Happy 2024!
Yes, we are halfway through January…but still, Happy 2024!
Let’s back up for a second. 2023 was a year…and that’s about all I have to say about that. 😉 I had the goal of celebrating the big and small last year (2023 blog post here)…and while there was plenty to celebrate, it still wasn’t my favorite year. When the New Year hit, we had our family “debrief” where each of us reflected on big wins, lessons learned, what worked and what didn’t. The resounding theme was: we were busy, arguably too busy, and that led to being distracted from what mattered.
It might seem cheesy, but our family debrief also led to some really interesting conversations so I really want to encourage you to not tackle your annual reflection and goal setting alone. It was really fun to hear everyone’s perspectives, celebrate those wins again, and get everyone on the same page for the upcoming year.
So 2024…what’s on the horizon? Well, it’s a big year for me. A couple days ago, I turned the big 4-0. I’ve never been one to dread aging. On the contrary, I’ve loved getting older. However, something is just not sitting quite right with this milestone. I can’t put my finger on it but I just feel odd…not old, just odd. Maybe it is a residual feeling from 2023, or more likely an urging to dig deeper and reflect, but either way I’m not going to toxic positivity my way around it. So, with that feeling in the forefront of my mind, I marinated on a few focus words for the year that will help cultivate my annual goals. I flirted with a few, including “less”, “slow”, “still”, “un…” and “grace” but I feel grounded in…
Intentional: done on purpose, deliberate
As I ground myself in my 40th year, I want to do so with a firm intentionality. From what I do with my time to how I spend money to even what I chose to eat and everything in-between, I want to do so intentionally. Last year was filled with busyness and it was chaotic and unfulfilling. My prayer is that approaching this year intentionally will result in the complete opposite…peace and fulfillment. So with that in mind, I’m considering the following:
Family
We all agreed we wanted less week-night activities. This will likely be controversial, but…we are taking a break from swim and soccer for this Spring. As of now, that has freed up our week night evenings to focus on homework, studying, and family time. I’m excited about that but also worried they won’t have enough physical activity…so we’ll see how it goes and if it isn’t working, we’ll regroup! With all of that in mind, I’ve put together a few focus areas for us:
- Prioritizing Church as a Family (our attendance took a real nose dive during COVID, so getting back to weekly attendance can only be a positive thing!)
- Developing Time Management Skills (both kiddos struggled with homework and prioritizing this Fall so helping them develop a strong foundation in time management seems like a must. For years they have seen us weekly plan and participated here and there, but really involving them seems like a positive first step to establishing routines that will work for them.)
- Cutting Down on Screen Time (ohh how I hate how much we are all on our phones. It’s such a waste of time! We are going to work on a system for earning screens instead of just assuming we are entitled to it…prayers appreciated. 🙂 )
Health / Wellness / Personal
Last year was a bit of a stressful year health-wise that culminated in a major surgery and several months of adjusting. So this year I would like to strip it all down to the basics and rebuild healthy habits that fit this new phase of life. These might surprise you due to how simplistic they might seem, but a few habits I would like to establish are:
- Daily Quiet Time (I had gotten so lax with this and then was surprised my mind was a mess…so getting back into the One Year Bible and journaling has been refreshing!)
- Daily Hydration (I’m just awful at drinking water! I own every fancy cup you can imagine and yet I still struggle with getting the necessary ounces each day. So my goal is half of my body weight in ounces which is…none of your business! :))
- 10,000 Steps a Day (So, hear me out, I thought this was going to be a breeze…but I was SO wrong. Working from home, this is actually much more difficult than I thought, even with a treadmill. So this goal might be a little too pie in the sky…we’ll see!)
- Daily Outdoor Walk (To help with the previous goal and also get my daily dose of sunshine and fresh air, a quick daily jaunt seems like a healthy habit to establish. Plus, doing this mid-day has helped me clear my brain between meetings so I hope to keep this up!)
- Log a Daily Workout (Preferably this would be in addition to the walking and would be a yoga, strength, or Peloton ride…but we’ll see what’s actual feasible!)
A few other goals I have that aren’t necessarily related to a daily habit are:
- Cut down Added Sugar (i.e. snacky snacks and alcohol)
- Introducing 16:8 fasting (working towards adjusting my diet similarly to the Galveston Diet)
- We are also considering meal prepping and juicing but this is still in the researching phase!
- Prioritizing Church Involvement (a little addition to our family goal but more so with volunteering and the other opportunities for fellowship. I’m already signed up for a Go team – which is our weekly service teams and this has really got me excited about refreshing our involvement!)
- Cut down impulse purchases (I believe I’m addicted to the little dopamine rush that comes from quickly purchasing something on Amazon after thinking about it for two seconds. I saw someone on Instagram mention the same issue and instead of immediately purchasing whatever she thinks of, she first adds it to a “wait list” which is a note on her phone. She lets it sit and marinate before just purchasing. I started this a couple weeks ago and have already talked myself out of everything on my wait list…because I didn’t actually need it! So my goal is to keep this up!)
Home
This year I need to be a lot more intentional with the projects I tackle around the house or I guess I should say, I should try finishing a few projects before jumping to the next one! For example, I’m currently staring at two half painted office doors while I’m dreaming about a new coffee bar. If I don’t get more intentional with home projects, I might drive my family insane, so my project list for the year includes:
- Finish painting all indoor doors the lovely Legendary Gray
- Finish upstairs hallway (wall paper, railing, paint)
- Finish the “move” that created the study and gym
- Finish butterfly garden in the back (dirt and flowers)
- Finish the fence (painting the vertical poles and adding solar lights)
Then…and ONLY then, can I begin to think about:
- Updates to the Coffee Bar (caning in cabinets, wall paper, paint, etc.)
- Updates to Lily’s Bathroom (paint, lighting, shelves, wall paper, etc.)
- Updates to the closet underneath the stairs (paint, wall paper, lighting, etc.)
- Creating a stylized vegetable garden (yeah, you read that right!)
- Styling the Study (the fun stuff)
- Styling the Gym (the fun stuff)
Professional
I don’t talk about it often, but I truly love my job. Last year, I had a bunch of internal metrics that I wanted to hit and while I still want to exceed those metrics, I also have some external objectives:
- Become a stellar traveler (I have a crazy amount of work travel coming up and it was brought to my attention recently that I am too lassiez faire and not taking advantage of all the fun travel opportunities. So, I knocked out TSA PreCheck and next I’ll learn how to not check a bag for every trip, lol! My goal is to not embarrass my coworkers in 2024!)
- Take advantage of more subject matter trainings (As a solutions engineer, it just helps to have an understanding of the subject for which our solutions are built around, so I want to take more emergency management and continuity trainings throughout the year.)
- And finally, while Lady Chenry really isn’t a profession, I like to treat it as such! So this year I’d like to actually develop a management plan…and then stick to it!
Essentially, I feel like this year will be about shaking off the unnecessary and keeping what matters most…just being intentional. 😉