Well, it’s that time of year. The beginning of a new one. Time to examine how I did as far as accomplishing last year’s goals and time to set new ones. I have given a little bit of thought to my goals for 2012. But it’s time to actually really give it some thought as I sit here and meander through my thoughts of yore (a.k.a. yesterday ;)) and look to thoughts of tomorrow.
In 2011, I had hoped to:
Attend the Temple Monthly. Though I did not get 100% on this goal, I did get close. I made it 10 out of 12. There were times this was a big sacrifice to make – like the time my mom couldn’t go at the last minute, so I took my car. My car doesn’t run so well (as you may well recall). I mean, it’s running. But it has issues. I don’t usually (read: I don’t ever) take it on treks to Seattle… But Jeremy had just replaced the radiator, so I felt a bit more confident in it. And one nice thing that came from that trip was the opportunity to go with Jeremy’s mom and get to know her better and share that time and experience together. Though I didn’t officially meet this goal 100%, it will not be on my 2012 goals. And the reason is because I have achieved what I needed to achieve, and that was a change of heart. I’ve made Temple attendance a bigger priority in my life, and that’s the purpose of goals… at least for me. Or at least, it’s one purpose. I feel confident that I will continue making it a priority in 2012 whether it’s one of my official self-improvement goals or not.
Read the scriptures 30 minutes a day. This you will also not find on my 2012 goal list. Again, not because I am perfect at it. But because I have seen a change in myself. I didn’t achieve what I would call 100% on this goal either. But again, I have seen the scriptures become a more important part of my life. I have experienced more of those beautiful moments during scripture study where I have an impression about something important or learn something I can apply to my life from what I read. These are beautiful things to me, they were things I wanted to experience. And I have. And because I have, I want to continue it. It’s funny how that works… I think that’s some of what a change of heart is: you recognize the good fruits that come from good things, and in wanting those good fruits, you start to desire to do the good things. And so it is for me. I am not perfect – and sometimes my scripture reading is far less than 30 minutes and may consist of reading through one Conference talk from the most recent Conference. And maybe it’s one I’ve read through twice before (but I return to it because I love it). But the goal is to be spiritually fed through scripture reading – whether ancient or modern-day scripture – and I have felt that happen in my life, and I am thankful.
Continue building my savings account. I have continued to do this, and I will take it off my goal list for 2012. Not because I’m going to stop doing it, but because it’s become almost automatic. I remain amazed that I have been able to save what I’ve wanted to save and yet meet all my obligations. I wish I could explain what I feel about this, but I lack words. Basically, I have learned (or reaffirmed) two things: 1 – Paying tithing really does result in blessings being poured out abundantly. The promise is in Malachi. The promise is true. Money didn’t fall from the sky. But I had what I needed – and then some. 2 – Following the counsel of the Prophet and apostles, after receiving your own witness it is good, also brings forth blessings. We have been counseled to get out of debt and stay out of debt. To not be a prisoner to anyone through financial obligations. Sure, there are certain big-ticket items that require debt. A home mortgage is what most readily comes to mind. But so few material things are really debt-worthy, and I am thankful I have been able to maintain a desire to be debt-free more than I have had a desire for a new car or a big TV or whatever. The other counsel has been to save money away for the rainy days. I have continued to do so. Initially it was hard to put that little bit aside, because I wasn’t making very much. I’m still not. But I have seen the miracle of being able to do it, because I want to do what’s right. I want to be self-reliant as much as I possibly can. And I know Heavenly Father wants that for me also, so He will help me, as long as I do my part. I have seen it. So I know it’s true.
See somewhere new. Okay, so I didn’t do this. But does it count if I took someone else to see some place new ;)? Haha… And actually, while I’m sitting here thinking about it, I did see somewhere new this year. I went to Whidby Island (I think that’s how it’s spelled). I think I don’t always think of things like that because it’s not as exotic as Paris or Egypt or the Oregon Coast (haha ;)). But it was someplace I’d never been, so I think it counts :). Which means I can say I did this after all! And with these thoughts in mind, I think I will remove this from my goals also, because it seems a little too vague. I could go to upper-Shelton and say I’ve seen somewhere new. But that’s not really what I intend, so I think this goal is kinda dorky, now that I think of it :).
