If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I love a
good resolution. You can follow this link to read about the 2012 Great American Apparel Fast and this link to read a
bit about what helped me keep my resolution throughout last year. Because I wrote about these resolutions
monthly here on the blog, I felt like I was being held accountable. So thank you, dear reader, for holding me
accountable! I think I’ll do the same
this year, though my resolutions are much less extreme.
2013 New Year’s Resolutions
Enjoy
Life. This should be simple, right? I realized several months ago,
when I was running through my day feeling frazzled and annoyed, that I needed
an attitude adjustment. The day looked
like this: Get up and get the boys ready for school. Drop boys and neighbor kids off at
school. Come home and make coffee. Hang out with Sintayehu and get ready to go
to the Y for a run. Go to the Y. Go to the store to pick up a few groceries. Make lunch.
Put Sintayehu down for her nap.
Work. Welcome boys home from
school. People, this is an average day
for me. And it’s amazing! I am fortunate
to get to spend so much time with my kids AND do the work I love. And yet, sometimes I approach such a day with
a groan and a sense of just needing to check items off the list: Pack lunches, check. Y, check. Groceries, check. Work, check.
I want to refocus and live everyday as the gift that it is: Less marking things off the to-do list. More joy.
2 Read two
books per month. One thing that has
gotten pushed aside over the last few years is taking the time to sit down and
read books. I love periodicals –
newspapers and magazines—and always
manage to find time to read them.
However, I haven’t been reading as many books as I used to. For goodness sake, I was an English major and
an English teacher before I had
kiddos. I teach writing, for the love of Pete! I love to read, I want to read, I need to read. So, two books per month throughout all of
2013. It sounds simple, but it seems
like unless I make the time for it, this doesn’t happen. I got several great books as Christmas gifts and
will start with them. (I'm already nearly finished with Grace Coddington's memoir—it's so interesting!) I’m excited and
will check in with my progress here. In
the meantime...recommendations?
I applaud your efforts at being in the moment with the kids and your day, but organization does keep us from losing our minds, yes? I remember almost going nuts with the schedule with the 4 kids with each of their activities and needs and time. And when I thought I couldn't keep up anymore, voila! Frankie turned 16 and began driving. That helped me calm down a bit. So, in just 8 or so years, Oliver will drive Sintayehu to her dance class and take Elihu to the library and you will sit down and read read read. All is well.
ReplyDeletelove love love!
have you read the great gatsby? i just started it and am enjoying it so much. the movie comes out this summer, too. :)
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