I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends! I can not believe the year is all ready coming to an end. Obviously my child can’t believe it either because the other day she said ” I don’t even know where this year went”. I just looked at her because I was a bit taken back by her 9 year old thoughts on reality.
This year did slip through our fingers. I remember very early on in January saying that 2017 was going to be the year for travel for our family. We had our usual spring break trip booked to Myrtle Beach, SC. We also had just booked our very first trip to Disney World and also had a cruise booked (one that I earned free, which was far from free!). Little did I know that we would also take a last minute trip to Wyoming to visit very special people and then also last minute decided to give the kids a trip to New York City!
2017 was a blur but I’m so glad that I have a ton of pictures that captured the year for us. A lot of changes and feeling have happened in 2017 which have really had me thinking about things I would like to see happen or change in 2018.
Let’s chat about New Years Resolutions shall we…
What is a New Years Resolution?
Here is the definition. This way you can ponder it for a minute or two and really think about it.
“A New Year’s resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person resolves to change an undesired trait or behavior, to accomplish a personal goal or otherwise improve their life.”
Why do we make New Years Resolutions?
Regardless of what resolution you commit to, the overall goal is to improve life in the coming year. Resolutions can come in many forms. Some people make a promise to change a bad habit, such as quitting smoking or eating less junk food to working out and getting healthy or maybe even reducing debt. There are so many types of resolutions that we all make.
We make and set these resolutions based upon our own lives. The goal or outcome is based solely on you and how driven and motivated you are to keep that resolution.
How long do we actually keep New Years Resolutions?
How long we each keep these resolutions is completely based upon us as the individual. Usually only about 8% of people who make a resolution will stick to it. There are many reasons people can’t stick to their resolutions, from setting too many of them to getting derailed by small failures.
I’m committing to my resolutions this year because I no longer want to fall into that 8% category. But, I will say they are so hard to keep! You know, when you start that new healthy lifestyle on January 1st but by the 5th you have already fallen off the wagon and decide you’ll start again on Monday but never actually do?
The best ways to keep a New Years Resolution!
Here’s a small list of ways to help you actually keep those resolutions-
- Lose weight? Check.
- Start small. Make resolutions that you think you can keep.
- Change one behavior at a time. Unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time.
- Talk about it. Share your experiences with family and friends.
- Don’t beat yourself up. Perfection is unattainable.
- Ask for support.
- Only pick three goals. You should have one really important goal that you’re going to achieve no matter what.
- Write your resolutions down and post them somewhere.
- Turn each resolution into a habit.
- Work on one habit per month.
- Use a calendar.
2017 has changed a lot of my thoughts and views and since I have already started thinking about what I would like to see and change in the New Year its time for me to make that commitment.
4 of my goals this year you would think would be super easy to keep but with a busy hectic lifestyle it makes it super hard to do. Here are my top 3-
- Get Healthy. Now, I’m not calling it a diet because I know it won’t last past the first 4 hours before I cave in and eat something I shouldn’t. I can however commit starting to live a healthy life. I plan to start small and add in a work. out 3 days a week and change the way we eat. I am committed to cooking meals for my family which will also help with another of my goals. I’m vowing to not get upset when I fall off the wagon and I will get back up and shake it off and start again. (Now Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” will be stuck in my head for dayssss) I know that it’s ok to not eat healthy every.single.day. I’m really going to try and live the 80/20 lifestyle. Or…maybe 70/30, let’s just see how it plays out!
- Save Money. This one is going to be hard. I say that because there are things that I want to change around our house since we haven’t updated or made it our own since we moved in 4 years ago. But, I am committed! I just neeeeed my husband to get committed. Once we start eating at home and make a few small changes to our budget I think this one will be one of the easiest. In past posts you may have read that we have some debt. (The debt was NOT caused from our traveling this year, it was caused by risk’s that I thought were a good idea). This means that I need to buckle down and work my behind off. Don’t worry I have already read Dave Ramsey’s book “Total Money Makeover”. I loved that book and I also have read a few more and I am super motivated and ready to go!
- Declutter! My house desperately needs to be decluttered. My kids have everything and it’s just way to much. These kids have so much stuff that I have actually considered getting a bigger house. In reality I know that by decluttering our house and life this will take care of the fact of me thinking we need a bigger house. I plan to go room by room and declutter what we do not actually need and giving each room a little face lift. I certainly plan to do this as inexpensively as possible while still keeping it beautiful. My kids seriously do not need a quarter of the stuff that they have (I may not need a quarter of the stuff I have either). I’m really really excited about this goal and I’m going to work extra hard to keep this one!
- Blogging. I have truly come to love blogging. I want to make this a place where you want to check daily. It’s hard though. When you work at home and have no “boss” to report to thats when things can get difficult. Here’s where I will surely need a calendar. I need to commit to showing up every day (Im actually pretty good at that!) and working a set amount of hours. Here’s where I need YOUR help though…I need to know what you want to see. Don’t be shy! Do you want to hear about me decluttering our life, maybe trying to get healthy? What do you want to know. How can I help YOU? I’ll only able to get better at this as long as you help me. I’m not saying I am great blogging (far from it actually) but I love love love helping people. I’m pretty sure that’s what I was put here to do.
So, who’s ready for a new year?? I’ll commit to helping you keep your resolutions and goals if you can commit to helping me keep mine. Let’s do this together so neither of us feel’s alone and also have the support we need to keep going.
Send me an email at livingthatcrazylife@yahoo.com with what you want to see on the blog and also what YOUR resolutions are so I can commit to helping you!
I’m super excited to kick off 2018 and see where it takes us. So, I’ll be watching for your emails at livingthatcrazylife@yahoo.com or your comments here!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Tina
