What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, January 13, 2023

It's never too late to be better. (Resolutions)




(The result of me mocking my mug and my son mocking me.)

You knew it was coming... the resolutions post. 

It comes halfway through January- but it comes nonetheless!

Last year, I had ONE focus- doing hard things for the sake of my health.  And I did.  I focused the heck out of last year.  I read books about health.  I ate vitamins for the sake of my health.  I cut (LOTS of good and wonderful) foods out of my life for the sake of my health.  I exercised 3-5 times per week for the sake of my health.  I found a naturopath and had lots of appointments with her.  I spent money on appointments.  I took tests.  I talked about it.  I listened.  I prayed.  Basically, I nailed last years' resolution.   I learned a lot (and also not as much as I had hoped to) which I will take with me into this new year and the rest of my life.

But I was SO focused on my health that I could focus on very little else.  And this year, I am going to try to make up for that.

So here is my sundry list of goals for 2023. 

Life:

- Participate in the 2023 Literary Life Reading Challenge

- Read Paradise Lost 

- Write at least one letter per month. (I don't think I wrote a single letter outside of the Christmas letter last year.  For shame!)

- Write for 10 minutes each morning before I do anything else on the computer.  Maybe someday it will amount to something.

- Have in-laws for supper every Thursday.  They could use some blessing.

- Do at least one creative pursuit each month.  I know enough skills- now I would like to spend a bit more time DOING them.

- At the end of every month, print that month of both '22 and '23 photos to be put into photo albums.

- Delete 20 photos per day from the computer. (Yes, I have this much garbage.)

- Make/buy one Christmas present per month.  It makes December a bit easier to handle.

- Morning Time with Mama each school day- make this a priority!

- Make a monthly goal or focus and then GET 'ER DONE!

Hopestead:

- New roof on the house

- repair or rebuild chicken coop and fence.  Get new chickens.

- get a dairy cow that actually produces milk

- butcher barren cow(s?)

Health*:

- Daily Collagen

- Daily vitamins

- exercise 3 times per week

- eat low/no sugar and low/no gluten at home and whenever possible (This will not be a hill I die on while being shown hospitality.)

- be macro aware of eating and for the first month or so of the year, I plan to track my food on MyFitnessPal.

*A note on the Health goals~ notice I did not include a number of pounds to lose?  That is because, despite my best efforts last year for all but the last two months of the year, I seemed not to be able to lose any weight after the initial two months.  I worked out at least three times a week- sometimes five.  I ate low carb, gluten free, and sugar free until November.  I saw some great results in my movements and energy levels so I know these things are valuable and I want to feel that way again.  Friends encouraged me that I looked different as well but the scale didn't seem to budge past an initial plunge.  So I am not going to set myself up for failure here.  I don't know why I can't lose weight.  Making these goals, with or without weight loss, will be incredibly healthful to me and that is more important than anything.  That said, I do hope I lose some weight.  It is so discouraging doing the work but not seeing a move on the scale.  Especially when you have weight to lose!  

This year, I will count the 'doing' as the success and not the 'result'.  And frankly, why haven't I done THAT before?

And to show how serious I am about this:  I am SPREADSHEET SERIOUS.  ;-)


PS.  Also- don't you just LOVE the fella Ineke drew?!  He's my fave.

7 comments:

Terri said...

I always enjoy your goals. It's inspiring! Some people do have insulin-resistance which can make it difficult to lose weight. I've decided my goal for the new year is to be fat & jolly! ;-) Just kidding! I'm working on it.

Anonymous said...

Please try the Whole30 way of eating for thirty days. I did have a similar problem, but can certainly assure you that this helped me. I have epilepsy and felt WAY better eating this way. Quite a few habits have stuck. Hope you have a great journey today and this year. I LOVE the blog and visit at least once a week to read the lovely updates. Blessings, A Nony Mouse from the west coast

Anonymous said...

P.S. It’s like Daniel and his friends, at the end of the thirty days though, you’ll be about thirty times brighter ;) As a thirty- something woman, I understand the problems of losing weight. It’s HARD! However, this seemed to work for me. It’s strict, but OH SO WORTH IT! The best part is that it actually did something (unlike Atkins I tried, counting carbs or calories, etc.).

Hope you try it,
A Nony Mouse from the west coast

Ulli said...

I wish you great success, health, and happiness with your goals. I'm proud of your life change/success in 2022. Stay on that good path and mind-set. You, as always, are an inspiration. I also have many skills, but I don't put them to good use. I"m too distracted by other unimportant things. What, I don't know for sure. Although I'm not a resolution type of person, you've inspired me to put my skills to good use this year.
All the best to you and your family.

Rebecca said...

Terri- I LOVE that goal! It's the best!

A Nony Mouse- besides a very sweet name, you also have good advice! I have heard of Whole30 in passing but do not know very much about it. If it involved eating whole foods, you can't go wrong with that! I will look into it.

Ulli- all the best to your family as well! Thank you for you kind words, always! They mean very much to me.

Abigail said...

Way to go!!!!

And keep it up!!!!

I also printed out a daily checklist for myself in mid-January. It only had 8 items on it, and the first day I checked off TWO. What a whizz-bang beginning, right?! May you find greater success than your lazy hilltop counterpart!

Rebecca said...

Abby- Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will be among the stars.

Or sputtering up in the atmosphere about to make the return descent. ;-)

Seriously though- a start doesn't have to be whizzbang to be moving in the right direction. Slow and steady, says the tortoise.

Any effort we make is better than the non we were putting forth previously. (I am preaching to myself here too because my checklist has quite a few empty slots too.)