What in your life is no longer serving you? What makes you overwhelmed, steals your joy, your passion, and your zeal? I cannot handle the mental load I have on the daily. I decided that I was going to embark on a quest to dump the things I can and manage the things I can’t in 2019.
Here’s what I’ve decided to NOT do:
1. I am not going to grocery shop.
Some people L-O-V-E shopping, they love picking their own produce and seeing what is on the shelves, cross-checking prices and coupons and the whole thing, I HATE grocery shopping. I don’t like the time it takes up, I don’t like the maneuvering around people and I CERTAINLY do not like taking my two toddlers in with me. Adios traditional grocery shopping. I will be doing pick up from now on from the comfort of my warm van and even warmer Starbucks.
2. I am not going to be “busy”
In 2018 I felt like I was busy and if I wasn’t busy I felt like I needed to be busy. Luckily right now in my life we don’t have to be busy. My kids aren’t in school and I don’t work outside the home. So we aren’t “busy” because we had to be busy, we were busy because we had plenty of other stuff that was ready and waiting to fill our time and while most of it was awesome, and I don’t want that this year.
I have one more year left before my kiddos head to school and I want to cherish every moment possible I have here with them. I want to maximize our evening’s home as a family enjoying the homemade meals eaten together and the wrestling matches, baths, and movies that follow. This is where the groundwork gets laid and I want to remember it.
3. I am not going to feel guilty
I am going to get ahead of my guilt. Convicted to change, yes. Guilty, no. I am not going to feel bad or guilty for asking for help, doing things that feed my soul, or not having vacuum lines on the carpet every day. I am going to read the book, go shopping alone, go to dinner with friends, and invest in date nights. And I am going to feel great about it because ultimately it makes me a better mom.
4. I am not going to be so hard on myself
Until recently I did not realize how hard on myself I truly am. It wasn’t until I was starting to notice how panicky and anxiety-ridden I had become and when I started to pay attention to what I was thinking about all day, it wasn’t great. I wasn’t doing ANYTHING well enough according to my own mind. Literally anything. I wasn’t as healthy as I thought I should be, I wasn’t a good enough friend, mother, wife, or daughter. I couldn’t keep the house looking nice for longer than 1 minute and I was doing it all over again. I was comparing my life to others on social media and I was becoming increasingly hard to be around. Well, not anymore. I keep this mantra running through my mind now and it has helped tremendously. “I can only do what I can do” That’s it. I cannot do it all, and I definitely can’t do it all well. Less stuff is going to get done, but that doesn’t make me any less. It makes me present more.
5. I’m not going to fuel my body with bad food
2018 started off well in the health department and quickly took a turn. Convenience, not planning was sort of how my eating went and along with it came some extra “lbs” that I don’t want or need. I know for myself that jumping on a fad diet doesn’t work for me because I never stick to those and end up back on my guilty cycle, {see above on that} and so I am committing to myself this year to be more thoughtful and aware of where my food is coming from, how it makes me feel, and enjoying it to the fullest. Chocolate cake for dessert, heck yes, big glorious colorful salad, also yes. Feeding me well is never time or money wasted.
Resolutions are great, but how many of us are sticking to them by March? Instead of making a resolution, I just decided that I wanted to live better in 2019. What I’d been doing had gotten me to where I was. That had been okay. But I want to be more than just okay. Wish me luck as I continue my journey!
How is your 2019 going? Have you incorporated any of the above into your life?
