2016 Goals and One Little Word: Enough

I’ve been thinking over a couple words for my ‘One Little Word’ for 2016 and finally settled on ‘Enough.’  The more I've rolled it around in my head, the more I've really felt it was the right word.  I particularly like it because it can cover so many different facets of life. Constantly reminding myself that I am doing enough, being enough, good enough.  Also that we have enough and the season of life that we are in is enough.  And I can also flip it on its head and remember to say Enough and let it go when something in my life is not serving me well. I like the idea of using our "one little word" as a lens for how we see the year.

And along with focusing my 2016 year on ‘Enough’ here are my other 2016 goals!

·      Complete my Gadanke “Home” Journal – Over the summer, I wrote this post about how special this little rental house is to me, and I really want to capture similar sentiments in my Gadanke Home Journal.  Check out Katie’s journals, they are amazing!

·      Organize our most used recipes in ONE place and come up with a system for them.  – Right now they are SO scattered. Some printed, some on Pinterest, some memorized.  Really planning to come up with a system and keep better track of stuff we try and like. I'd really like this to go along with better meal planning, grocery shopping and just simplifying food in general.

·      Read 30 Books – Considering I read 35 in 2015, 30 seems like a good goal for 2016! So many are already on my list!  Follow me on Goodreads for more book stuff.

·      Be more intentional about monthly date nights with Chris – As I mentioned yesterday, this year I’d really like to actually plan our dates better and maybe do some things we haven’t done before.  Not just the same old.

·      Learn to Knit – This is also on my 30 before 30 list.  I can do really basic crochet, but I really want to try out knitting since I tend to like finished knit projects better.

·      Finish Lactation Counselor and Childbirth Educator Certifications – On track for both of these by the end of the spring!

·      Publish Postpartum Year Anthology Book - (or at least have it on its way!) I am going to be looking into traditional publishing and hybrid publishing before going the self publishing route, so depending which direction it ends up going, I’m not sure how long this project will take to complete, but it’s one I’m very passionate about, so I am excited to work on it!

·      Continue Mom’s One Line a Day Journal and 5-Minute Journal, but also do the 52 List Journal – I got this journal a few months ago and decided to start it in January, I like the idea of spending a little bit of time every Sunday writing out a different creative list. And still love my One Line and 5-Minute journals.

·      Go to a Yoga Class at LEAST twice every week, preferably 3 times, or even more. – When I don’t have Zumba and the Lactation counselor classes at ARC going on 3 times is TOTALLY doable…but with the above in Feb-May, I'm going to tell myself that two is... enough. 

·      Complete the Zuda Yoga Assistant Program – Registered for this in February!

·      Meditate everyday, but shoot for 5+ minutes – Continuing the habit from 2015, but trying to up the length.

·      Publish a blog post once per month – a lot less from 2015, but with everything else going on, I think this is a reasonable goal!

·      Podcast – 3 Full Episodes per month (36 for the year - up from 2 per week and 25 for the year in 2015)

·      Eat Less Sugar – I’m not sure how I’ll quantify this one…but I know that I get into ruts of eating WAY too much sugar and it makes me feel like crap.  Everything in moderation and all that jazz, but I need the even the moderate amount to be lots smaller. And of course this also can be filed under the header of 'enough.' 

2015 brought a lot of growth, and finding a good groove. 2016 is sure to bring even more and I'm excited to see where it takes us. 

Happy New Year to all!

2015 Was A Very Good Year

2015 was a very good year. This time last year I was just starting to come out of the crazy baby fog. I had a 10 month old and I was finally starting to feel like myself again…do the things that made me feel like me.  So I set out with a list of goals for 2015, because honestly, goal-setting makes me feel like me.  It helps my frame of mind to always know I’m working towards something.  That’s also why I just posted a 30 before 30 list as well. 

So now that the christmas decorations have made their way back to the garage and as we get ready to sip the champagne and ring in 2016, here are some reflections on my 2015 goals and how they panned out:

Meditate Everyday – This has been really good.  I think for multiple reasons – One, I said any amount of time counted even if it was only 2 min. (Hoping to up that next year) and two, I promised myself I would never miss more than one day in a row.  Also using Coach.Me and Elise’s Goal Tracker helped too! Visual reminders are the best. I have meditated 319 out of 365 days this year.  Pretty darn good!

