Okay, so my New Year’s resolution post is a few days late. But since I just got back from a two week trip to England, I’ll give myself a pass. Just this once.
Before I dive into my list though, I have to issue a small disclaimer.
I don’t make actual resolutions anymore. My ability to keep them goes beyond sucktastic. I set goals instead. I find goals easier to meet.
Now, without further ado, I present:
My Goals for 2012!
Become More Fearless with My Writing
I’ve been a writing wimp until recently. Too timid to share my scribblings. Too scared to try new forms of writing. That’s not very smart for someone who’s dreamed of making a living via the written word. I’ve read, studied and even practiced many forms of writing. It’s time to buckle down now and put aside my worry of not being good enough. The more you write, the better you get.
Starting this blog back in November was Step One toward fearlessness. When my harsh critic of an inner editor said “See. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I found myself encouraged and eager to try other, new forms of writing.
So, out with my old writing fears for 2012.
Health and Fitness
I believe I’ve mentioned a few times that, due to health reasons, I’ve recently switched to a gluten free diet. Well, it’s time for me to quit thinking of it as a “diet change” and start thinking of it in terms of a “lifestyle change”. I don’t do diets well. Mostly because I start to think about all of the stuff I can no longer have and depress myself. And then go off the diet.
While I haven’t blown my diet (on purpose) in the past two months, I need to refocus. I don’t want to just replace the gluteny junk I used to eat with its gluten free counterpart (which, in some cases, is even more unhealthy).
So, I’m re-thinking my food habits entirely and find myself excited by the prospect of trying to incorporate more whole, unprocessed foods and lean proteins rather than just substituting rice bread for wheat bread. (However, all bets are off if someone finally starts making a tasty gluten free Pop-Tart… What? We’ve all got our vices.)
It’s also time to reboot my fitness program again. Part of a healthy lifestyle is movement, right? While I’ve had to cancel my gym membership (see goal “Pay off Debt“), I still have my awesome P90x and my running shoes. Both of which are getting dusted off and used. It’s time to get, and stay, healthy.
Family Time
When they were younger, the kiddos and I used to pop in a movie or go out for dinner every other Friday night. It was great, though I did sit through many a snoozer of a kid’s movie. But as they got older they started getting involved with school activities, activities with friends, and so on and the every other Friday night Family Night fell by the wayside.
One of my goals this year is to bring that back. At least once a month. I know that teenagers have friends they want to see on Friday nights and they see me every night. But one Friday a month, we’re getting some quality time in whether it’s watching a movie, going out, or letting my kids laugh their backsides off as they school me and the Hubs on some first person shooter X-Box game.
Expand My Brain
I love learning. I could easily be a professional student for the rest of my life. This year there are a few things I plan on cracking open some books on.
- Continue to study the craft of writing (that sort of goes without saying, but I felt like saying it anyway)
- PHP
- HTML5
- CSS3
The HTML and CSS are two things that I want to improve my skills in. The PHP is a brand new language for me. I’m excited and can’t wait to get my hands on some books.
Pay off Debt
For the longest time, I was completely debt-free (except my mortgage). And that, my friends is a beautiful feeling. But, good or bad, nothing lasts forever and I had a few emergencies come up. Like my 15 year old air conditioner dying in the middle of a Florida Summer. Car engines going kerplunk.
While my debt isn’t atrocious by any standard, it still sucks and it’s my goal this year to take a huge chunk out of it. In order to make this happen, I’ve had to cut some fat out of my budget, like my gym membership. But I’m looking forward to the day when I can give myself the money I’m giving to some corporation every month.
Create a Fulfilling Life
In essence, that’s exactly what the goals above are working toward. Creating a balanced and fulfilling life for myself and my family. I want us to enjoy every minute we have with each other. I think that, right there, is the most important goal of all.
So there you have it. My short list of goals for 2012. What goals to you have? Feel free to share them with me in the comments.
And have a safe and happy 2012!
Be on the look out. I’ll be posting pictures of the family trip overseas soon!
Blogging is such hard work, but you’re off to a great start. You might be inerested in checking my blog out. I have a regular schedule for what I post and the entries are expanding all the time. Look for Wednesday’s Sentence Sounds writing exercise.
JeriWB.com Teacher Writer Travelr
Thank you, Jeri! I’ll happily check out your blog. Your writing exercise sounds interesting!
1. I didn’t want to make resolutions either, so I just sent out a letter to all my family/friends that said, “here is what I did last year”.
2: re: fear. That was actually the subject line of the last email I sent out. I’m really vulnerable in them, and finally someone unsubscribed. It was a really close friend and when I asked him he said, “I still love you bro, but your emails are a little strange and hard to understand at times”. So, I had to remind myself that I’m reaching the people that are open to it: and I’m really fortunate to usually get 10-20 really thoughtful responses :- )
3: I’m celiac. And a vegan. Life is still pretty good when you just eat rice, tofu and vegetables all the time.
