Posted in Loosing Weight, resolutions

2017 Resolutions

Happy New Year!

2017-new-yearFor many, a new year is a chance to start over. Get things right. Do things better than before. Improve oneself.

Most people don’t keep the resolutions they make. Perhaps we’re not motivated enough, or too lazy. Most likely, we just don’t want to change.

I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve quit beating myself up over failing to live up to my resolutions. Maybe it’s because I’ve finally kept a few resolutions, and I know I’m actually capable of changing. Or maybe I just don’t care to make myself feel bad.

That doesn’t keep me from making resolutions like everyone else.

I’m hoping to do this year differently from last year. Not because I did things wrong last year. But because I already know this year will be fraught with different challenges. My health has changed. So has my financial and spiritual status. This requires different resolutions.

2017 Resolutions: Health

Last year, I resolved to lose 20 pounds. To that end–and to my surprise–I lost 25. This year, I want to get healthier.

It may sound like the same thing, but not necessarily. Sure, I’ll continue to exercise (and hopefully lose more weight). But in the middle of losing all that weight, I developed some strange problems with my knees. They started hurting for no good reason. As did other parts of me. As you can imagine, this makes enjoying my weight loss difficult.

Now, since I’m 30 years old and the problem has not gone away, this means something is wrong. This year, in addition to limiting fast foods, sodas, chocolate and ice cream, I hope to get to the bottom of whatever it is, treat it–if not cure it–and get healthier.

2017 Resolutions: Finances

If you’ve been following me, you know we have been trying to acquire some land outside of town. About a month ago, we finally achieved that goal. Now my husband and I are in the most debt we’ve ever been. We’re excited and worried, but mostly excited.

Our goal? To pay as much of that loan off in a year as we possibly can. Also, make improvements on the land. The more we pay off and improve, the more equity we build, the more we can get for our future home loan. A home we hope to move into late next year.

It’s going to be a lot of hard work, and we’ll have to keep an eye on our spending (not that we spend that much, really), but if we succeed, it’ll be worth it.

2017 Resolutions: Spiritual

This next year, I really want to work on my spiritual life. I’m a Christian, but I feel I’ve been a little lazy with my spiritual upkeep. While I’ve been diligent in going to church, I haven’t had a habit of reading my Bible every day since I was a teen. I’ve never had a very good prayer life (outside of giving thanks for the food, and really, how much does that count?). And as for sharing the gospel? Well.

In case you can’t tell, my face is red and I’m practically hiding in shame.

Up until now, my strategy has been to be a good example. And while that’s good and fine, what do people see? I go to church regularly, and I don’t cuss. That describes a lot of people, including “Sunday Only” Christians. I want to be better than that. This world doesn’t need good people. It needs God.

So this year, my aim is to develop a healthier spiritual life. I want to get into the habit of studying the Bible and praying every day. I want to develop a ministry, whether it be teaching or otherwise, so that other people will see God in me. And not just a Sunday Only Christian.

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A Review of 2015

2016-new-yearLast year, like many people in the United States, my husband and I made some New Years Resolutions.  Last year, we had three goals: to get healthier, to read the Bible, and to save money.

Out of those three, the only one we accomplished was saving money. As of one month ago, we finally finished paying off my husband’s student loans. We are now completely debt free–at least until we buy a house–and we couldn’t be happier.

Unfortunately, neither one of us got much healthier, and we didn’t finish reading the Bible in a year. After about two months, we stopped doing both. Though I walked frequently, it wasn’t enough to counter my mostly-sedentary lifestyle.

Other accomplishments of 2015

For me as a writer, 2015 was a good year. I finished writing the 120,000 word fantasy novel I was working on, and have done a lot of editing. I also did a lot of brainstorming for the next book.

My husband’s business had several ups and downs–which I’m not allowed to disclose–but he’s still employed, so all is well.

In this last month, we moved three hours north, from the North San Antonio area to the South Dallas area. My mother-in-law lives in the area, and she’s ecstatic that we live only 20 minutes away now. I’ve seen her more in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years, and that’s fine with me. Also, my sister-in-law got married over Christmas break.

