Welcome back to Everything’s Famtastic! As I mentioned in my last post here, we are already in the month of February and I can hardly believe how quickly time flies! One minute I am sunning myself in Australia and the next minute I am back in Germany being the Master (Well I guess, technically the Mistress. But that word might bring on images of another sort 😉 so I might just stick with the word Master) of the more-chaotic-than-I-would-like-it-to-be household of 5.
So again I ask, how is your year looking so far? Got any special dreams for the year? Have you made any plans or goals for yourself?
Last January I started off the year imaging one word for myself: Nourish. I think most of my friends and family imagined that meant, that I intended to eat lots of tasty, gourmet foods. Sure, that may well have been part of the story. But not actually the point. I had imagined I would spend 2018 focussing on nourishing my body and my mind. I wanted to continue learning to speak Dutch. I wanted to feed my body healthy, nourishing foods. I wanted to read lots of interesting books. I wanted to improve my sewing skills. I wanted to meditate regularly. I wanted to feel well and strong and happy.
Was Last Year a Super Success?
As the year went on, unfortunately many of these plans had collapsed. Not that the year was entirely bad…
I did spend a lot of time meditating. Every day for most of the year actually. *2 thumbs up for me*
And I did feed myself well. For about 4 months ☹.
I did have several, long bouts of going for regular power walks alone or with a friend, even going at 5:30am in the dark if I had to. But the walks also fizzled out in the couple of weeks before Christmas. (I will permit myself no guilt for that though, as we were preparing for and actually travelling to Australia. Guilt helps no-one, right?)
I didn’t end up reading so many books. I did squeeze in some reading before passing out at the end of the day (Hello! 3 kids!) but it was usually from my Time Magazines subscription. I did, however, end up listening to lots of audio books for a while (keep reading to find out why!).
I did continue going to sewing classes as often as I could and managed to sew a LOT of kids clothes throughout the year from home, including the Halloween costumes for the kids.
My time spent learning Dutch also became highly irregular. Although I can still say “ik heb 3 kinderen” and “ik drink wijn”. You figure out what connects those 2 phrases 😉
Anyway, can you see what I mean? Did you have any of your plans/resolutions fade out in similar ways? Or did you kick-ass with your goals for 2018?
What Happened to the Dreams?
I can provide a long list of reasons why not all of these good intentions to nourish myself worked out as imagined. Although some of them were in my control, many were not.
Like when the kids were sick and I couldn’t leave the house or do anything but tend to them and their needs.
Or because Hubby travels often but irregularly for work leaving me with no predictable schedule to make regular plans (like a gym or craft class) or to provide even a break for me (like wanting to meditate alone!).
Or because I had to have a very large and nasty snaking varicose vein removed from my leg (yep, upper thigh to calf, baby!), which put mobility and enthusiasm on the backburner for a few weeks.
Even better, because I had to undergo eye surgery for a cornea transplant (You can check out my post about transplants– without gruesome photos, I promise!!) which literally kept me flat on my back for 3 weeks and unable to drive anywhere for a couple of months. (And unable to read, hence the volumes of audio books devoured!)
My working hours, although small, doubled after I took on a second class of students teaching German (now that’s a crazy story for another day!). Which means more time actually teaching plus more time prepping lessons at home in a house full of kids.
As our 3 children have grown older, so has the number of their extra-curricular activities, to the point where I am driving at least one if not more children to some music/sport/youth group/ playdate activity every day of the week. I am afterall, the on-call taxi service, remember here?
And of course add to that: too lazy, too cranky, too fat, too sunny, too rainy, too dark, too hot, too windy, too little time, too much else that must be done (Looking your way, dear Laundry Basket), too much else I would like to do (ooh, organise the thousands of photos on my laptop!), too much of not wanting to move off the sofa at all… Shall I stop now?
So do any of those reasons/excuses ring a bell with you too?!? And if not, I am sure you may have a couple of your own go-to reasons! Where to go from all that? Fall in a heap and quit doing anything other than getting by day to day? Or get back into the swing of things, make new plans and DO THEM?
This Year- Hope vs Plan
I have hopes for this year. Some of my intentions from last year remain with me. And some are new. The good Rachel Hollis repeatedly recites “Hope is not a strategy” And she’s right. Hoping that you will lose weight is not going to make it so. Hoping to be a better wife doesn’t occur just by wishing it were so. You actually have to figure out what it takes to make it happen. And then, MAKE IT HAPPEN! Therefore, I will alter my wording to: “I have PLANS and GOALS for this year”. Take that, @msrachelhollis!
In the spirit of keeping myself accountable (apparently this is a tactic to keep up the motivation and progress, or so the personal growth gurus say 😉), here are some goals I have made for myself for this year:
- To further refine Everything’s Famtastic, grow my online community and develop and sell my products online.
- To become more productive, more motivated and better at setting goals and limits (It is OK to say “No” sometimes!!!).
- To avoid requiring a cornea transplant in my other eye. (I don’t actually have much control over this other than to follow Doctor’s orders and treat my eyes with the care they deserve 😉.)
- To find a new community (club/social group/ sport/something) of like-minded people here where I live.
- To be more attentive and present and “enjoy the moment” with my Hubby and our 3 children, instead of too often concentrating on what I need to get done next.
- To improve my fitness, lose weight and prepare for a 5km run. (Remember I talked about getting yourself moving here? Which, BTW, was as much a mantra for myself as well as anyone else who cared to read it)
- To learn how to crochet. Sewing is awesome, but crocheting is more portable! (Hubby is going to be so pleased *sarcasm alert!* when he sees me building another collection of supplies for handcrafts).
There you have it. That’s them! They’re my goals. Apart from the friends and family who I have told about these, and now all of you in my online community knowing them *gasp!*, I will continue to read/listen/watch highly motivational speakers such as Rachel Hollis, Brendon Burchard and John C. Maxwell to help keep me on the path onwards and upwards to reach them! As well as getting kicked in the butt by any well-meaning loved ones.
So, my Word of the Year is…
I am excited about what will happen this year and what I am going to achieve. I am really looking forward to pushing and challenging myself just to see how far I can go! I almost feel like I could burst! Can you feel it? I just have this feeling like I want everything to be Bigger! Better! Brighter!
I think the right word for me this year is: *drumroll please*…. GROWTH.
What’s yours?
How do you decide what you want to achieve in a year? New year resolutions? Perhaps simply hope? Or are you a highly organised plan-maker? Are you excited? Have you started putting some of your plans in place so that you can achieve your goals this year?