A New Year, A New Decade

 I am in my very last few days of my 30's. I have loved being in my 30's. I have felt strong, healthy, and happy. I have felt tremendous love and support from my family and friends, and manage to have an amazing marriage. I have had a close and growing relationship with my sons. I have tackled grad school to become a nurse practitioner. In my 30's, I learned more about who I am and what matters to me. On January 1st, 2022 I will turn 40 and ring in the New Year with a new decade for me. The plan is a somewhat quiet birthday weekend in a cabin in the snow with good friends, good food, and good times. Especially after the tumult of 2020-2021, these are the things my soul longs for.

Do you make resolutions each year? Resolution means: a firm decision to do or not to do something. 

While I like that wording, I tend to use goals instead. I make goals. Goals are maybe not as firm? I guess that is a distinction I need as things are always changing and evolving. A goal is instead where we choose to spend time and effort:  the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

I have ambition and purpose driven goals in spades!! BUT....I also know that life is fluid; it is flexible. Some of the best things/people/events in my life were not at all planned or sought out. The rigid planner in my brain has married the need for flexibility in my soul.

Not that long ago I found a journal I had written in from 2018. I love the idea of journals. I love collecting pretty ones. I am not so good at actually writing in them consistently. What I found was goals I had written in 2018---some very serious, some silly. I was thrilled to see how many things in my life have met with these goals 3 years later and even some that are a better variation of them. 💝I thought I might share my new goals for the next year. 

*Side note, I read once that you should write goals as if they had already come true. Instead of "I will get my teaching license" for example, you write "I am a tremendous 4th grade teacher." The act of writing it as if already accomplished has mental power. I believe this. In 2018 I had written "I am a family nurse practitioner"-this was a full year before I even started back to school for this mind you or had even decided though looking back...I guess I had!

My goals for 2022

• I make time to grow my spirituality and my relationship with God.
• I am healthy and happy with myself-I exercise regularly and eat well most of the time and know when to splurge and when to rest.
• I am madly in love with my husband who I have monthly dates with.
• I am an involved and compassionate mom who cultivates my sons' interests and strengths and corrects gently and firmly when needed.
• I am an excellent primary care provider who listens to my patients. 
• I am on my way to becoming a knowledgeable and helpful psychiatric nurse practitioner. 
• I read 50+ books per year. 
• I learn 1 or more new piano songs per month and continue lessons.
• I travel near and far.
• I cultivate new and old friendships. 
• My home is my sanctuary.
• I learn 3 new recipes per year. 
• I attend a minimum of 2 live performances per year. 
• I do not accept professional obligations that infringe on my balance, my self-care, or are inflexible to my needs.
• I give to a charitable cause. 
• I swim in a warm ocean once a year.

What are YOUR 2022 goals?