Every year, since about 2002, I make myself a "life guide". It lists the current state and goals for each area of my life (relationships, education/career, health/body, etc.) in June and December I look through these to check my progress and note how I have changed. I just completed my 2009 guide update, and from it I have (as always) drawn this year's New Year's goals and resoltuions.
1. Maintain healthy eating and exercise habits and allow my body to settle at a natural, healthy weight.
2. Get into a neuroscience PhD program, hopefully somewhere in Chicago.
3. Become fully financially independent. Yes, this even means getting off the family car insurance and phone plan.
4. Stay in touch with friends and family as I move into the next phase of my life.
5. Prioritize and appreciate my relationship with Jeremy.
6. Become more environmentally friendly (open to ideas/suggestions for implementation of this!)
7. Make time to center myself and relax. Become stronger in myself and more in control of my moods.
8. Become more informed about current events (I just set my home page on my browser to a personalized Google news page!)
What are your resolutions? I LOVE to hear about how people prioritize their lives and go about improving themselves. Also, do you expect to be successful? I do.
AND for those who are interested, these 'life guides' also contain my life long goals, which actually haven't changed for several years now:
1. Have a happy healthy marriage.
2. Raise two children into well-adjusted, happy adults.
3. Stay satisfied with myself and happy with my current situation in each stage of life.
4. Get a PhD in neuroscience.
5. Discover something that will improve the quality of people's lives.
6. See the world.
7. Be free, be present, be appreciative, be aware.
8. Fill my life and the lives of others with love.
9. Leave the world somehow better then when I entered it.
Happy New Year!!!
xKimX
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17 comments:
These are some very good goals, even though to me it feels like way too many in one sitting. I think if I wrote up a list like that for myself it would stress me out just looking at it, but that's me.
My hubby always says every New Years that years ago he made a resolution to never make any resolutions ever again, and it's the only resolution he's ever kept. LOL
I'm raising a toast (with coffee at the moment) to a healthy New Year in 2009 for all of us.
Thanks for sharing your goals and dreams with us! When it comes to me, I was pretty confident and solid when it came to my goals, similar to you, last year at this time. I had no idea what the year had in store for me. This year, I think I'm going to be re-examining for awhile yet before I make any final decisions about what my priorities will be. There will always be the key ones, like you say, that never change- maintaining a healthy and happy marriage, striving for good health, challenging myself in my areas of interest, etc. I wrote a post on my blog about some of my thoughts on it- 1 or 2 posts ago.
Those are great New Year's resolutions and lifelong goals. Your post made me think about my life. I really need to sit down and think because I don't know what I want from my life. Maybe that can be my goal - to come up with some goals.
anybeth-
ya, i do tend to stress myself out, but for the most part this stuff isn't new, it's stuff i'm already working on, so it's more an organization of thoughts than anything else. cheers to a healthy year for all of us :)
violet- i will be sure to check that post out:) and it is true that every year is full of surprises, so who know how any of these aspirations we conjure up for ourselves will be changed, sidestepped or overlooked...
kara- that's a rad goal. i read this book, "the four hour work week" and it was about how people are always working towards some future they can't exactly picture. that really made me think about what i wanted. and what u say is true- u can't have what u want if you don't know what it is. happy searching!
I prefer to think of these as evolutions instead of resolutions. I think of myself as evolving (which means I am in the process of changing) instead of resolving to change.
I love your lists! Great work, and fabulous suggestions!
Much love pretty lady!
I'm still working on a complete list of resolutions, but mine include feeling comfortable with myself as a person, reaching out to my family & friends more often and doing things because I want to do them, not because I feel obliged to.
"Every year, since about 2002, I make myself a "life guide'"
It would be interesting to see how your goals change over the years as well as what measures you adopt to determine your progress.
When I was a boy, I often saw the start of the school year as my chance at a new beginning in life. It never really occurred to me though that, realistically, it would be at best the start of working toward making things different. Somehow, I thought that if I had to work at something, I must have already failed at it. This naturally left me discouraged almost from day one. I wish someone had clued me in.
Hey! I love the goals & I have no doubt that you will reach them. As far as the green thing, Chicago has tried to have a recycling program, but it's still in a very primitive stage for a big city. One thing you can do is join a co-op for grocery shopping. I was going to recommend this one:
http://www.coopmarkets.com/status.htm
...but as you can see, ironically, it has been shut down due to a debt to the University Of Chicago, lol. There's got to be more around somewhere. Anyway, Happy New Year!
I'm sure I left a huge comment here too last night, but it's not worked!
Your resolutions are brilliant, and I'm sure they're also achievable. It's brilliant to hear you so positive. I'm sure I wrote a much better comment...argh computers!
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in response to your comment:
I do it often(the facepaint). I've been doing something with it each time I go out and sometimes I do a little squiggle here and there during the day, but nothing outrageous like a pink ninja mask featured in this post lol.
I only planned until the 16th to see how I get on, I;m hoping it goes OK, thanks for the luck!
<3 V
WOW!!!! thats alot of resolutions but all good ones..I hope you can meet all your gaols but not to stress over it...my one goal or resolution for this new..is to KICK EDS ASS!!!!!!
love, Z
L,E,R- I LOVE that, I will definitely start referring to them in the same way. Evolutions. Rad sista.
Katie- That is some great stuff. Feeling comfortable with yourself is so hard to do, and opening up is an incredibly difficult and rewarding habit to get in to. These are definitely things I (all of us?) am (are) still working on and I wish you luck. Obligation is a really tricky thing. My only tattoo- a palm tree- i supposed to remind me of exactly that (cause when I see palm trees I am on vacation and doing what I want). Best of luck to you, you are a strong talented woman and I have faith in your evolution.
snow- I have definitely often experienced the same. It is indeed quite difficult to keep in mind that progress doesn't necessarily mean instant success. Thats why I really like what "L,E,R" said about New Yrs Evolutions- a way batter approach :)
Coke- I had no idea the city of Chicago recycling program was no longer in action! That was one of the things on my list- that when I moved back upstate I could start recycling again! They sure make it tough. As for coop groceries- love that idea. I have also considered forgoing red meat, but that seems really tough so I think I'll start small with like reusable shopping bags.
V- Gah, I hate computer troubles. And I think some posts are haunted, b/c I've had it happen to me multiple times on like the same one before. Crazy friggan' annoying. Thanks for the positivity props! and the face paint is AWESOME. Rock on, I say wear that ninja mask loud and proud... or you could do like a full on mardi gras mask. oh, the possibilities. I may steal your idea...
Z- I am SO glad to hear that that is your resolution. It seemed for a while your resolve was waning, so I am delighted to see this new invigoration! Well done, and thanks as always for your support :)
Becoming fully financially independant is a wonderful thing! Yes, it can be stressful, but it's completely worth it. Happy New Year!
Em- I'm totally scared, haha. We'll see how it goes. I'm just a baby! haha, i hope your right :)
Yep those goals are commendable... I used to set goals all the time... and sometimes reach them but "life" somehow got in the way. I blame al-Qaeda!
hey, thanks :) ya... lofty aspirations at least leave me somewhere new.
those are wonderful, wonderful goals
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