January: Another Fresh Start!
It has been ages since I blogged… and I have no idea if I will do any better at it this year. But I’ll get it started by writing two blogs for the month of January. Here goes the first… my 2016-wrap-up-and-2017-resolutions blog!
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What Were My Goals Last January?
My Blog Goals: To reconnect with God, to find contentment in this season of my life, and to learn financial responsibility. I also added a blog later on about a 24 Book Reading Challenge I wanted to complete in the year.
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Non-Blog Goals: To not let fear be the reason I don’t do something new, and to buy a house.
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What Did I Do Last Year?
-I hit my 1 year mark of being an employee with CCM.
-I auditioned for the Polo theater and got to spend one of the most fun summers I’ve had in years acting in Godspell.
-I read a million books, but completed less than half of the books on my challenge.
-I was frugal and spendy and frugal and spendy, and then Elizabeth and I spent the entire last half of the year being spendy-spendy-spendy because WE BOUGHT A FLIPPIN’ HOUSE! (Not meaning a house that we’re going to flip, rather one that makes me flip out because it’s so awesome.)
-I went through a lot of change with my work, as I transitioned to working from home, and then joined a new department in the same company; some of it was stressful, and some was good.
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Did I Complete the Goals?
Spiritual Goal: I did not do a great job of reconnecting with God this year, at least not the way I’d hoped to. But more on that later.
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Contentment Goal: I think I did pretty well with contentment in this season of my life so far. The house was definitely an upside, and working from home has been great; considering the fact that there have been so many changes in my life, the last half of the year I have felt more excited and stressed than “content”. We’ll see how it goes now that I’m getting settled.
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Financial Goal: Considering the fact that my sister and I bought a house and it is going to be entirely furnished by the end of the month with plenty of food, bills being paid, and my savings account getting filled up again, I think I can say that I completed the financially responsible goal. 🙂
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Reading Goal: I was so confident that I could do my 24 Book Challenge, or at least most of it… but then I started it 3 months late, and I kept seeing other books I wanted to read or finding new challenges at the library that I couldn’t say no to, and then at the end of the year I got majorly stuck on Don Quixote… so yeah, that overachieving didn’t end very well. But I still read a whole lot of books, so it was a successful year for reading.
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Fearless Goal: The past two years I have had the mantra of “don’t let fear be the reason not to do something new” in the back of my head, and so I drank some water to calm my butterflies in my stomach and headed out to Godspell with my brothers to audition last year… and it was extremely worth it. I also got to work backstage on the play following that, which was another fun experience. I’m not going to audition for everything, but I have definitely rediscovered my love for acting, and so I am going to keep an eye out on plays this year and hopefully find a good one or two to audition for.
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House Goal: And lastly… I moved out. As everyone knows, Elizabeth and I accomplished our goal of buying a house, and I am so excited. We’ve been living in it for about a month, and some days I still find myself surprised that we actually did it… it’s no longer hanging over our heads on a to-do list… it’s done! That was for sure the highlight of my year.
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What Are My Plans for 2017?
I don’t have a list of resolutions, but I do have a goal: I want to have the best year of my life so far.
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Everyone who knows me knows that my ultimate goal is to “get married, have kids, be a stay-at-home wife and mom who homeschools her children”, yada yada yada. But whether that is or isn’t in my future, it is not my life right now. And right now, I’m in a great season! I am independently living in my own house with my sister… I have a good job that has helped me get this far… I have an area of ministry that I’ve been involved in for years at my church… I have friends aplenty who like me and enjoy doing fun activities… I have an adventurous spirit… and I’m single! I want to actively enjoy this season that I’m living in.
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However, the only way to truly do that is to get back on track with God. If I am seeking and listening to God, then the rest will fall into place. So, my main goal this year is to actually, literally and practically make changes in my spiritual life. I have been apathetic for the past 3 years about that with the hope of changing, but I want to be proactive about it this year. My most important resolution will be to jump back into regular quiet times, study Scripture, pray for the girls in my ministry, and spend quality time in worship.
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Other goals to make this the best year ever include:
…continuing to be socially initiative and hospitable to my friends and family
…being financially wise on a regular basis so that I have opportunities to do spontaneous fun things without going broke (weekend roadtrips, meals at Olive Garden, seeing a show, etc)
…getting an exercise bike and using it regularly in my living room, as well as learning healthy eating habits
…investing more strongly into the lives of my ministry girls
…and continuing to enjoy my creative outlets, such as blogging, acting, singing, dancing, reading, writing and cooking.
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This is my plan! I don’t know how far I will make it, but I am going to do my best to make this a fulfilling and giving time of my life. Happy New Year, everyone!