Welcome 2010!

I've never been much for resolutions.

I have a list on my refrigerator from this day last year. It has my list of 2009 resolutions. It only had 10 things on it, but do you know how many I actually accomplished? Zip. Nada. Zilch.
Sure, I put up a fighting effort on some - like "Get up earlier - by 6:45 at the latest." I had a streak for probably half the year when I got up early to do laundry and accomplish projects before work. By far, they were the best days, because I had more energy and felt like I had done something productive. But by no means did I manage to meet this goal every day.

I would love to say that I actually made myself "Exercise at least 3x a week." I think I averaged once per week for the whole year. But hey - once a week is better than not at all, right?

Then there are the others, like making a new dinner every week, swiffering the kitchen weekly, taking vitamins regularly, and making breakfast smoothies and keeping them in the freezer - which really didn't take off at all.



So now it's 2010. I'm going to give it another shot. I think I've gained a lot of perspective about how I handle life in the past year. And I'm going to make my new resolutions reflect that as much as I can.



My overall goal for 2010, as mentioned in my previous post, is CALM. I want to slow things down, have time to breathe, and give myself a chance to do the things I care most about. I'm thinking about some creative ways to remind myself of this word when things get crazy.

In the spirit of CALM, here are my other goals for 2010:

• SAY NO. This will be the biggest change, and the hardest to implement. I'm realizing that I cannot do everything. So SAY NO. The world won't end, and I won't be stuck in situations I don't have time for, or can't stand, or whatever.


• Make meal planning less stressful. Plan weekly? monthly? whatever it takes.


• Exercise to get back to wedding-status! Mix it up so it doesn't become a chore.


• Continue to get up by at least 6:45am - try to push this to 6:30. Go to bed early!!


• Make a cleaning strategy and don't let everything pile up until state of disaster becomes reality.


• Really, actually, start taking vitamins.


• Don't drink soda. At all. Really, what possible excuse is a good one?


• Get back to daily devotions. I'm sure this is one of the best ways to promote CALM.


• Keep up with Project Life. Don't fall behind even one day, or that one day may become two, then three, then twenty...


• Finish 2010 with NO outstanding video projects. This first day of 2010, I have 7 projects that people are waiting to see, not counting things I've filmed just for my own benefit. This pressure causes a lot of my stress.


• Play the piano for fun, and enjoy it. This means yes, call the piano tuner, already!


• Pay down the mortgage principle so that we can refinance.


• Take dance classes.


• Make someone's day brighter and send birthday cards through the mail. Or anniversary cards. Or random no-purpose cards. Or cookies!

And one just for fun...

• Bake at least 20 batches of cookies by December 31, 2010!

Whew. That's quite a few things. But right now - I am determined that they are possible. And by this time next year, I will be happier, healthier, and feel so much more CALM that I will hopefully only have a handful of goals for 2011.