My New Years Resolutions

2015 is coming to a close and we'll be celebrating a new year in less than 48 hours.  Crazy!  It's hard to believe how much can happen in a year's time and yet feel like it went entirely too fast and you didn't get to do all the things you would have liked.  Time definitely speeds up as you get older and life gets busier.

Here are a few things that happened in my life during 2015:

• My daughter turned 3.
• My son turned 1.
• We finished our basement.
• My husband quit his job and started a new one.
• My husband graduated with his MBA.
• We went to Disneyland.
• I started this blog.

Along with the new year comes the opportunity to start fresh.  Obviously, this could be done at any time of year, but it seems most common for people to take a step back and evaluate the current year and create new hopes, dreams and goals for the new one ahead.  I include myself as one of these people and I get excited to think of new ways to grow and stretch myself in various aspects of my life.  I think there are basically two types of goals: the kind with a foreseeable end (ie. train to run a marathon) and the kind that are more long-term (ie. be more forgiving).  Both types are necessary if you are serious about improving yourself.

My brother-in-law is a comedian/motivational speaker and he's always throwing this out there in regards to goals: "I don't like to set goals.  I like to create a lifestyle." Keeping this thought in mind, I've been doing some thinking about the goals/lifestyle changes I want to set this year and wanted to share a few of them with you.

Be more charitable  I was inspired to set this as a goal, and essentially adopt it as a lifestyle, when I read this quote:

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other." - Marvin J. Ashton, 1992

Exercise regularly  Isn't this a goal most people set for the new year?  Regardless, it's one I'm setting for myself.

Spend more one-on-one time with each member of my family  I want to make sure that even though I see my family every day, that I make the time to do specific activities with them where we can play and talk and create memories to grow and strengthen our relationship.  This might include going out for ice cream or bowling with my daughter, playing a game in the backyard with my son or doing a planned activity with my husband (at home or out on the town).

Keep up on my personal journal writing  I love going back and reading about past events, feelings and experiences.  They make me laugh.  They make me cry.  They help me see where I've grown and the lessons I've learned.  This is a goal I have to set for myself every year.  Some years I do better than others, but I'm always glad when I take the time to do it.

Tell family and friends that I love and appreciate them more often  I've never met anyone, myself included, who doesn't like to be told that they are loved, appreciated and that they matter.  It can be hard to remember to do because it's so easy to take those we love and the things they do for us for granted.

While these aren't all the goals I'm setting for myself this year,  I think it's important to share our goals with other people so we remember them and so we are held accountable to them.

What are your goals for the new year?