If you’re thinking that December 2015 was busy, you would be right. It was hectic and stressful, and I’m glad it’s over.

Goals for 2016

bikeWe haven’t talked much about making resolutions yet. We’re still in the process of moving in and getting settled, so we might not officially make any resolutions. However, we have agreed that since we have a place to store our bikes, we want to start biking again. With that in mind, we went and got me a new bike yesterday. It’s a hybrid bike (somewhere between a commuter and a mountain bike, I’m told), and it is the first bike I’ve ever had that proper fits me. I can straddle it with my feet flat on the ground. I didn’t even know you could do that with a proper fitting bike.

We’ve also talked about getting a gym membership (since we live so close to more than one gym), so hopefully between the gyms and the bikes, we’ll get back into shape.

Other goals we have for this year is getting pre-approved for a mortgage. We want to buy a house soon, but we don’t know if we want to do it this year or next. It all depends on what kind of loan we can get this year, and whether saving for one more year will make a difference. I also need to find another writer’s group and an orchestra to play with.

We’re also talking about starting a family. If God blesses us, then we will have many more things to put on our to-do list.


2016 is looking great, so we’ll see what God has in store.

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Our Resolution Contract

So, like most everyone else in America this time of year, we made a New Years Resolution. This year, we wanted to actually keep our resolutions, so we thought it good to do a few things.

The first thing we did was keep our resolutions  attainable.

Not easy or simple. Losing Weigh is rarely either. Getting Healthy isn’t, either, but at least it sounds less intimidating and more attainable than losing weight would be.

The second thing we did was prioritize.

Instead of having a million resolutions, we boiled it down to three things: getting healthy, saving money, and reading the bible. As a writer, I could have added many more things to that list. My husband, being partner to his own business, could have added some himself. But we chose to leave those off the list, in favor of just the three. Not that we won’t be working on our writing and business–we will be anyway–but we didn’t feel it necessary to work toward it.

The third thing we did was draw up a Resolution Contract.

And finally, we decided to make up a Resolution Contract. What is a Resolution Contract? Well, it’s a contract that states what your resolutions are, why you want to accomplish them, what the consequences would be if you fail, and your signature. The idea behind this thing is it’s supposed to make you more obligated and motivated to fulfill them.

Only time will tell if this is a gimmick or not. Or if this will work. But having worked toward the fulfillment of our resolutions for one week, I’m happy to announce that I have exercised for 5 days this week for one hour at a time, and that we managed to wait until the weekend to eat out.  And I only forgot to do my bible reading one time.

Want to see what it looks like? Here you go.

 


2015 Resolution Contract

 

This Year, 2015, we resolve to achieve these listed Goals and will, as such, make every effort to work toward them.

We understand that the purpose of these goals is to develop healthy habits that will lead to a healthier lifestyle, healthier bodies, and a healthy Spiritual life.

We understand that the development of the habit is more important than the success, and that once the habit is established success is more likely to follow.

We understand that to fail will lead to the following consequences: weight gain, lack of energy, health endangerment; lesser quality of housing availability; lack of Spiritual knowledge and preparedness, lesser foundation of faith and habits to pass onto future children.

We understand that to sign this Contract is to be bound to fulfill the stated resolutions or suffer the above stated consequences.

We Resolve To:

1.       Develop a Healthy Lifestyle by doing the Following:

a.       Being Active and Exercising 4-6 times a week for 30-60 minutes

b.      Eating Smaller Portions

c.       Healthy Snacks Only and Not Snacking After Supper

d.      Drinking More Water and No Cokes

2.       Save Money, for the Purpose of Building a Home, by:

a.       Eating Out Only on Weekends, as defined by Friday Evenings through Sunday Evening

b.      Paying off Student Loans as Quickly as Possible

c.       Transferring Money to Savings Account Immediately upon Receipt of Paycheck

3.       Develop a Bible Reading Habit by

a.       Reading either During Supper or Just Before Bedtime

 

We, the Signed, Have Read this Contract and the Stated Consequences.

 

 


Like this? Join us next week when I talk about our newest list of animal-themed puns, “My Husband is the Biggest Ham You’ll Ever Meat.”