As I began writing in my blog within this last year, I was welcomed warmly into the world of blogging (mostly when I joined the BYSA ward this previous summer where everyone who is anyone has a blog) and I am now a follower of numerous blogs on a daily basis. I apologize for not having written in my own for nearly a month now. However, I found that right around the New Year all that anyone posted about was their New Year’s Resolutions. Now, most people probably don’t know this about me because I always always always keep it to myself, but I am big fan of making New Year’s resolutions. However, there was no way I was going to write a blog on it! Yeah, yeah, when you share your goals with others, there is a higher likelihood that you will accomplish your goals, but I only share them with the right people, and at the right time.
I have figured out that one of my “gifts” is that I am a very driven individual, meaning, that when I decide to do something, I DO it. No questions asked. My friends have especially pointed this out to me a lot. It’s kind of the problem-solver in me as well. I figure out how something needs to be done, and then I make sure that it is done, and I don’t quit until it is. Also, if I have decided that I want to do something, then I do it, and I never quit after that, which makes goal setting especially difficult due to the commitment that I know is involved.
Going along with this, the New Year’s Resolutions that I had set last year may seem like little things, but really, they turn out to be pretty big. I decided that I was going to floss my teeth every day. I haven’t missed a day since. My friend Sam tells me that he thinks of me every time he flosses his teeth. I got excellent reviews last time I went into the dentist. I got to cough on a petri dish in microbiology lab, and the results were very clean (meaning I had a clean mouth). Hooray for good oral hygiene!
Another goal that I had was to make my bed every day. I miss days when I go home and sleep in the guest bedroom, and when I slept on the air mattress over the summer some of those days were tough (it was hardly even a bed, give me a break!)…but other than that I feel like I’ve done really well! It just makes my room look so much cleaner, and then, I keep the rest of my room pretty much exponentially cleaner than it would be without…yeah. It’s definitely a good habit to have.
Then, I had the goal of going to institute, and making institute “a priority” as President Monson has asked us to do. My first semester freshmen year I went and I had a teacher I didn’t like, and then I didn’t go anymore after that, so I decided to change my attitude and go. I couldn’t have made a better decision in my life. And, good news: I’m graduating from institute this semester!
Those were just some of my success stories. I have other ones that are either a) personal, or b) lame(er than the ones I already said), so therefore, I will not blog about them :)
Over Christmas Break I sat down and wrote out a HUGE list of my goals that I had for this upcoming year. I even had to break it down into goals for the year, and goals for the semester. I looked at my list and I realized that there were some pretty drastic changes that I wanted to make with my life, and I knew that I couldn’t do them all at once. But, I was so stinkin’ motivated and I just wanted to do them all anyway! However, I knew I couldn’t all at once. It would be like throwing a fish into cold water.
Soo…I came up with a better plan. I kept all the ones that I knew I could do at one time (you know, just the general, good goals that everyone has or should have), but then with all my little nit-picky goals, I decided to do them one week at a time.
January 1: I started all my general goals for the year, plus washing my hair every three days. You see, before this, I could get away with not washing my hair for about a week (don’t judge, you never noticed before…did you?), but I decided it might be better for my hair if I washed it more often. Then also, I would wear it down more and not in my lame messy bun like I would for the last half of the week when it was super dirty.
January 8: I would, of course continue all my previous goals, plus (this was the week that school started) I would eat breakfast every day BEFORE class. Last semester I got in this terrible habit of eating breakfast in my first class (which was institute, and I’d eat a granola bar). Well, now my first class (on both MWF and TTH) I need to take a vigorous amount of notes in, so that won’t work. Good goal I figured. So far I’ve only missed one day. I ate breakfast in my second class, which was fine. I won’t miss again though, I promise!
January 15: Continue all previous goals, plus only going onto pinterest.com on Sundays only. This is where I take debates on whether or not this is a Sabbath appropriate activity. I think that it is; I can learn homemaking skills! Haha, jk. But really, I would waste an incredible amount of time on that site, and I HAD to go cold turkey, really. On Sunday afternoons if I have time and I want to go on the website I can. However, I’m not going to flock to it if I have something better to do.
January 22: Obviously, all my old goals, and then, a hard one for me (which shouldn’t be) Facebook for only 10 min/day. And, the sad part of this is, until I started this three days ago I didn’t realize how much TIME I spent on that stupid website!! 10 min. should be plenty for any human being. Well, when you get on it in the morning, and during lunch, and after school, and as a homework break, and before you go to bed…those times add up! Nope. They won’t anymore. 10 min. a day only.
I haven’t decided my goal yet for next week. I have about 20 in mind. I’ll choose later. They’re all good ones…I’m just glad though that I finally got Pinterest and Facebook out of my life. Maybe I should wake up earlier, or be to class on time (which to me really means early), or better yet to work on time, or take my multi-vitamin everyday (my mother would love that one).
