I have a tradition of waiting to start New Year’s Resolutions until after my birthday on the 10th, because I know I usually still have a week of partying left in me. Why commit to goals I know I’m going to break? This year is a little bit different, the partying is taking a hiatus while we wait for Baby B to arrive. I’m still completely and totally exhausted, but it has nothing to do with my champagne intake this year! The benefit of waiting a bit to write your resolutions is you get to be inspired by what others are sharing about their own goals and intentions. Reading resolution posts from other writers and friends is so energizing – I love to hear what people are working on and how they’re approaching their New Year outlook.
There was a great post on CamilleStyles.com with tons of resolution inspiration, and I’ve been following along with Emily Ley’s resolution series on simplifying different aspects of your life in 2017. One of my favorite posts I’ve read is from a fellow blogger (and new mom!) Amanda who decided that resolutions just weren’t for here this year. Instead she wrote that focusing on some attainable intentions were a better route, and I love that approach.
Realistically, the next few weeks (or maybe months) aren’t going to be a great time to take on lofty weight loss goals or giant new projects, and I’ve come to terms with that. So this year instead of a year-long resolution I’m going to take a different route. Another blogger I follow, Bree, inspired me with great tips for approaching New Year goals (Check out her Rock Your Happy challenge) that I’m going to borrow. She shared on instagram that she finds monthly goals so much more attainable; breaking them down into smaller pieces feels less overwhelming and helps her achieve more, so smart.
Adapting that approach, I’m going to create seasonal “mini-goals” — a few practical ones, and then a to-do list of fun things I want to accomplish in that season. Like in the spring, for example, I want to make walking the Farmer’s Market a weekly ritual, this summer I have to go blueberry picking (how have I never done that before?!), and next Fall I really want to think about holiday traditions we can start with our growing family. I always find that checking-in on my goals here is a great way to stay accountable, so I’ll do some seasonal updates, share how I did, and make sure to lay out my next season’s mini-goals and fun to-do list.
Ready for my first batch of mini-goals? I set the bar low for these first few months knowing that a newborn, sleep deprivation, and a long winter may wear on me!
Establish new routines. I know I’m going to need to find a new life routine to figure out the best way to juggle a baby, family, friends, a job, and my blog. It’s going to take some time, but my hope is to work towards a goal of finding new routines that work to balance everything the best I can. I’m also hoping to establish a new fitness routine (again, I’m setting the bar low — any exercise will do). I’m really proud of all of the hard work I put into my health in 2016 with a group training program I completed. I won’t have those consistent appointments this year that kept me accountable in the past, and adding a newborn to the mix is definitely going to make this more challenging! Establishing a new routine is going to be key.
Stay on track. Saving money has always been a huge challenge for me but with the baby on the way and my income taking a hit while I’m on maternity leave, I got serious about budgeting in 2016. My hope for 2017 is to stay on track with those good habits I developed last year, stay on budget, and keep checking-in with the Mint.com account we set-up (it’s so helpful!). I also really want to use the same theme with the blog and stay on track with good planning and content habits I developed last year. I got into a great groove at the end of 2016 planning out content ahead of time, being organized with promoting the content once it went live, and trying not to miss the relevance window when executing timely ideas. It’s going to be challenging over the next few months, but I hope some of the planning I did in advance can help me stay on track!
Make good use of ME time. You know what makes me feel bad? Realizing that I spent 45 minutes watching a dumb TV show that I had no actual interest in. You know what makes me feel worse? Wasting time on endless scrolling through Facebook feeds (I find that I actually get angry looking at it! Why do I keep checking?). Me-time sounds like it might be dwindling in the near-future, so I hope to be more intentional about how I use it. There are so many podcasts I want to listen to, books I want to read, recipes I want to try. So I’m going to try to make better use of my down-time with less scrolling, more doing.
Brainstorm collaborations. When I get the opportunity to collaborate with brands, other bloggers, and my friends, it energizes me so much. It helps me feel creative, it keeps me accountable, and it creates great content. While I may be slowing down a bit over the winter, I want to use this time to brainstorm fun ideas for the spring and summer, reach out to people that I know will challenge me creatively, and set up some collaborations that will create better content for this site!
Print out pictures. I have thousands of photos on my phone, and I never go back to look at most of them. I have a feeling a new baby is only going to accelerate my photograph volume. Once every few months, I should print out those pictures and swap them out on my fridge and bulletin board, and maybe even frame some of them. They make me happy – so let’s print them out!
So that’s it for my first seasonal mini-goal list! Figure out some new routines, stay on track with good habits I started in 2016, be intentional with how I use my down time, brainstorm creative ideas for when I emerge from my winter/new mom hibernation, and print out cute pictures of my family. They’re small but mighty ideas that feel approachable and attainable to me!
What’s on your resolution/goal/intention list for 2017?
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Loved this! Especially making good use of me time.
Totally agree! I love spending time alone from time to time!