Happy 2014!

Happy new year and all that jazz! Instead of coming in with a bang, I've sort of stumbled over into this new year. I guess I still have a hang over of sorts from recent life events; we are trying to get back to a new normal around our house.

But let's talk about that looming topic that comes with each new year...

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

As humans we are always trying to better ourselves and our circumstances in life, to move forward with a new purpose, it's in our nature. Whether we realize it or not, track our progress, set and measure goals or not. That being said, we can be much more productive and successful if we do decide to write some goals or intentions down and focus on a few things each new year that we want to improve or complete.

What are your new years resolutions?

Mine are:
1. Be better at family scripture study
2. Build up my children's self esteem and spend more quality time with them
3. Journal more often so that we can remember our life's events and special moments. Which includes printing out important blog posts to add to my private journaling.

That's it. It's still quite a big task, but did you notice I haven't set any specific parameters on any of them? I'm not saying I will study scriptures every night, because let's face that's not going to happen. Life gets busy, we have late nights or sick kids. So yes, there will be plenty of night we skip and that's perfectly fine with me as long as I keep trying to fit it in with the family more often than not.

Number two involves a lot of different elements, but again, I'm not committing to spending a half hour a day learning abc's with Nicole, or sitting in a room with Natalie making sure she practices piano everyday, or learning 2 new origami creations with Kai each week. I can show my kids I love them in smaller ways, cheer them on and support them daily with simple acts. It's the little things that matter the most.

Notice how nothing about exercise or fitting into a certain size by such and such date didn't even make my list?! I know it's important to take care of our bodies, and I do exercise occasionally when I am healthy enough to do so and when I only have one child at home that exercises around me in circles at the same time. This year I know I need to be gentle with myself, do what I can and take small steps in regaining the body I want and used to have.

Setting goals is not about being perfect or stressing ourselves out. We should merely recognize our weak areas and acknowledge our intent to do better. If you are a serious go- getter, than by all means set a way to track your progress and invent ways to remind yourself daily of your goals. If you're like me, a little more mellow and relaxed, try to re-visit your goals once a month as a gentle reminder and keep trying your best.

The most important thing is to not set goals that are unattainable or impossible to achieve. I won't set very specific goals with certain numbers of times or exact deadlines because the first time I miss I will feel like a failure. Unfortunately one major flaw as humans, especially women, is that we are way too hard on ourselves!

This year let's try and lift our own self esteem. Instead of, "I didn't exercise today and I had a huge brownie with ice cream, I guess I'm always going to be a fat, failure!"

Say this, "Well, today I enjoyed life and even indulged a little, but I rested my body, and guess what? I'm still awesome and beautiful! Tomorrow I'll exercise as planned."

I hope this year brings great things for all of you! Again, I ask, what are your resolutions? Are you thinking of changing or re-vamping any of them after reading this? Leave a comment below or pin this post if someone you know feels like a failure when setting new years resolutions!