Happy New Year! It’s the first Monday of the new year. New year energy, new month energy, new week energy!
I am an absolute sucker for the “fresh start” vibe the new year brings.
I know, I know…. statistically speaking, over 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions fail. Apparently 23% of people quit in the first week. Only 36% make it past the first month! And somewhere between 10-20% of people (depending on the source) actually keep their resolutions.
I don’t care! I still think it’s fun to set goals though! The process of just sitting down and taking a couple minutes to think about what you value, what you want, what isn’t working in your life, or what you want more/less of is so satisfying to me.
My 22 for 22:
That being said…. my results from my 22 for 2022 list were an absolute joke. The WORST I’ve done on “resolutions” in years. Why is this, you ask? Well, I have some theories.
1) 2022 was when I feel the pandemic veil really finally lifted in many ways. Compared to 2020 (obviously) and 2021, 2022 was when “everything” resumed in a much more normal way. School stuff, kids stuff, travel, social plans, events… it all came roaring back and I think it sort of all knocked me off my feet, though I’m not sure I realized it, in the moment.
2) We did A LOT. So many things that we did were never mentioned anywhere on my goals list. Obviously, there are only so many minutes in a day. I think I essentially ended up swapping in different, unplanned things, leaving no room for completing tasks from my goals list!
3) I failed to regularly look at my list. I know better, but yet I didn’t implement a frequent check in of any sort. Truthfully, I basically just forgot about a bunch of them.
4) I didn’t dial in on how I was going to complete some of them. For example, I had said I wanted the boys to help cook at least 20 times. Well, that’s nice, but when? How? What are they cooking? That’s a goal that realistically requires some pre-planning, unless it’s just like, scrambled eggs and toast.
This goal is still something that matters to me (I really want them to learn to cook!). But setting an arbitrary number with no plan for follow through doesn’t really work.
Let’s say instead I had set a reminder in my phone to sit down with them on the first of every month to brainstorm meals they could make/ help make- and then scheduled one or both of them to cover making one dinner every two weeks or so, making a specific meal. That probably would have been a lot more successful. Even if we didn’t get to 20, we’d probably be a lot closer than what we were.
5) And, as usual, I just bit off more than I could chew and was unrealistic.
I’m not even going to post a full break down of how I did. It wasn’t all bad- I did make progress on some things.
I advanced on my photo project, I read some books (nowhere near my goal, though), we got our Ash tree taken down and planted 1 new tree, I kept track of fun family activities, I meal planned sometimes, I started Google docs for recurring events like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc., I went on a bunch of walks and I did workout often, though maybe not with the exact consistency I’d hoped for.
For 2023, I was debating if I even wanted to make a big list. I had actually decided not to…. but then New Years came and I just couldn’t help myself. 😂 It’s just too tempting!!! So, I did, but it’s mostly a big rollover of stuff from last year! Maybe that’s okay. Like a 2 for 1 deal- 2 years for the price of 1 goals list. 😉 (I’ll share the list later this week.)
One thing I did do in 2022, that I had wanted to, was to get a photo printer sticker and paste one picture for each month in the front of my planner (I’m using the blank Key/Index pages at the very front of my Wonderland 222- I don’t use those for anything else, anyway).
I finished this up yesterday while we watched the Packers game!
In closing, I want to share a couple quotes I ran across yesterday, re: new year’s resolutions, etc, specifically relevant for anyone wishing to lose weight in the new year:
1) If you can only fit in 4 workouts, don’t say you’ll do 5.
If you don’t have time to cook 3 meals per day, don’t rely on that.
If you’re not gonna give up tacos + margaritas, don’t say that you will!
The first step forward is being uncomfortably honest with yourself.
– From @coachmarcusrice.
2) If you had to engage in unhealthy habits to stay a smaller size, it probably was not the healthy size for you.
3) Remember that you are more than your body size, and the way you look is the least interesting thing about you.
– from @SoheeFit
(I really love #2!! I think this is such an important point. There are probably people all over the world today starting a new “diet” that is ultimately going to be unsustainable for the long term for them. Finding that healthy, realistic balance is so key. As they say, the very best diet or exercise plan is one you can stick to forever. I’m saying this as much to myself as anyone else, because I’m guilty of dreaming big and making all sorts of plans…… and then getting frustrated when it doesn’t work out. 😫)
Happy 1st Week of 2023!! Good luck on implementing your new goals! Don’t crash and burn!! 😜🤣
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a really nice New Year’s Day. Our New Year’s Eve was fairly (okay, SUPER) lame and I just wasn’t in a great mood all day. But yesterday was a really nice, relaxing, fun day! I think it’s a sign that 2023 is going to be AMAZING. 😉
GRATEFUL KAE 
I think honesty and evaluation of your own habits is SO crucial. I am NOT going to give up couch time with my cat and a book for exercise and I have to be brutally honest with myself about that. (I was at a seminar on personal finance in grad school and one of the guys on the panel said “lunch, books, and beer is where I spend a lot of money – that’s not going to change and I have to be honest with myself about it when I make my budget” and it’s sort of become my motto in life, which is to say that sometimes when I am honest with myself, I don’t like what I see, but I’m sure that guy didn’t think that fifteen years later all I’d remember about him was his beer habit.)
I can’t wait to read all about your 2023 goals!
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This is SO true: “It all came roaring back” I felt that exact way about 2022.
And I love the quotes you posted! So true. I am trying to be very honest with myself about my intentions, but boy, it is so hard when you want to be something you’re not. I guess the project is wanting to be what you ARE, right? But I’m not there yet lol!
Good luck to you on your goals this year! I look forward to reading about them (and cheering you on).
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I am totally with you bout wanting to set up goals and forget about them few weeks later. I think part of my issue was also not have them somewhere I can look at often and not incorporate them into my routine and make specific plans about implementing them. I’ll start structure planning system in 2023, with few planners that Sarah uses, hopefully that will help to put some structures around goals.
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I think it’s important to acknowledge that we have been through some roller coaster years! And life came roaring back last year faster than alot of us would have expected. It made for a much happier year for my family, though! We didn’t set foot in a restaurant for 2 whole years! And I couldn’t take the boys to the library or other indoor places and such. So being able to be out and about was a life saver for us! But it can get in the way of things you think you might have been able to do!
I haven’t done a xx in ‘xx list since 2019. I didn’t do super great that year and found it kind of defeating even though I accomplished more than I would have if I hadn’t made the list. I am just too much of a perfectionist and will put a lot of pressure on myself to accomplish things. I think as I’ve gotten older, I’ve made a decision to be kinder to myself and to ask less of myself. Sometimes I feel like a slacker since I’m not setting all these huge, aspirational goals! But I remind myself that I am naturally driven and still accomplish plenty without a set of goals. All that said, I did set some goals for 2023!! I feel good about the list I made and especially excited for the travel goals!
Those quotes at the bottom are great. I think about that 2nd one a lot in terms of what a reasonable weight goal is. But instead of whether the behavior is healthy, I think about whether it’s sustainable and worth it? Like do I want to be able to have wine and ice cream each week or do I want to weigh 1XX lbs? I used to stay at a certain weight without much effort but find that weight is way harder to achieve now that I am in my 40s!!
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I love what you did with your printed pictures. I used to print out (on regular paper) my IG images for a while and added them to my planer. I should do that again.
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