Complete one item on my bucket list. I didn’t do this, but that’s okay. I will add it on for next year. And by golly! It’s going to happen one of these years ;). I have a variety of things on there, you know. And there’s a good chance I could make up for the lean years by having a fat year and doing 3 of them in one year! You never can tell with life. It’s always an exciting adventure :).
72-Hour Kit. Um… Still no. Arg. But I think I had to get some other things prioritized ahead of this so that I could get to this point. See the remainder of my commentary in my goals for 2012.
3-month supply food storage. Well, officially I didn’t do so well on this. But it’s still important to me, which is why you will see it listed under the 2012 goals with a few tweaks.
Become organized and stay that way. Well, I am working on this. I’m not there. Not even close. But I’m working on it. I think I shredded an entire trash bag full of personal documents that just needed to go! I did that this past week. As I have gotten more and more settled into my new home (yeah, you’d think I’d be completely settled, but I’m not quite there…), I have improved in how organized I can be. I have been de-cluttering by getting rid of things I really don’t need (like novels I’ll never read again – or may never read in the first place). I’m not saying I don’t want to have stuff, but I am realizing that the more you have the more you have to organize. So I don’t need to have the cross-stitch books that I’ll never use – and I know I’ll never use, because I don’t see myself cross-stitching a bunch of bass or catfish. (I will add a disclaimer: I still am not ready to part with any kitchen stuff :)).
Lose 8 more pounds. I did this and then some. When I went for my very exciting female appointment in November, I discovered I’d lost 25 pounds from the year before. And when I’d weighed in 2010, I was already about 6 pounds down from where I’d started. Which means I lost a total of 31 pounds from 2010 to 2012. I’m not sure where I am today, since I don’t have a scale here. I know I’m under my goal weight, but I also know I’ve eaten a lot of pumpkin pie and cookies, and a few spoonfuls of ruined fudge and probably a handful of other not-so-waistline-friendly foods ;). But I’m not too worried about it.
Expand my garden. I did this. I grew a lot more stuff. I didn’t tend to it as much this year. There were several reasons for this. One large reason was time. My time was focused elsewhere, and that’s okay. I enjoyed my garden; I enjoyed the vegetables from it. I love to garden, but I don’t know if I will this year, simply because I don’t know if it’s realistic. If I do, it will be a few pots outside with maybe a tomato plant and I don’t know what else you can grow well in a pot. I don’t have much of a yard at my house, and I simply don’t see me going to my grandmother’s house every day or even every weekend to tend it. But I do know I will garden again one day, and I know I will enjoy it :).
Write in my journal weekly. I mostly did this. It got a little less frequent around October and November and December. But I still wrote a lot more than last year or the year before that. And I’m thankful. I know that it will be a treasure down the road. I have often spoken of how I appreciate now my high school journals (even though they are full of silly crushes and mundane details like that more than anything of real depth). But after I moved in to my own house, I unpacked my journal from Tuscaloosa. And I was so grateful for it. And wish I’d have written more. I had forgotten some very important things that happened in Tuscaloosa. Some huge blessings; some moments when I really saw the hand of the Lord in my day-to-day. I am – and will forever be – so grateful that I wrote what I wrote, even if it wasn’t more. Going back and reading that journal was so strengthening to me. And a further witness of the importance of writing in a journal. And so I’m grateful for what I’ve written this year. I can definitely say it’s run the gamut of emotions. It is a good representation of my life this year. And there’s even a smattering of impressions and thoughts that I know will be a blessing for me to read about in the future and remember.
Write 30 minutes a day. Yeah, I sort of quit doing this sometime around April. I never got back to it. Maybe one day. For now it’s not that big a deal. Although it would help me with one of those bucket list items ;).
Spend more time reading and less time online. Well, I can say I have been online less in the last few months. Because I didn’t have the option, what with not being willing to have that bill at this point ;). But I haven’t done a whole heap of reading, that’s for sure! I had planned to read 30 books this year, but I only got halfway to my goal. But that’s okay. I was enjoying the company of a certain special someone… and it was worth it ;).
