4 Goals I’ve Made for the New Year

Setting new year’s resolutions is my favorite thing to do in January! This year I’m doing it a little differently, and these are four of my goals for 2019 to help me become a better person.

Outfit details:
old camel colored sweater (similar here)
black AEO jeans (my favorite!)
digital screen protector glasses
large calendar
papyrus notebook
room details 

Happy New Year!!

One of my very favorite parts of a new year is making goals and resolutions. I’ve done it every year for as long as I can remember.

Typically I sit down during the first week of January and brainstorm all the things I want “to do” this coming year. But this year I’ve felt a pull to do things a little bit differently.

I’ve spent the last month reflecting on my year and the kind of person I was. What things could I work on this year to improve myself as a wife, mother, friend, and person?

It’s more of a personal shift than setting specific goals. This year that just feels right.

Three specific things have kept coming to mind, and then I’m adding one more that’s more of an actual goal rather than a personal shift.

Four of my new year’s resolutions for 2019

1. Speak softly.

I come from a pretty loud family. We talk over each other a lot, and don’t even get one of us to tell a story because it’s basically a shouting monologue. We’re just loud by nature. I’ve found myself speaking loudly to my children frequently this year, trying to talk over their noise and get their attention, and honestly it just makes them louder. I don’t want a loud, shouting home.

So I’m making a very big effort to lower my voice and speak softly and gently to them. I’ve been trying this for a couple of weeks and it’s amazing what a difference it’s made! Before, when I spoke loudly to get their attention, they would easily just tune it out. But when I speak in a direct, but gentle and soft way, they hear it. I swear it’s like magic.

Their volume levels haven’t particularly gone down, but I’m finding myself less frustrated at the noise, and I’m hopeful that a whole year of this will change the feeling in our home to more calm and kind rather than just a bunch of people shouting over each other.

2. Stop being late to everything.

This is my mentality when it comes to time: if it takes 15 minutes to get somewhere, I leave 15 minutes before I need to be there. And I get ready to leave maybe 2 minutes before that. So basically I’m always late, OR I’m always in a rush.

Neither are ideal.

So this year I’m working hard to shift my time mentality and start getting ready to go earlier, and then leave at least 5 minutes earlier than I would have in the past.

3. Be a good listener.

I’ve mentioned this before, but Philip is an excellent listener. I ramble on about work things for hours and he always acts interested and remembers every detail. I am….exactly the opposite.

So this year I’m going to work really hard on being a better listener. Not just to Philip, but also to the boys. I have to admit that it’s so hard for me to listen to B or Fos talk endlessly about LEGOs or Star Wars, but if it’s important to them I want to show them that it’s important to me because they are important to me.

4. Run a half marathon.

This is my goal that’s not personality related. But I’m SO excited about this goal! I ran four miles the other day and thought, “how in the world am I going to do this time three?!” Honestly, I don’t know. But I’m excited to push myself this year and accomplish this big goal!!

I’m still waiting on specific calendar details before sharing details about the run I’m doing, but it’s going to be somewhere amazing this summer and I’d love to have a bunch of you join me. I’ll be sharing details as soon as I can!

I’d love to know — do you set goals every year? And what are some of your goals for 2019?

photos by priscilla frey