2013 The Year of Taking Care

I don’t take very good care of myself sometimes. The majority of the time, really. I do the basics, but I am not very thoughtful about my own care. I don’t pay attention to myself the way I do to the boys or to William. So, this year’s Resolutions focus on Taking Care. Of me. Not at the expense of my family, but in addition to.

I have three areas I want to focus on in 2013:
Physical,
Mental, and
Financial.

Physical.
There are a couple of solid goals I have for the physical part of The Year of Taking Care (TYTC), and some that will morph as the year progresses.

1. I will participate in Cathy Zielske’s “Move More, Eat Better” class via Big Picture Classes. I love the real-people-doing-it-together aspect and the creative aspect of this class.
2. I will continue the transition to whole foods and less meat. This is not difficult for me at lunch, but has been more difficult when cooking for the family. We’ll have one day a week with no meat and two days with chicken.
3. I will make all of our doctor’s appointments for the year by the end of January. This will include a dermatologist for me for a full-body check for melanoma.
4. I will exercise. I am going to do yoga and cardio. The cardio part is one of the points that will morph throughout the year.
5. I will take vitamins every day.

Mental.
The mental part of TYTC may look kind of loosey-goosey to someone not in my brain; but, that’s okay. This goal is to accomplish items that will help me feel good mentally.

1. I will capture 2013 through weekly Project Life scrapbooking. I am so excited about starting at the beginning of a year and journalling as it happens rather than catching up later.
2. I will catch up on scrapbooking our family for the years 2010-2012 using Project Life. Because this is catching up, I’m going to work on monthly layouts with special occasions thrown in. Again, I’m super excited.
3. I will write letters or notes or postcards. Once a week, I’m going to put pen to paper and then put a stamp on it and drop it off in the mailbox. And I’m going to use my pretty stationary.
4. I will cut back on waste. We started recycling this year, but we could do better. And I’m going to cut back on food waste (it’s gotten better, but we still throw away way too much food.)
5. I will write on my blog. I’m working on an editorial calendar of sorts, but I’m not too freaked out about it. Which is an important part of the whole deal, not putting too much pressure on myself.

Financial.
Even though I’m making this a category all its own for TYTC, it blends so much into the mental part for me, I debated putting it there. When our finances are in order, and I know where everything is going, I feel so much better. My anxiety is closely tied to how I feel we’re doing financially, and my role in it. This is a pretty simple goal on the surface, but one of the more important ones to our family well being.

1. I will balance my checkbook register every day.
2. I will update our budget spreadsheet with every paycheck.
3. I will categorize my spending so as to know where money is actually going.
4. I will pay off all credit cards.

I may change some of these, I may add, I may delete; but, those are my goals for 2013. Y’all are going to help keep me accountable, right? I would love to hear about your goals for 2013 and how you plan to make them happen.