Goals For 2017 - Real life, on purpose.

In the past I’ve tried a couple different approaches to New Year’s resolutions. I’ve chosen a word to be my theme for the year…but I usually forget what my word was by February. I’ve made lists of specific things I want to do during the year…but I wasn’t always very intentional about my goals, so they started to feel kinda pointless.

I love making resolutions, but this year I want to be sure they’re going to serve me well instead of becoming a waste of time or a source of needless stress.

See, it seems I’ve lost sight of my blog’s tagline: real life, on purpose. The life I’m living hasn’t been very purposeful lately. Something needs to change.

Instead of reacting to circumstances as I have been, I want to be more proactive in creating circumstances that bring me and my family more peace and contentment. Last year I often felt like I was in maintenance mode, just trying to keep everything and everyone functional. Now it’s time for me to take a good hard look at what is important to me and do some course correcting.

(Tomorrow I’ll share more about the work I’m doing in regards to my priorities, in case anyone else is feeling the same way.)

Which brings me back to New Year’s resolutions.

In an effort to be more intentional, I’m trying something new. It’s a combination of the two approaches I’ve favored in the past: a list of goals tied to a theme word. Or, rather, theme words. Each month I’ll choose a new one-word mantra, a guiding principle to help focus my efforts that month. Next week I’ll tell you all about this monthly mantra plan (including the one word I’ve chosen for January) but today I thought I’d share the direction my goals are taking for 2017.

I want to finish some major home improvement projects. Some are as little as caulking a few seams. Some will be an entire gut renovation. No fear. It’s happening.

I want to improve my relationships. With my husband, my children, my extended family, my friends. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of people I care about, which is a wonderful problem to have but often kicks me into defensive introvert mode. I need to allow myself to love + be loved, and make time for strengthening bonds with my loved ones.

I want to grow this lil blog. Last year I dipped my toes into sponsored posts and (mostly) enjoyed it. This year I want to put some effort into bringing more traffic here and writing more intentional posts.

I want to get to a better place with my mental + physical health. This one scares me the most. The end goal is to wean myself off my anxiety medication, but that’s going to require some work first. And there are other aspects of my health that could use a tune-up. I need to see a couple different types of doctors and make a few lifestyle changes, so I’m plotting out some baby steps to take to become more whole.

I want to get over my fear of inverted yoga poses. Every year I think, this will be the year I do a headstand and/or crow pose, and every year I freak right out once I try to turn myself upside down. NO MORE. Imma do it this time.

Actually, less fear and more intention is a common thread in all my goals this year. I want my whole life to be more deliberate and less reactive. More honest, more vulnerable, more brave.

More “real life, on purpose.”