Read 25 Books – Completely surpassed this goal and read 36!  Two of these were very short, and 8 were audiobooks. But still. Super proud! For sure planning to up my reading goal in 2016.  Especially now that the husband has decided he wants to battle it out for who can read the most... 

Learn to Sew a Quilt  - Yeah. Didn’t happen.  I started to take a class locally and the teacher was terrible so I quit going.  I have a bunch of squares cut out and sitting in the closet but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.  Eventually…

Blog once per week – With the exception of a few weeks here and there, this mostly did happen.  It helped me be consistent with writing but it also made me try to find filler posts to meet that quota.  I’m backing off this goal quite a bit for next year since I’m going to have my hands very full with some other projects and certifications.

Date nights with Chris each month – So I’m pretty sure you could say we did go on 12 dates over the course of the year, but they weren’t planned out, intentional and much more than dinner or a movie.  (Which is still something of course) But I am hoping in 2016 we can be more intentional about planning 12 dates that are maybe a little bit different from our norm.

Do the 5-minute Journal Daily – So according to Coach.Me, I think I did this about 220 times? Certainly not everyday, but a lot.  I really like this exercise, and plan to keep it up in 2016.

Try 2 new recipes per month – Again, we probably did this…but not with much intention behind it.  Hoping to get better organized with our recipes and meal plans in 2016.

Produce 25 Podcast Episodes – Success, my last episode of 2015 was #25 where Kelsey interviewed ME. :)

ICEA Childbirth Teaching Series & Prep for early 2016 test – I passed my evaluated teaching series just a few weeks ago and am submitting the paperwork to schedule my test for February 5th! Ahh! 

Do the Couch-to-5K – I did this last March.  And I’m glad I did it, but it also reminded me that I am not a ‘runner’ – that is to say, I don’t enjoy running like I enjoy Zumba and Yoga.  Zumba and Yoga make my soul happy.  Running is just a means to an end for me. 

My “One Little Word” for 2015 was Presence. I think because meditation and yoga were such big aspects of 2015, and reading  several mindful/Buddhist parenting books…my view of the year was definitely zeroed in on Presence.  But I like what another blogger had said about the one little word, it’s not that picking a new word for 2016 makes Presence null en void, it means that I take that word with me and also have a new one to focus on.  More on that and 2016 goals tomorrow. 

3rd Quarter 2015 Goal Check-in

The happiest time of the year to me is definitely the Fall.  The weather is cooler but not freezing, the scarves and boots come out of the closet.  It’s all good.   It also always gets me thinking about what I want to accomplish as I close out the year, and looking towards goals for next year.  Also just trying to figure out how I can get through the last 3 months of the year and the craziness of the holidays with joy and intention and not stress and anxiety.  Because even though Sept through new years is my absolute favorite time of year…let’s be real, it’s not without chaos.

I’ve also been working on a “30 before 30” list that I hope to share on the blog later this fall. It’ll be 30 things I hope to accomplish in the next 2 and few months years. (I turn 28 in January)

But for today, here’s an update on my 2015 goal progress. You can also see Q1 & Q2 progress.

Q3 2015 Goal Progress:

Meditation - This year so far I have meditated 236 out of 267 days.  That’s insane.  I NEVER have been that consistent in past years.  I think part of that has to do with monitoring progress via Elise's chart and via coach.me, forcing myself to never miss more than one day, and not having a limit on the time I needed to spend meditating. Anywhere from 2-15 min counted.

5-min Journal – Fairly consistent with this one, typically only on weekdays.  I think my goal on coach.me for this one is 5 days per week? I do highly recommend the 5-minute journal though. It really forces you to find things to be grateful for everyday and to keep your head on the positive.

One Blog Per Week – This has been a great goal to force me to plan ahead on blog posts.  One per week has been SO much more doable than other goals I’ve set previous years. I really think I’ve completely stuck to, if not surpassed this goal. I’ve toyed with the idea of upping it to twice per week for 2016, but I’m not sure if that’s setting me up for failure, or if by setting that goal publicly I’m more likely to actually stick with it…? TBD.

New Recipes – I haven’t stuck to this in any intentional way this year.  I think we’ve definitely tried new recipes, sometimes more than one per pay period, sometimes not.  I think for this last quarter I’d like to really track ones that we try.  And as a longer goal, actually get all of our regular recipes in ONE place.  We have some on Pinterest, some on paper, some in cookbooks, just all over the place.  And having them in one central location would make meal planning SO much easier. Hmm, perhaps 2016 goal?

