Happy New Year and New Decade. After reading Simone's (The Bottom of the Ironing Basket) post this morning I am inspired to plan how I am gong to fill my brand new yearly inspired blank sheet of paper.
Food and exercise not weight loss: This last year went very well in the dieting department. I would like to continue the weight loss but now start feeding my whole family in a much healthier way. In the last few months we have begun to eat at home more. This has had a tremendous effect on our budget but now I need to view it in terms of health. I also want to get all of use doing more exercise related activities together. I have started getting on my bike (although not often enough). It is time we all started exercising. We did a little geocaching a few months ago and enjoyed it and there is no reason we could not do more.
Budget: We have been crap with our money. We have separate bank accounts and I have paid attention to mine but never the bank account that gets the day to day expenses. Yesterday I went though it and found that we make stupid amounts of transactions the fill up pages with 2.00 here and there. We also have some expenses that need attending to (verizon was one big one!!). David and I think we can cut some expenses on our cell phones and eating out. I think I can tighten up grocery expenses. We have a less expensive store near our house that annoys us so we have not gone opting for the more expensive but less crowded store. We are gong to bite the bullet and put up with people standing in aisles to save the money. We are also going on a budget with a weekly allowance each in cash. Hopefully this will cut down on the starbucks with a card runs. David and I want to visit the UK in the summer and I want a new couch. Hopefully stopping the frittering away of money will make those two goals more easily attainable.
Work: I have to decide what I want. Do I want a tenure track job? Do I want to take on several part time jobs allowing more flexibility at home? Do I want to retire (and am I willing to make the sacrifices necessary for that?). Can I even decide what I want given the children I have who need me to pay for their college tuition?
Time: I need to learn how to plan and execute my time in a more organized way. When I am working I need to work. When I am home on weekends I need to stop work from bleeding over into family time. When I am spending my leisure time I need to spend it mindfully and give my daughters and sometimes husband :)...my focused attention not a quick glance and comment from behind a computer or away from the TV or from the kitchen or or or.
Arts and Crafts: Sewing the pajama bottoms made me realize that I miss my arts and crafts time. Since 1999 I shifted my focus from leisure to starting and finishing a Ph.D. I have finished that and I need to refocus at least some of my time on things I like to do. Grace would love to sew and craft with me and I need to make the time to sew, quilt, knit, and bead. The good news is that I have a decked out sewing room in which to do this. All I have to do is go in there and get started.
So although I am not going to call these New Years resolutions in a sense they are. I have always had a simple resolution in the past. It was lose weight. I never really planned how I would accomplish the weight loss goal and until I got the lapband I had very little success at it from year to year. Something else I have noticed this year is that with the weight loss goal getting accomplished I have other personal failings rising to the surface that I am now paying attention to. A lot of those listed above contributed to the vicious circle of weight gain and failed weight loss. I am hoping this blog post and additional off post planning will help me succeed and truly making changes in my life.
On a final note: I had a horrible dream last night that I lost my restriction and discovered that I had really not changed any of my habits at all and bounced right back to my original weight in rapid speed. I am really afraid that this is correct. I am planning on making broad changes to how I live my life in 2010 to insure that even if I have glitches with the band my lifestyle changes will at least temper the damage that could be caused by band blips.
Living with a lapband after seeing goal is just as much work as getting there. This blog chronicles my journey to qualify for band surgery, my work to goal weight and now living with the band long term. Weight will always be an issue but there is a whole lot of living to be done.
3 comments:
I admire what you say, but I've never been able to cope with goals because not reaching them has a very negative effect on me. I seem to achieve more if I surprise myself, which I realise sounds a bit bizarre.
My blog is a case in point: I started out wanting to learn from other people's banding experiences, then felt guilty that I was sneaking looks at other people's blogs without identifying myself, so began my own, then was surprised that anyone was interested, then began to try harder and think of it as a "column", then the weight slowly started to come off and I wanted somewhere to record it, and then found I was really enjoying writing. Finally I decided I wanted to share a bit of my project on Patagonia, and by putting it in the public domain be able to stand back to see if it had wings. I'm quite surprised in a way at how far it's come.
Tina, the offer still stands: if you'd like to read the book in the comfort of your own home before travelling to the UK, posting you one of my many copies is a doddle. If you want to return it, fine, and if you'd like to pass it on to someone else to read, even better.
Hope all your wonderful plans come to pass - and I'm sure they will, you seem a to be a strong person who once she makes up her mind to do something, nothing will stop her!
Caroline
Its funny really-I like to have goals in my head but I have never written them down. For the past few years I have had a real hard time getting stuff done. I am hoping this helps...It might not! :)
I will email you about the book!
Tina
I agree with Lonicera on so many levels - you are a quiet achiever who seems to make a decision and sticks with it. I think this will be a year of good things for you.. I hope it's that way at least. You deserve it and with the careful planning you've set out you will have a lot of wins.
Happy New Year, Tina xx
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