ring last summer, the first time back since I had Jakob in 2020, and I’m so proud of myself for doing it. Since we do have plans to move early 2024, and with a wedding to plan in 2023, it’s not leaving me a lot of time (or money) to get back to a lot of showing before we move. I have the best horse in the world (don’t all horse people say that?) and she loves her job, so I am going to make getting back to at least 1, hopefully 2 shows, this year.
Run another half marathon and then the full Detroit Press Marathon: oh boy these will be hard since I have not been running much post-Jakey…but this has been on my to-do list for a while now. Running is weird for me — I love moments of it, I hate a lot of it, but I always feel great after. I might go slow, and it might take me a while to cross those finish lines, but I will get these in this year.
Focus on this blogging thing a lot more: I know this is a kind of a vague resolution, but that’s only because there is a lot within that statement so it’s just easier to put it in a “high level” view. I really enjoy writing and learning new ways to be creative. I have loved getting stuff out here, even if only 1 person looks (hey mom!). I envision my blog platform to eventually get to a place where I can really interact with people, share some cool ideas or products, get involved and help out animal organizations, and also learn a lot of things along the way.
Work shuts off at 6 pm, and family time means no checking email, looking at phones, etc.: I’m making this one for Tobias too :) We need to do better at officially shutting work off in the evening. I love the flexibility of my job, but it’s almost too good because we find ourselves jumping back on before bed “because it’s right there”. No. Shut it off. Don’t check the email. Don’t even scroll on the phone. When we are doing family time in the evening or weekends, or Tobias and I relaxing before bed, it’s going to be just us interacting.
Begin yoga teacher training: this one I’m so excited to finally get myself into. I’ve been wanting to get my yoga teacher training done for a couple years now, but I know it’s time consuming and well expensive — but I’ve done some research, and there are so many more on-line options now that you can do at your own pace, so it’s a perfect time for me to begin now! This will be a challenge for me, but so worth it getting the chance to learn more about something I really love, and maybe one day make it more of a career for me.
Explore more of this world with my little fam bam: we love to travel in our small little clan, and 2022 will be more different. We have plans to see more of Europe, new States, and some of the beautiful parts of Michigan my son and Tobias have not seen before.
I realized as I was writing these down how many more thoughts and goals popped into my head. At this moment, I feel like I could go on forever, but one thing I have always been taught - as many as of has - is to be realistic when goal setting. These are the one’s I truly want and need to focus on. Some may not be as fun as other, but they are necessary. Some may require more self-discipline and rough patches, but the outcome will be worth it.
I very much look forward to 2022 and whatever gets thrown our way! What are your resolutions?