A new year brings a lot of things to the table. It tends to bring hope, a fresh perspective and, of course, New Year resolutions. Let’s be real here, resolutions have always been seriously hard to come by in our home. In fact, for years, my resolution has been to not make a resolution at all. But this past year has been filled with love, loss and dreams that have begun to come to fruition.

During the 29th year of my life, I spent a lot of time reading and listening to self-development books. Each book gave me a new outlook on the different areas of my life. I learned about goal-setting, the importance of having control over your finances, and got the reaffirmation needed to remain self-confident, continue to advance in my career and to continually have faith in God, the universe and my own abilities.

Here’s the list of books that I read last year (and highly recommend!):

1. Oola: Find Balance in an Unbalanced World

2. Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person

3. The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith

4. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

5. The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

6. Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living

Nowadays, I take time to really think about the past year. What goals did I meet? What accomplishments am I proudest of? What could I have done better? Where do I need to focus the most attention the next year?

We are coming up on 2018 (seems crazy, right?), I’m working on my goals for the new year. What better way to work out the kinks and be held accountable than to share? Please, let me be clear, my goals are always attainable, may seem small and always make me feel like a hardcore adult (that doesn’t happen often, haha!).

Continue to work toward being debt free. We recently completed Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University as a group through our church. This is hugely important to me. Focusing on killing off debt is number one on the list because it lays the foundation for so many of my other goals.
Eat clean whenever possible. For me, this means being dairy and gluten free for all of January, cleansing for all of February and finishing out the year by following a general clean-eating protocol. This means a major influx of InstantPot recipes, so I hope ya’ll are ready!
Save enough to rewire the house. Our little home is the perfect starter house. It’s small, quaint, has a big yard, and an apple tree. But it’s just a stepping stone. It’s old and needs a lot of love. We’ve accomplished a lot in our three years here. We’ve converted to natural gas, said good-bye to all of the bats and have gotten new roof. We are remodeling the downstairs bathroom this January and so next on the list is rewiring the whole place.
Refinish the hutch that Justin’s mom gave us. I’m obsessed with furniture. The older, the better. Last year I used Annie Sloan paint to redo the credenza. This year, Justin and I created awesome shelves to go above it in our dining room. This past summer, Justin’s mom gave us a beautiful hutch. It’s the perfect addition to our dining area and I plan to Annie Sloan it up over here! Stay tuned - I’ll likely blog the process in the Spring.
Take my makeup off before going to sleep. I’m seriously so bad at this. It’s going to save my skin and my pillowcases.
Drink more water. I love coffee. I love hot tea. I love iced tea. All things made with water. But I know they don’t really count. Drink more water, sounds easy right? (But that coffee, though!) I can be an adult. I can do this. But I need some help, so the plan is to track my water intake using my FitBit app so that I can stay on track and keep myself accountable.

Reflecting on 2017 and creating 2018’s goals has me reconsidering my feelings about the concept of New Year resolutions. For the past several years, I’ve begun the year with a cleanse. It not only helps me rid my body of all of the naughty stuff I’ve consumed over the holidays, but it gives me the kick in the pants I need to reevaluate my health and well-being. In a way, I’ve been making resolutions all along.

In light of a new year, I hope you are able to make some time to reflect. Maybe you need to make time to read a book, force yourself to schedule a massage, build the confidence you need to train for that 5k race or save the money up to take your kids to the beach. Make your goals attainable, realistic and true to your heart (that’s the most important part!).

New Year, New Goals