Who doesn’t love a good New Year’s Resolution list? Something to read over and contemplate. Something to anticipate and ruminate. Something anxiety-inducing or vomit-producing.
This girl. Not.
I have spent many a December 31st running through my mind an invisible roll call of all the failures from the previous 364 days. Trying to inspire myself through that year’s missed goals to come up with new, more attainable, more organic goals. Which usually end up looking nearly exactly the way they did before.
- Lose weight.
- Exercise more.
- Be a better human.
- Be a better wife.
- Be a better mom.
- Blahbitty blahbitty blahbitty blah. (This one’s usually the easiest to accomplish.)
As you can see from the above list, I set some lofty goals. But one of the things I have realized through a little self-reflection and a whole lotta therapy this year is that most of my goals have always been open-ended with no real measurable action. The main problem with typical New Year’s Resolutions is the resulting guilt you feel when you fail to cross something off the list, as if you’ve let down the world (except in the goal of being a better human in which case you kinda have.)
So this year my plans are a bit more specific, with quantitative properties. More importantly, I have decided to hereinafter refer to them as Guidelines, defined by Wikipedia as a “statement by which to determine a course of action.” And Wikipedia is super smart and has all kinds of information like Star Wars facts and stuff. So I should totes base my life efforts on that. Here we go!
NEW YEAR NEW ME – GUIDELINES FOR 2016
- Eat Less Crap – I plan to focus on incorporating more whole foods into the majority of our meals. I would love to set up a “smoothie station” in my refrigerator for healthy school morning num nums. A little Kale before math couldn’t hurt!
- Spend More QT With The Kids – I love my kiddos and they love me but we could always benefit from more quality time together. I’m thinking game night. I’m thinking “kid dates.” I’m thinking fun, fun, fun.
- Spend More QT With The Husband – If 2015 has taught me anything it’s that a marriage is not one to take for granted. Each day as a married person should be started out with purpose to build. That takes quality time and effort. I’ll be doing that.
- Spend More Time Outside – Those who know me well are probably smiling at this one, wondering if I’ve lost my damn mind. After all, I’ve never pretended to be Lumberjack Jill or GI Jane or any other badass woman who does things like mow her own lawn or grow potatoes. Although I still don’t plan on doing much of those two things I would like to spend more time exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my husband (see above guideline.)
- Wear Less Makeup – I love a good smokey eye and a tight line and I have a lot of time in the mornings after the kids are off to school to work on perfecting my wing. But I find that over the years I have grown more and more dependent on looking a certain way to be comfortable in my own perfectly contoured skin. I’m getting older folks, and features, they be a’changin’. There isn’t enough eyeliner and highlighter in the world to change that fact. I think a few days a week of minimal face painting would only do me good. Disclaimer: I have not before nor will I ever apologize for looking Red Carpet ready at 10 in the morning. I’m not giving up makeup, merely giving myself permission to take it down a notch should I so choose.
- Wear More Makeup – You might be thinking, get Mindy some gingko biloba stat! Didn’t she just say she is purposing to wear less makeup? Like, she just said that? Yes, I did. However, this guideline is more about variety than quantity. I have grown a bit more adventurous in my older age and have rocked a purple lip and a blue mascara here or there. I have received some strange looks, admittedly mostly by older women who have some kind of preconceived notion that the longer your teeth the more nude your lipstick shade should be. Not this chick. This year is about wearing whatever I want without apology or restriction. Age is but a number on your driver’s license, friends.
- Find My Namaste – Like, for real. I would love to start incorporating yoga into my life. I’ve dibbled and dabbled a little but have read some pretty astonishing statistics about the effect yoga can have on your physical and mental health. I could use some of that. I mean, who couldn’t? A quick Youtube search has brought me to a variety of yoga practices to try. In the privacy of my own bedroom. Because Downward Dog is not the most flattering of poses and will take me some time to get all “namaste” and “om-om” about it.
So there you go, folks. My Guidelines for 2016. My hope is to actively work on each and every one without any pressure of success or failure. They are merely “statements by which to determine a course of action” without measure of completion. In other words, more my speed.
Happy New Year! May 2016 bring you a sense of fulfillment and peace. Happiness is a verb, folks, an action you take. Make that a purpose this year. It’s contagious.
Love to ya!
Mindy
Brandy says
Those sound like really good and attainable guidelines for 2016!