In 2012 I hope to:
Memorize about 52 Scripture Masteries. That’s a rough estimate, and I hesitate to put a numerical value there, because that makes it harder to be accountable to when some of those are entire pages long (and therefore it will not get memorized in only one week). Anyway, scripture masteries are select scriptures from each of the books of scripture we have (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price). The 10 Commandments are a scripture mastery in the Old Testament. And they are multiple verses, so you can see what I mean about the length of some of them. Anyway, Jeremy and I talked about wanting to memorize them, and actually we are setting this as a couple goal for the year also. But I know I want to add it to my personal goals to help me be more accountable to it :).
Simplify. I definitely realized, when shopping at 6:30 in the morning on December 23rd, and feeling quite Grinch-like, that I need to simplify life a bit. Last year I had shopped throughout the year for Christmas, and it wasn’t so hectic. This year I didn’t do so well, and my attitude was a lot more yuck when I was down to the wire. So not the Christmas spirit. And I love to give gifts. It’s a way I show love. But I think, as the number of people I want to give gifts to continues to grow in size, my choice of gifts needs to change as well. Gifts can be expensive, and I need to be a wise steward over my money. I think this year I will be turning to making gifts more than buying them. Does this sound less simple to some? Perhaps. But it gives me an opportunity to work on it through the year and actually put even more love and thought into the gift. I miss making cross-stitch ornaments. And one of the things I have enjoyed doing every year since I moved here is making goodies and giving them away. And another gift I really enjoyed giving this year was the pepper jelly I made. There was just something extra-enjoyable in the home-made gifts, and I think I want to do that in 2012 instead of going to the store at the crack of dawn (or before…) and being sour about it. Blah. And this is only one example of my need to simply my life. It’s the main one I have thought of so far, but I am sure there are other ways. And so the goal is to determine them and do them :).
Visiting Teaching. So at church, ideally, each sister in the Ward is assigned another sister in the Ward as her “companion” and then they get a list of other sisters in the Ward to visit each month. The goal is to fellowship, teach, lift, help, etc. And let me go ahead and admit here that I’m pretty lousy at it. Like. Really. Lousy. I haven’t always been lousy, but that’s because I’ve had really awesome Visiting Teaching companions in the past (read: Jeni) who would make the appointments and all I had to do was tag along. So I guess I was, in fact, sort of lousy. But I didn’t feel quite as lousy, because I was actually doing something. I’m not so great at being the one to initiate things and coordinate schedules and call the sisters and see if we can come by and visit. Lame of me, I know. And so I need to do better. My official goal is to do face-to-face visits 4 times this year, if possible. I say “if possible” because the truth is there are others involved. If someone says, “Yeah, this isn’t a good time for me, could you send a letter instead?” then I can’t really twist their arm, ya know? But I need to put forth my efforts better than I have. And l will admit I am hesitant to put this up here as a goal, because I know it means I will have to be accountable to it. But I also know I have been richly blessed, and this is something I believe Heavenly Father wants me to do. It is His way of helping others feel loved and supported. And I need to be more willing to do those things. And as I do, I think I will gain a testimony of Visiting Teaching the way Jeni has (which is probably why she was undaunted in her scheduling appointments and doing the work… she’d seen it bless the life of at least one person, and she knew). Thank you Jeni, for being an example to me :).
Eat more vegetables. Okay, I’m mostly a terrible vegetable-eater. Which is part of why Monday Meals was so awesome… we tried new recipes with vegetables that are ordinarily thought of as detestable (like Brussels sprouts and asparagus). Granted, those vegetables were doctored up with everything unhealthy under the sun (like cheese, creamy soups, and sour cream…). But I liked my vegetables during Monday Meals ;). But all kidding aside, I do know I need to make vegetables a bigger part of my diet. When I’m cooking an actual meal, for dinner, it’s easy for me to make sure it’s well-rounded and includes veggies. And there are even some vegetarian dishes I love (like the garlic vegetable soup). But on a daily basis, I do not make eating vegetables a priority. I have gotten better about having more fruit in my house (usually bananas because they are easy, and lately I’ve developed a love for those little cutie organs – or mandarins, apparently ;)). I like easy, which is probably why these two fruits are playing a large part in my fruit diet lately. But veggies… I just don’t think to snack on veggies. And I should. Even if I require some ranch dressing to help dress them up a bit and make them more appealing :). I’m really good at eating pickles… does that count? Anyway, I am not sure how I am going to implement this, exactly, but that’s sort of what setting a goal is for me… I decide on something I feel I need to do better, and then I work to find a way to do it. Even if it takes me all year ;). So I’ll let you know what I come up with.
