I'm so excited to join Shay and Erika's new link-up for 2017! I feel like all of their topics for Workin' It Wednesdays are topics that either make me think or challenge me to tackle something I've been putting off, and I love that!
Today's topic is one that I have been putting off thinking about since January 1st. We even went out to dinner with friends recently and the husband asked me what my goals were for the year. He is super motivated and actually speaks to lots of different companies, so I was a little annoyed at myself for not having set any goals yet. I kind of felt like I hadn't done my homework...that's so not me!!
Now, I'm not one to make HUGE goals for the year, but tend to just think of the things that I really want to incorporate into my daily life, or things that bugged me from the past year and go from there. I have come up with a number of different goals for 2017, and I am so excited to look at them each day and challenge myself to keep them. They are all goals that I really feel like would enhance my daily life and our daily life as a family. Woo hoo!! That's a win-win!!
Natalie's Goals for 2017
- Intentional Relationships: I really thought about this one in regards to friendships, my marriage, and Henley. I would really like to be more intentional with my friendships, and have wanted this for a long time. I am the world's worst person at keeping up with people. I have some amazing friends from high school and college that I really need to start texting/calling on a regular basis and trying to get together with more often. Ben and I have also made some incredible friends since we have been married and I would really like to be more intentional with those relationships too. I'm hoping to get together with friends at least twice a month.
I'll elaborate more on the marriage part in another one of my goals, but I would also like to be more intentional with how I spend my time with Henley. Since I stay home with her, I feel like there are many times when we are at home that I am completely elsewhere while we are playing. I take for granted sometimes that I am with her always, and would like to be fully present with her when I can.
- More intentional conversations with Ben: I'm not sure about y'all, but Ben and I fall into a rut sometimes with our nightly routine. He comes home from work in the evening and it seems like some weeks we barely talk at all or about anything meaningful. Considering that he is my best friend, I would like to be more intentional with how we spend our time together and the conversations we have. I don't want to decide that we are too tired at the end of the day to talk about the things that we want to talk about. We aren't too tired to talk with everyone else throughout the day, so I don't want to neglect our relationship either. This will go along with spending more intentional time together too. We definitely need more date nights and one-on-one time together!
-Read the Bible in a year: So far so good on this one! I have read my One Year Bible everyday so far in 2017, and I am really enjoying it.
- Manage my time better = more me time to just breathe: A lot of my goals will help with this one. I am notorious for taking no time to ever sit down and just be. This translates into me feeling totally overwhelmed after a while and getting super frustrated that I never have any time to myself. This is mostly my fault! I need to be ok with a little mess every now and then and just sit down and breathe! It's only Wednesday of this week, but I really feel like I am knocking this one out of the park so far! It's a super busy week for me this week, but I am trying to make every second count and get things done without procrastinating anything. I have had time to be still too which has been awesome!
- Find/Create a schedule for cleaning the house and stick to it!: Gosh, this will help so much with my above goal! We do not have someone who cleans our house, my child is only 2, and I wouldn't say that my husband is much of a neat freak/not at all, so all of the housework duties pretty much fall on me. I am hoping that this will be the year that I find a good house cleaning routine and stick to it, so that I am not overwhelmed or annoyed on a Saturday or Sunday and cleaning all day, or so that I am not totally stressed when someone comes over unannounced. Again, it's only Wednesday, but I feel like I have been much better about this this week. Ben has even helped out with the routine and I am loving it!
- Be intentional with our budget: Neither Ben nor myself have that part of our brain that is really into figuring out a budget and making sure that we stay on track. We tend to create a budget about every 6 months and then it just stays saved on the computer. Our goal for this year is to sit down together on Sunday to see how we spent our money each week and then at the end of the month it won't be so overwhelming to try and figure everything out. Now that we have a little one and are hoping to add more to the household, plus we are paying out of pocket for insurance that used to come out of my paycheck, we are way more aware of how our money is being spent. I'm really hoping to take this task on and get really organized with it!
- Make an effort to eat more clean, healthy, whole foods at EVERY meal and give Henley these options as well: I have always tried to follow the rule of 80/20, but it's not always easy with a busy schedule. Breakfast is easy for me. We are home and I love making and eating breakfast, so for the most part we always eat healthy meals there. I try to pack healthy snacks for myself in my purse, but Henley tends to want the fruit snacks the majority of the time. She also loves Larabars, so that's always a win. I need to be better though about offering her more healthy options. Lunch is kind of a crap shoot. I hate lunch! I would like to be better about creating healthy meals for me and adding more veggies in for Henley during lunch. This means I need to start planning in advance. We tend to be getting home from the gym or errands around lunch and we are starving so we just throw something together. Whoops! Dinner is generally a good meal for us, sometimes a little to large on the portions, but I try to cook healthy each night. Really, my main goals is to incorporate more clean, whole foods into each meal, meaning more veggies and less bagged items.
Sorry that was a little long-winded. I'm hoping it will allow me to come back here and look over everything for myself. Please feel free to hold me accountable and ask me questions when you want!
Happy 2017!!
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