Goals Check-in: How is it Already February?!
Seriously. Where did the first month of the year go?! I don't know how many times I thought to myself about things I wanted to write about and then...just never did. I don't even have any good reasons as to why not! Seems silly when writing can be so therapeutic to me; there is something about putting words down that I, as weird as it sounds, visualize decluttering and unpacking my brain a little bit because I don't have ideas swirling around since it's written down to be read anytime. It's like packing little boxes neatly (or, more realistically, sometimes just haphazardly throwing shit in something that kind of fits) to be packed away in storage. Am I crazy? I'm probably crazy.
2016. I decided not to pinpoint any specific resolution for the year. The more I thought about it, the more I reflected on how fluid life is, our situations are, and how committing to doing one thing that sounds great in January may not be what's best come May, or September. Choosing one goal might often cause you to brush off other areas of your life that are also important but maybe didn't "make the cut."
Instead, I found myself repeatedly attracted to a saying that the Project Life creator (I am indeed addicted to scrapbooking) puts on everything and says repeatedly: Cultivate a good life and record it. This year I'm focusing on the first part of that: CULTIVATE A GOOD LIFE. This was more than picking a New Year's Resolution to me. This was thinking about the important parts of MY life and what it's going to take to make them "good" so that when I reflect on the bits and pieces of me, I feel like I'm truly cultivating myself as a whole, not just making one part of me "better." Breaking this down in the beginning of the year wasn't easy and I went through lots of paper jotting down notes, scribbling things out, and circling and highlighting.
My finalized list was narrowed down to 6 categories: Personal, Social, Financial, Home, Health, and Marriage. I could have done more but I wanted this to be a list that I could easily check in with myself on. I have it written in the front of my planner and go back to look at my list regularly. It is helping me keep myself and priorities in check and so far, I am very much enjoying this way of thinking. I wrote quotes underneath my goals within each category that I found motivating and truly enjoy reading them frequently. I know lots of people find stuff like that super cheesy but 1) hello, I LOVE cheese and 2) I'm such a visual person that it really helps me think about the choices I'm making. I definitely have some work to do, especially in the social area. It's so easy to waste an hour of my day on Facebook and wonder what I just did with my time but then when I think about the quote I intentionally wrote down next to it, I am reminded that this present time is all I get. I should probably not spend it staring at a screen. A work in progress and I have 11 more months to get there! Although they are personal, I am sharing my goals written in my planner; partly as accountability for myself and because maybe they'll help someone else somehow.
Thank you, Erin Condren, for such pretty planners to write everything in!
A glimpse of last week in my planner. The things I write down are things that need to be remembered/appoints/etc but also those that align to my goals: I bought a FitBit and help with moving at the end of my pregnancy and log my steps, water, dinners, chores for the day, etc.
I'd love to know how your 2016 is going!!!
xoxo
Courtney