Monthly Date Nights – Again not real intentional about this one.  I think in August we went to eat, and in September we went to a movie. Perhaps we also did something in July? I can’t even remember.  Here’s to being more intentional for October, November, December and 2016 on this one.  We will probably see the final Hunger Games movie in November, and there was talk of ice skating and Ginger Elizabeth hot chocolate in December.

Read 25 Books – Killing this goal! Already at 25 and it’s not even October yet.  Maybe I’ll up my goal for 2016! 

Learn to sew a Quilt – I have the quilt squares cut for a very simple quilt, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.  Still hoping to finish it before the end of the year.

Podcast Production: 25 Episodes – So far so good! About to release episode 20 and have 5 more in the hopper to finish out the year.

Complete Childbirth Coursework – This is becoming more real.  I just ordered a bunch of class materials, my evaluated series is set for December.  After that I’ll just have to attend one more birth and take the final test.  So exciting!

Run Couch to 5K – Completed in March.

As the fall draws the year to a close, I plan to really pump it out and finish the childbirth work, teach my evaluated classes and hopefully schedule the test for early 2016.  It’s a bit of a crunch, but I am optimistic that I can do it! I’d also like to get a few months ahead on my podcast recordings.  So far, so good there. Another project that wasn’t on my original list is the book that I am working on.  It will be an anthology about the first year of motherhood. The submissions close in December, and I am hoping early 2016 with the childbirth coursework done, I can turn new energy to the book and propelling that project forward. I also hope to complete Clare's Baby Book and Project Life Year 1 & 2 books at the end of the year. 

It’s been a really good year for goals for me, and I don’t think that I can necessarily point that all at one specific thing.  Coach.me has been a big help for tracking. Having a mantra of doing a little bit at a time and setting reasonable goals has also helped.  I think following the miracle morning principals on most days has also contributed…and just picking goals that are really personal and near and dear to my heart.

I’m ready to finish out 2015 strong and prepare for even more great things in 2016!

How are your goals coming along?

2nd Quarter 2015 Goal Check-In

We are officially halfway through 2015, how crazy is that?  Most days it feels like it is going so fast.  Though, I have to say when it’s 109 degrees here in Sac, summer feels very slow and I can’t wait to get to Fall. Like really can’t wait.

But since we are halfway through the year, I think it’s time for another check-in on how things are going with my 2015 goals.  So here we go:

Meditate Everyday – This second quarter went even better than the first. I only missed 5 days of meditation in 3 months.  Pretty excellent!  I think the best thing I have done with this goal is ‘never miss more than one day.’ The days where I did miss, I doubled my efforts to make sure I did it the next day.

Keep the 5-Minute Journal Daily – I still really love this journal, and use it on most days. Though I think it’s more of a 5-6 day a week thing rather than all 7.

New Recipes each pay period – We still haven’t been doing great with this one.  Clare can be really picky, and I am not good at cooking, so when Chris is gone, cooking just really falls by the wayside.  I am publicly accounting to those of you here that I am going to try and redouble my efforts on this one during the second half of the year.

Monthly Date with Chris – I can’t say we’ve been real great about this. I think we went out to dinner a few times in the last couple months.  We really need to get these on the calendar for the rest of the year.  The hard thing is his relief day keeps changing, so trying to plan has been near impossible…but it needs to happen. And more than just going out to eat…actually trying something new. We are thinking an afternoon water park date in July!

Read 25 Books – I am killing it with this goal this year! I have really made reading a priority, and I have already read 18 books.  5 were audio books, but the rest were actual books. (Look for May and June Book Reviews next week)

Learn to Sew a Quilt – I am hopefully going to take a class for this in July. 

Podcast – Produce 25 episodes in 2015.  Looking good for this – next week Episode 14 goes live.  Debating whether 2016 will have weekly podcasts or whether I’ll stick with twice per month.

Childbirth Educator Coursework – My original plan was to do my evaluated series in early 2016, but thanks to some pregnant friends, I have a new goal of doing it in the late fall 2015!

Running Couch-to-5K – Did this in March. The exercise front has been pretty good these days, teaching zumba twice a week, playing softball again, and making it to Body Pump at least once each week.  I’d like to be more consistent with Yoga and Body Pump though.

Not too bad!  

How are your 2015 goals coming?