I’ve been doing so much wishing lately about becoming a stronger mom (if you haven’t yet, check out my last blog post and my new year’s wish for all the mamas. Now it’s time to get some of those wishes into concrete goals and onto paper. People who write their goals down are more successful, right? I’m sure I’ve read that somewhere…
And although I generally do like New Year’s resolutions (GASP! Yes, I am one of those people!), I actually just like goal setting. I particularly like goal setting in January and in September because those seem like natural beginnings for me, but really I like to re-evaluate and set new goals any time the spirit moves me.
Instead of New Year’s resolutions this month though, I’ve been inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s podcast episode on creating your 18 for 2018. I only discovered Gretchen literally like two weeks ago, but it seemed like destiny because I’d been hearing her name in one of the facebook groups I’m in, and she’d been interviewed by Tim Ferriss who has my all-time favourite podcast. This seemed as good a place as any to dive into her work. She’s an author with a number of published books including The Happiness Project (which I have on hold from the library but the waiting list is enormous), and she also has a podcast called “Happier with Gretchen Rubin”. The 18 for 2018 is an idea that came from one of her podcast listeners who created her own happiness project by doing 35 things she wanted to do in her 35th year.
I’ve thought about my own list now and I wanted to share it with all of you. Some of you may have very similar things on your list – and if you don’t have a list of goals, maybe it might be fun for you to make your own 18 for 2018. I really did try to flush out my list, however, with the goal of bringing more JOY into my life. Yes please – bring on the happiness and JOY!
Just for a moment, stop – and think about this idea of joy. Can you imagine what life might be like if we actually prioritized joy every day? Like the first thing on your agenda every morning was to seek, find and experience joy – not to pay bills, go to work, put out fires, etc. Seriously, in my life right now, IT IS TIME TO SEEK OUT JOY! I have had enough of the runaround.
I realized however, that joy for me definitely includes physical strength. As such, you will see a lot of the things on my list have to do with physical goals. I plan to flush those out a bit more over the blog and break down how I plan to achieve them, and I know that might help some of you too. Whether you are a new mom, or you’ve been a mom for 65 years, I bet you could use a little extra strength too.
So without further ado – here’s my list (in no particular order):
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Sneeze without peeing – banish my stress incontinence
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Have my prolapse symptoms disappear or have them managed in a way that they do not bother me day to day.
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Sit up easily from laying down in bed, even if I’m holding my baby.
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Walk at least two times a week. No minimum time, just moving my body somehow. I know this might seem low, but its more than I’m doing now and I’m really hoping I can achieve some habit change with this.
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Do my first chin up (I’m starting with just one because this dream has seemed out of reach for a loooooong time) and be able to do 6 monkey bars with my kids by the end of the summer (I snuck these two in together)
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Learn how to do more with Instagram, inclusing Insta stories; I like instagram but I don’t feel like I’m using it very well at the moment and the “new” technology scares the aging version of me
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Finish the Brene Brown online parenting course I signed up to do with my family
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Declutter my work desk and find another place in my house to work that feels more inspiring
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Walk/jog a 5km without leaking by the fall.
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Sleep at least 7 hours a night (this has been so challenging with my third baby)
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Spend 20 minutes of special time with each of my children every day
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Carve out weekly date time with my husband
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Get a new purse because I hate the one I have and it does not spark joy.
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Declutter my closet from all the clothes that no longer fit me and leave me wishing my body looked like something else. Those ain’t bringing me joy either.
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Get a minivan.
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Take a summer trip with my family.
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Blog regularly.
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Start a facebook community for the Core Believers and all the mamas who follow Nurture Her so that we can find more ways to engage with each other and connect and grow stronger together.
Now if you have a list, I would love to hear it!!! Leave a comment with your list, Instagram it at me, leave it on Nurture Her’s Facebook wall, or email it to me to through our contact page here with the blog. Let’s connect! 🙂
