Eight in '08.

I've been watching the posts pop up of resolutions or non-resolutions, of life goals and life lists pop up the last week. The new year is a time of change, new decisions are made, new choices happen. I've never been one for resolutions, per se. Perhaps because it's kind of hard to make them stick for 365 days.

But I do like to set goals, meet them and honor the life commitments and choices I make.

So with that said, here's my eight for 2008 in no particular order:

1. Let my life be something good.

This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good. -Author Unknown

I want to be intentional, deliberate and expressive in the way I live my life. I want the way I spend my time to reflect what is truly important to me. Faith and relationship with Christ, my husband and children, family, friends.

2. Invest in people.

All too often I find myself saying I want to get together, do this or that and then later succumb to the fact that life is too busy. I want to be able to spend quality time with those closest to me. Make regular date nights with my husband and make them creative, more than dinner and a movie.

Talk more with the kids about life and school and everything. Sit on the floor with H more and let the breakfast dishes sit on the counter for awhile. It's that whole accomplish less, sit on the floor more concept.
Have dinner with my dad.
Call my aunts more.
Make time for friends too.
Make regular coffee and happy hour dates, and stick. to. them.
Phone dates for far away friends.

I need to at times break out of the regular day to day and make new friends. Challenge myself. Be me.

Speaking of making new friends, I've decided that MOPS really isn't my thing right now. Perhaps there will be a time where my thoughts and feelings change on this. I did however make some really good friends in ECFE this last fall and am taking the same class with them this winter and spring. I want these mom-friendships to continue to blossom as H grows as a child and peer to these other children.

Attempt to meet more people at church. Challenging? Yes, because I am SO comfortable at the church I grew up at and knew everyone, that getting out and meeting new people at our church now is tough.

3. Live healthier.

This is the old cliche' "resolution". I do not eat a very healthy diet. I snack. (A lot.) I exercise infrequently.I want to make healthier food/snack choices. Meaning the pound of fudge I ate one evening last month will no longer be acceptable. Either is drinking a Diet Coke or Carmel Macciato for breakfast.

Cook more healthy dinners. This doesn't seem to be an issue when T and M are here, but when it's just me, J and H. I tend to not cook as healthy or as often. It's too easy to make something quick for H and grab a bowl of cereal for me.

Exercise-wise, we have a treadmill, there's no reason I can't start walking and jogging. And I'm thinking about doing another 5K. (Want to do it with me?) Possibly walk the 3Day with my friend Kim.

4. Write more.
Write more, just to write. Not necessarily to be published. Not necessarily for the blog. Just to write. To remember.

Write about the funny things that happen, the sad things. Write about how I'm feeling. Just for me.

Write more letters and cards. E-mail is wonderful but there is the lost art of sending snail mail. I LOVE getting real mail besides the hodge podge of bills and I'm sure it makes others happy too. Remember more people's birthdays and send an actual birthday card, not an e-card.

Write more things down for the kids to look back on and remember. Their quotes, their stories, the silly and sassy things they do.

5. Accept others, forgive, but also don't be naive.

What a double edged ironic sentence.

I realize that I am sometimes quick to judge and jump to assumptions. I wish I wasn't.

I also realize I sometimes have a really hard time letting go and forgiving others. I expect unconditional forgiveness but all too often don't give it in return.

At the same time, a wise woman once said; "When someone shows you who they are, believe them."

I want to love, accept, forgive, yet realize that sometimes I just need to move on.

6. Stop caring what other people think.

Gulp. This is a hard one.

When I first started this blog in 2005, I could count the people reading it on one hand. (And that was on a good day.) Now with daily traffic typically in the 250 plus range, I sometimes get self conscious and feel like a big, fat dork about the things I share and write about myself, my life and my family.

So, I'm working on getting over it, because hey, this is me being me, big, fat dork and all. I do this whole thing for me.

I also sometimes find myself over analyzing conversations, situations, people's intentions and myself. What a waste of life.

To be nobody-but-yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. E.E. Cummings

7. GET Organized.

Another cliche' one. I try to be somewhat organized and on top of things and for the most part, a lot of the day to day things are covered. But would you believe that I have about a years worth of pictures in a pile on the dining room table needing to be put first, in order and than in albums? And that I have about five months of pictures on the computer that I haven't even had printed yet?!

Oops.

Before Christmas, I finally consolidated and organized my address book. Cleaned out and changed around cupboards in the kitchen.

I need to spend a day (or three) going through my dresser and closet. It's time to get rid of some of my old corporate attire. Even if I went back to a corporate job, much of it is now out of style anyway. I make sure everyone else's laundry gets put away but leave mine in a stack on my dresser, I figure I wear the same 6-7 outfits anyway, why bother?! It's because I have so many clothes, I never know what to wear.

Establish a will. We've had this on our list of things to do since we got married. Just the other day, I realized I still had my parents as beneficiaries on one of my life insurance policies. Umm, oops.

Get all my 401K, stock, life insurance paperwork together along with J's 403b and life insurance stuff, rather than shoving it all in the file cabinet. Actually figure out what it all means, how much it all matters and what to do with it when we need it.

8. Simplicity.

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury; and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasion, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony. William Henry Channing

I've used this quote before, but the meaning still rings true for me especially in a culture of more is better. Live simply. Love deeply. Learn how to be a better human, content in the every day life. And may the choices I make, the life I live and the way I spend my time reflect that this is what I believe to be true.

May my husband feel my unconditional love and respect. May my children feel loved, encouraged and content. May I live my life with an open heart, simply, content with whatever I have and want for nothing more. May all this be true, not just at the beginning of '08 but all the time.

So, if you haven't shared your list of resolutions, life goals or 2008 plans, please do. What's your eight in '08?