Humility. So I had this as a goal in 2010. I felt I didn’t achieve it. I didn’t put it on the list for 2011. Mostly because I was probably pretty moody about my absolute failure (or seeming failure) and didn’t really want to go there again. But I’ve gained perspective. And, honestly, I am not sure how one measures humility in oneself anyway. But I want to at least work on it, whether or not I can say I achieved it by the end of the year. (Well, I don’t think I will achieve it in this life anyway, so just nix that ridiculous statement…). I have come to realize some interesting things about humility and pride. I remember when I set this goal in 2010, my cousin Elka told me to be careful asking for that. Hahaha… So true Elka, so true. Because the things that happen to allow you to choose humility are generally not the most fun things in the world. But let me go ahead and say that, even though I didn’t set that as a goal in 2011, I still had ample opportunity come my way to exercise humility. Do I think I did a good job? I don’t know. But I hope I did at least some of the time. And I have seen where the opportunities have been (in retrospect, and with a little bit of pondering and probably some encouraging impressions from the Spirit). And I don’t think I’ve been an all-out failure. But I think one way I can improve is by realizing something is an opportunity to be humble during the event rather than afterward. Haha… I’m also learning that, sometimes, humility doesn’t have to be in the big things (like me saying, “Okay so I moved across an entire country and did my best to do my best – so what gives!?!” – when I don’t get a good job or meet my awesome future husband in the first 2.5 years of being in Washington). Yep, I probably was lame at humility in that scenario. Humility is trusting the Lord – and trusting His timing. And not asking “what gives!?!” But it’s also in the small, seemingly unimportant things. Like saying, “Yeah, those books made me laugh, but it’s time for me to stop excusing them as my guilty pleasure because they do have quite a bit of inappropriate stuff in them, and I don’t need them to be happy or be better.” So anyway, I don’t know how I will measure this, but I do want to be willing to at least try to be more humble. In the big things and the small things. I want to say, “Thy will be done” and mean it. Because it’s always what’s best anyway.
Bucket List item. I didn’t achieve this last year, so I would like to this year. The sad thing is that there are plenty of things I can at least work toward without it costing money. Like learning sign language. Okay, maybe that’s not plenty (I don’t have the list handy at the moment, and I don’t have internet here at home, so I’m going on memory for most of this stuff…). So this year I will try again. But like I said when I acknowledged that I didn’t complete this goal for 2011: life is life. And I may very well cross off several things in one year! So I am not too worried about it. I’d just like to have it as a goal :).
Three-month supply food storage and hygiene necessities. Well, 3 months in most things. Some things may be 2 months. Why not more? Well, because my little tiny house isn’t conducive to more. But we will store what we can and I will learn how to circulate it and replace it. It will be good practice for one day when we have the room we need and we can have a year’s supply. I will be able to rotate and get a good feel for how much I will need of things. I’m pretty excited about this, because I actually have a starting point.
72-Hour Kits. I’m feeling like this might actually be the year! Perhaps because I’m feeling warm and fuzzy as I sit here on my couch in my pj’s (church is at 1:00 this year for my Ward), and I’m feeling hopeful and excited for all I can do in 2012. And possibly because I have a pretty darn good support system in things like this (I like to call him Jeremy ;)).
Well, that’s about all I’ve come up with to this point. Not as many as in the past, but then, I am trying to simplify ;). So Happy New Year all! And to let you smile just a little bit more… Here’s a picture of me and Jeremy and my Christmas tree on the last day of 2011, right before we took it down and recycled it :). Awwww…