4: The book I learned html/css/php from in less than a week: http://www.amazon.ca/Head-First-HTML-CSS-XHTML/dp/059610197X
Best wishes for a wonderful year~
—
Michael
Thank you for the book suggestion! I’ve added it to my wishlist. As for food, I’m new to gluten free and it’s been a learning experience. Don’t get me wrong, I love rice. But gluten free breads and snacks have left something to be desired. I admire your status as “vegan”. I have too many food allergies to ever attempt a fully veggie diet.
Yeah… so I live off Tofu, beans, nuts, fruits, vegetables and rice. Not an exciting diet, but you could do it ;- )
Ignore the gluten free processed products and just stick to whole foods. It’s more work, but healthier and tastes better.
—
Michael
I admire you for your PHP ambitions… Good luck with that! I’ve dabbled, but it’s beyond me.
Thanks, Tegan! We’ll see how it goes. I may be too ADD to actually be able to absorb a programming language. 🙂
I have just started PHP, its a handy language in the web world. I love it so far. Hope you will also like it.
Hi Sanjeev! I’m looking forward to learning it. I’d like to be able to understand what’s going on behind the Drupal and WordPress pages I now seem to use on a regular basis!
I admire your goals! I’m trying to reorganize and prioritize this year as all this social networking has me overwhelmed, to say the least! Thanks for sharing your goals with us and I look forward to following your posts!
I was in your spot last year (overwhelmed by social networking). I sort of got thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to sink or swim at work. So I fired up my own personal accounts and started to learn on my own as well as at work. Good luck and thank you for taking the time to read my post!
Karen, you have a very well-balanced set of goals! Mine were so narrow and focused that my wife was unimpressed. I may have to borrow some of yours and try again… Thanks for giving me food for thought!
Haha! Thank you, Tom! Feel free to borrow at will. Hopefully, your wife will be more impressed the next time around!
Hi Karen,
I am with you when it comes to setting resolutions. I haven’t set a resolution in years either. Just some really powerful goals.
Go nuts with your writing, have fun with it and dare to be different and go outside the box. It will work for you!
Thank you Justin! I think I’m going to feed my muse wine and fudge and see what kind of crazy stuff we can come up with.
Hey Karen, all great goals but I like ‘Becoming Fearless with your writing’. With content being such a driving force on the web this will no doubt be a rewarding goal.
Secondly good job with wanting to cherish more family time. Sometimes we just have to really look at what’s important in life. The internet will always be here, the tasks and chores aren’t going anywhere, but your kids will be gone before you know it, so you have to cherish the time you have now before it’s gone.
Best of luck to you,
Liz 🙂
Thank you, Liz! It seems harder and harder to carve time out with the kids as they get older. They have other things they want to do (and people they want to see). Not hang out with their uncool mom. But popcorn seems to be an effective bribe…
Really like it a lot considering I saw it more of a course of action than New Years Resolution. All the points that you covered really are reachable and are in directions you have already moved into. Will not be a stranger to you blog, until the next time.
Thank you!
Hi Karen, you have quite a few intriguing plans lined up, especially the ones on learning PHP, CSS and HTML. Good luck 🙂
On a personal level, I myself am learning PHP, trust me, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Karen, I have to hand it to you for setting goals. We all know how important it is to do that but most of us never seem to manage to follow through and actually write them down. Now that you’ve blogged about yours, we can all keep checking to make sure you’re staying on track! 😉
You’ve encouraged me to get some of my own in writing. Thanks!
I love your goals — and you. Wish we could do P90X together (you can keep that running for yourself since my FOURTH knee surgery is scheduled for 1/19). I miss you and your Urkel shorts!
Amy! Four surgeries?? You should tell them you want a bionic knee this time. I hope it goes well, hon.
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Karen, I love your approach to resolutions. Right before the new year I also decided to be more fearless with my writing. It has been one of the best things I have ever done. Good luck. I am enjoying your site and look forward to reading more!
OMG, I think you’ve given me my new favourite word: sucktastic. Love it!!! I wish you many successes with the gluten-free diet. I too have tried the GF diet. I was able to do it for 4yrs before I succumbed to the non-GF ways. I love what you said about family time. You’re right that it is very important. I am not looking forward to the time when my now 3yr old no longer wants to play with me, etc. I wish you all the success with new forms of writing. You’re right again that it is very scary to try new things, being fearful of rejection, etc but if you do not try, then you’ll never know. So I say, go for it!
Thank you, Marryann! I thought I would be more depressed when my kids found me “uncool” to hang out with, but it’s not as bad as I’d feared. Thank you for stopping by!
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With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any methods to help stop content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Hi! That’s an awesome question. While copyright violations are a concern for every type of art, it’s not something I’ve worried about just yet. There are tools out there that you can use to scan your page, and the internet to see if your work is potentially being used (stolen) without your permission. Sandra may be able to answer this better than me, since I believe her background is Educational in nature, but I think schools use a tool called “Copyscape” to check papers, etc.
If you do find violations, you can file with the DCMA(?) for a cease and deisist. I know writers have a harder time fighting piracy and copyright violations than, say, the music industry, but there are resources out there for us. I hope this helps! Thank you for coming by and reading!