1. Be more intentional about being in the word. When I first started daily devotions, I had a book that had a devotion for every day. Being the minor-OCDer that I am, I forced myself to not get behind and slowly, slowly, it became easier. I love reading the parts of the Bible where I am now. I just finished Jeremiah and am really excited about Isaiah. However, I feel that a lot of the time now, I'm doing it out of habit. Sometimes I really have a good journaling session but I have no guidance. I am fixing this by adding a morning component to my devotion. Mom gave me a daily devotions book that has some verses and some guidance and I want to incorporate this into my mornings. When I get up, take five minutes to read the verses, read the thought for the day, do a little journaling and then get on with my day. This will give me something to think about during the day if I get stressed but will also let me continue to read parts of the Bible I never have before.
2. Be more aware of what is going on in the world. As a student of history, its so important to know what's going on in the world. I don't do a very good job at that. I'm well up on pop culture and trivia but I'm lacking at a lot of the big issues that are going on in this world. So I just signed up for daily emails from Haaretz, the New York Times and BBC so that the articles come straight to my inbox. This will help me be more on top of what is going on and be a better incentive to read what is going on in this world (and to get many perspectives).
3. Be more spontaneous. There is a lot of Idaho that I haven't seen yet. And there is a lot of Eastern Oregon I haven't seen yet either. A lot of time when I'm home on a weekend or don't have anything to do for the day, I'll think about finding a town that has a fun little market or thrift store or something and just picking up and going for the day. And then I decide not to and end up just sitting around watching a movie or something. Well, my resolution is to not do that anymore. I want to be spontaneous enough to just pick up, go somewhere new, see what I discover and enjoy it even if it's a perfect bust because at least I have a good story to go with it.
4. Get fit. I'm hoping that the above mentioned OCD tendencies will help me out with this. I have a printed out calendar where I've marked what I"m going to do each day of the week. I also downloaded from a website some ab workouts as well as some sculpting workouts that I'll do every couple of days. I also downloaded these podcasts called "Couch to 5K" where they help you train for a 5K. I plan to run three or four days a week (this will be a little harder because it's pretty cold right now but I figure if I can run in the cold, I can conquer the world) and on my off days, do some calming yoga, which I've really been into lately. I don't want to spend a ton of money on this and I don't really like working out in the school gym because I feel weird working out with my students. Call it whatever but I'd rather just do it in the safety of my own home. So my expenses right now will be a yoga mat and some weights at Wal-mart. The running program goes for eight weeks and when I"ll see where I am, reevaluate, start swimming again (since it'll be a lot warmer) and go to a month of kettleball classes that I got for super cheap off of groupon. So hopefully this will all keep me motivated (especially since I am listen to music without headphones or just have a movie on in the background while I work out at home).
5. Be more accountable with my money. When I moved to Oxford, I kept a meticulous list of everything that I spent, even if it embarrassed me. It was good to see how little I was spending on things. I promptly stopped when I returned to the states. Who knows why. But not anymore. I'm getting a little notebook to keep in my bag with my wallet and everytime I spent something, I"m writing in down. This includes anything online, anything extra I pay for living social or groupon deals, etc. It's all going down in the notebook.
So wish me luck on these goals for the year! Any encouragement will always be appreciated!
No comments:
Post a Comment