Happy New Year! I always look forward to new years, it's like a blank canvas, new coloring book, new calendar, new box of crayons....
You get the picture. It is a sense of new beginnings.
This year my family and I rang in the new year with a campfire, fireworks, a tray of finger foods, dancing, music, and a bottle of sparkling grape juice. Don't get to jealous of these party animals. We had a great time, the girls got a laugh out of learning some of Mom's 80's & 90's dance moves. I, on the other hand, was not as thrilled to learn theirs.
We are a family of traditions. We opened all the doors at midnight to let the old year out and the new year in, along with the traditional meal of black-eyed peas, collard greens, hog-jaw and corn bread. I wished we had leftovers. My Mother-in-law is very superstitious person so we are not allowed to wash, sweep, or clean on New Year's day. We have also been told that whatever you do on new years is what you will be doing all year long. So, we opted for a relaxing evening while "sprawled" out on the couch. I begin thinking about what I realistically wanted to accomplish this year. I decided to begin my new year journey with 3 categories: Health, Wealth, and Prosperity
Health: This is a usual topic for most people for their new year resolution. I really wanted to set goals I could actually attain without being over whelmed. My personal goals include... you guessed it, losing weight. Weight loss is the goal, but I broke that down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals. A few of these goals include watching my carb intake, increasing water, and sticking with as many local seasonal fruits/vegetables as possible. I plan to track my progress to keep motivated. My health resolution not only includes physical health, but also mental and spiritual health, as well.
It is a little sad that I have to schedule downtime, but the reality is - I do. My goal is to schedule twice a month "me time." This is just a time to focus on me- I know as mom's we don't do that, but I feel it is important to take care of ourselves, or we will not be able to take care of others. For me, this looks like taking a long, hot bath, a book, glass of wine with the door locked and the keys hidden. Especially in our trying times, I want to focus on our families spiritual health. I specifically ordered my planner that has built in daily bible reading. This year my goal is to read and study the entire New Testament. We plan to begin memorizing verses, and prayer journaling.
Wealth: Wealth to me is not getting what you want but having what you need. My awesome planner has a built in budget planner and monthly expense tracker. I had an eye opening moment when someone mentioned to me that the easiest way to waste $10,000 in a year was $27.40/day. Wow! That statement really hit home. I work outside the house and I could spend that on food easily. Our family set down and created a family budget. I wanted to include my kids because they are so active in sports, clubs, and everything in between, I wanted them to start becoming financially aware. We decided as a family what our most important projects will be for this year, how much they will cost and brain stormed how we were going to make that happen. I found involving the entire family allowed everyone to get involved and established a bit of ownership of the family finances.
Prosperity: What exactly is that? Webster defines it as "the condition of being successful or thriving." I asked the family, "what do we want to be successful in or at?" Some of their answers included "bountiful garden", "healthy animals", "for our small business to start booming". They also included things like "expand the farm" and "Sell more sugar and salt scrubs".
I reminded them that all those things were great ideas, but in order to be prosperous in them they had to be willing to put in the time and work to make it happen. Everyone agreed, so lets see if we can make this year as prosperous as we plan!
Best wishes to you and your family in the coming year. May God bless you and keep you!
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