Sunday, January 01, 2017

2016 and 17 Resolutions



Well its the yearly blog post to see how I did at last years resolutions and make some new ones for this year. 2016 was not my favourite. Although I did some fun things, overall in the world and in my world it was not the greatest.



Update for 2016 Resolutions



Be more present with my kids. To make this goal a little easier to qualify and see if I accomplish it my plan is to take the family to a non chain restaurant where we get to try new food once a month.

This goal I did pretty well with this year. Although not a total check mark, but all in all we did some really fun things together as a family and I feel like we connected more as a family too. I did better at engaging with the kids for activities, but also stopped feeling bad about not being engaged with them all the time. All in all I think family was my highlight of a more difficult year. I feel like I'm doing a good job as a mom and day to day having Darryl and the kids around keep me happy and sane and feeling loved.
With Darryl I would like to plan more date nights. I have a great husband and person to spend my life with. He's a great dad and partner, but it's easy to get caught in the mundane of everyday life. I would like to make more effort to do reconnect and do things together.

I would say this is a no for me and something I need to keep working on for 2017. More fun with Darryl! As the kids are getting older they can be by themselves for a bit while Darryl and I reconnect. As I said last year we often get caught up in the mundane of everyday life or we have spent years dividing and conquering parenting that we need to remember what it is to spend time together and not divided.
I have been doing a regular yoga practice for a couple of years now so I want to continue with that. Maybe work on doing more practicing at home. Although I do love my studio.

Continue to love and practice yoga. Doing it at home a bit more, but love to practice anywhere. I practiced at Soul 192 times last year, so I want to keep that up. 
 
We have a trip to Hawaii planned for this year and I'm heading to Halifax for a work conference, probably going to Kelowna this year too and maybe something else in the summer. Plus it's Darryl's 40th birthday and our 15 year anniversary, so hopefully something fun for that.

Trips this year went pretty well, there just was not enough of them. And Darryl's birthday was probably the most memorable with the new car. We had a great day on his birthday and like I said earlier my family continues to keep me happy and sane


Resolutions for 2017

  1. Focus on the positive.  I am so grateful for the life I lead and I found this year I thought about what I was missing rather then what I had.   Generally I think of myself as a really positive person, but it slipped away a bit on me this year.  I'd like to get back to that mindset this year.  I think there is a balance between being content with where you are at and striving to get better.  Still looking to find that balance.  
  2. Blog more. 2 times a month. 
  3. We have some pretty great trips planned this year, it's going to be a good year for creating those memories. Looking forward to that!
  4. Stop being so hard on myself, especially when it comes to work. Give myself time to learn. It's hard having come from being excellent at a job to having to learn everything again, but give myself time to get there. 
  5. In yoga I'd like to get better at wheel and handstand.
  6. Continue to cultivate all of the good practices in my life. Continue to embrace opportunities. Embrace fun times with my kids and my family. Continue to do awesome stuff with Darryl. Keep practicing yoga. Drinking tea with Tammy. Smiling at strangers. Having good conversations with my mother. Overall I think I'm pretty good at this, I love life and love to do fun things. I want to keep embracing all of those opportunities that come my way. I'm hoping to start working on my masters this year. Which will be a lot of work, but again what a great opportunity to complete it.
Till next time

Jenn

2 comments:

Goofball said...

I love your 2nd resolution :). I would love to hear more about you and your family.


as for your first resolution: since one year I now blog once a month my blessings as you just read this week. In order to make my monthly post, I note down right away when I feel happy, greatfull...about something, when I enjoy seeing something beautiful etc. In doing so explicitly, it strenghtens my focus on all good things in my life. And no surprise, they are never material but focus on relationships, empathy, ...

Happy New Year to you!

Lori Aitken said...

I used to be a perfectionist but over time I've started to live by the mantra that "slow and steady wins the race." I'm never going to accomplish or master things as quickly as I would ideally like to because let's face it...life is BUSY! However, that doesn't mean that progress isn't being made.

Last year I discovered the concept of defining your year with a word instead of resolutions. In 2016, I chose the word RESTORE. I was going back to work and wanted to restore some of the old good habits that I used to maintain. Things like balancing the books more often, keeping my spending in check, working in the yard regularly, meal planning and cooking. I made great strides in these areas in 2016 and it helped to bring back bits of the person I used to be which helped me to feel a bit more like my old self again.

It was tempting to choose simplify this year but it was well...too simple. Instead, after painstaking deliberation I chose FINE TUNE for this year. While simplifying and scaling down my life to the things that matter the most or that bring me the most joy will certainly be a focus, I started this in 2016. So...this year I'll be focusing on fine tuning my progress in an effort to carve out more time for relaxation and experiences.

Happy New Year to you, the boys and the kitties!

Love,
Lori