Hello January!!!
I must say that I am very happy that 2017 has gone. The new year is very welcome.
The line has been drawn in the sand. The old has gone and the new is here. It is time to move forward and not look backwards.
One of my favourite podcast series is called, 'Happier with Gretchen Rubin'. A podcast that talks about intentionally adding happiness into our lives. Gretchen and her sister Elizabeth Craft, are now up too episode 150, and over the last few episodes have been talking about creating a '18 for 2018' list of things you want to do, achieve, or have fun with in 2018.
I love this idea because the concept of writing up a list of resolutions I want to achieve or change for the new coming year, can honestly sound rather cliche. Every year the same thing goes on the list.
- Lose weight
- Join the gym
- Watch less television
- Do something regarding world peace, and
- Read more.
I love the '18 things for 2018' concept because it is about coming up with ideas and ways to make the following year happier, more fun, more productive and more meaningful!
The '18 for 2018' resolution plan feels hopeful, encouraging and optimistic. How often do we make resolutions, only to find that we lose our momentum when life gets a little or a lot busy? The idea behind the concept of '18 for 2018' is to add more fun into your life - so, if you normally put 'join the gym' on your resolution list, you might like to put a class from the gym....like 'check out the Pilates class', or if you think you won't die, 'the spin class'! Just maybe, if my list has a focus on FUN, I/we might have a better chance of New Years resolution success. I believe we all have a desire to improve our lives, be better people, and learn from the past year. We Can't go backwards - can only move forwards.
So here is my ' Fun Plan for 2018! '
- 'Fun with Friends in 2018'. Individually and as a family. Learn from 2017, and look for opportunities to invest into the beautiful people in my life. Also, when life does get busy, because lets face it, everyone gets busy, I am going to communicate better and not retreat. I might be an introvert, but I need to communicate better with my friends when life is a little full on.
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Pretend we are on a lifestyle DIY show. The goal is to create and improve our home, complete renovations and do some landscaping! Can we do it? YES we can!!!
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Go to the beach more often - 2 or 3 times a week. I Iove the beach.
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Fun Dates with hubby - Schedule some fun dates with hubby into the calendar. IF it's not in the calendar- it doesn't happen.
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Strengthen relationships with extended family members!!!
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Families who play together - stay together! Schedule family fun dates into the calendar!
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Quality one on one times with each of our children regularly
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Dinner party at our home with good friends. 2018 is the year I want to raise the friendship bar!
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Experiment in the kitchen with new recipes - Primarily, the Donna Hay Healthy Kids cookbook
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See more sun rises or sunsets when I go walking at our local beaches. If there is no photo - did it really happen?
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Do something creative every week
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I love to declutter and work at simplifying our lives.
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Schedule end of term celebrations for our family.
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Health and well being - exercise, doctors appointments, blood tests and the like
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Write often - journal, blog etc
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Play with my camera!!! Spend time learning about photography via YouTube course.
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Family life book - I have been wanting to put a book together that includes our wills and all that pertains to how we run our household. What accounts bills come from, etc
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Put the fun back into Homeschooling and keep it interesting and organised
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Read my bible in a year challenge - starting February 1.
It didn't take long to find 18 things to put on my list. I actually considered making it '20 for 2018', but decided to stick to the original plan. I have been thinking about my New Years resolutions for the last few weeks. I already have a few ideas for how I would like to tackle some of these resolutions. I am looking forward to being able to cross off some of these things on my list. We'll eventually get there - slow and steady wins the race. Good bye 2017.
Do you like the 18 for 2018 idea? If you are interested, Gretchen Rubin has set up a hashtag happierwithgretchenrubin instagram option for those who would like to participate in the challenge. We all know that we are happier when we are working on our goals and living our best life.
And by the way, Happy New Year!
