The Dreaded New Year

Every year when January 1st lands on the calendar, I feel the pressure.  I know I am not alone in this.    While I agree that the first day of the year is a fine time to have a fresh start, the very notion that we can suddenly be consistent in every ideal is a complete farce.  I have set this standard for myself every year at this time and have found myself in suffocating anxiety three short weeks later.  It is like a broken record and I never learn.

NOT THIS YEAR!

I tell you, it will not happen again.

 First of all, I decided that I wasn't even going to think about making (or starting) any goals until after my kids went back to school.  It would have been fruitless at best to even attempt to make any changes while I had all four "underminers" at home.  Since the kids went back to school in the middle of the week, I gave myself a grace period of a weekend to recover from the Christmas "break."

     In the past, I would investigate all of the dusty corners of my life only to determine that it was ALL important and that it ALL had to change.  I had a very hard time picking and choosing which change was necessary and which sloppy habits I could leave hanging around .  This was all very overwhelming and a real detriment to my self esteem.  My thoughts read,  "As turns out, I am a mess!  How have I been living like this!" and the like.

I tell you, it won't happen again.

This year I have chosen two habits to implement in my life.

We can find my first habit in the scriptures in D&C 88:124

"Retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated."


I will be focusing on the second portion of the scripture and am hoping that the first will happen as a result of the second.  I have found time and time again that when I get up early and exercise, read my scriptures and pray, or any combination of the three, I have a much better day.  I am not going to set the goal to do these other things, I am merely going to get up early, and I am hoping that the rest will follow.

The second habit that I am going to work on this year has to do with a previous post I did about queens.
By 4:00 p.m. when my kids get home, the main areas of my house will be straightened and we will have an "intentional" dinner.  We may be having chicken nuggets, but we will have them together at the kitchen table.  I want my family to feel that there are some things that they can count on no matter what kind of day I have had.  I want the time between when my kids get home and when they go to bed to be predictable and intentional. 

So that's it! Getting up early and having things in some semblance of order at 4:00 so that we can have an intentional evening.  No matter what else gets done or doesn't get  done in my day, it will be a success if I have accomplished these two things. 

Good riddance to overreaching goals that can't be met!

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