Sunday, January 15, 2012

Semester Goals

Did you make any New Years’ resolutions? I didn’t. This is mostly because I think you should plan, and make goals, and resolve all year long. Also, in part, I am in touch with the reality that, for me, the start of the year has no magical effect on my motivation to follow through with the resolutions I make. The last NYR that I can remember making is to “gain 3 pounds.” I’m pretty sure that was just poking fun at the stereotypical weight loss resolution my peers tended to have. I’m a whopping 110 pounds and I think I would actually look and feel better if I were closer to 120. My fast metabolism is both a blessing and a curse. I can have that third piece of pie on Thanksgiving and my figure is unaffected. Still maintaining a healthier weight is so difficult. Gaining weight takes some real discipline. It’s not all fun and games and cake and ice cream. Anyways I’m getting off topic. I have survived my first week back to school (school dictates my real sense of time) and since it is the start of a new semester I want to set some goals.


1. Take better care of my body. This past semester I sometimes skipped meals. I don’t prioritize basic needs. My thinking is along these lines, “Talking to this person is so much more important than using the restroom. I can hold it.” I am committed to not skipping any meals. This includes having a glass of milk with instant breakfast (a protein/vitamin supplement that happens to make the milk taste chocolatey) mixed in. I also want to make my snacks count. I’m not saying I’m giving up Cheetos, Mountain Dew or Oreos, but I do want to make sure that I get good protein and fruits and veggies and whole grains into my system throughout the day. That could look like having apples dipped in peanut butter, or popcorn, or wheat thins with cheese on top.

2. Take relational faith steps. This school year I have had to be an initiator. People trying to respect our boundaries as a new married couple often don’t pursue spending time with us. I want to step out and show that I’m interested in hanging: both with Phil in group settings, and flying solo with other girlfriends. I’m guessing this will usually look like me asking people to go to coffee or lunch with me, hosting friends/couples in our little apartment, and responding to as many group invites as we can.

3. Be more disciplined with my times with the Lord. I love spending time praying, journaling and reading my bible. But if I’m honest with myself last semester this happened an average of 2-4 times a week—and usually on the lower end of that. I don’t think anything has impacted my life more than getting to know God through these one-on-one times together. Each time that I take time to get away with God my whole day is just so much better. I’m able to tap into peace, joy, patience, and self-control so much more easily. I can’t let this priority get swept under the rug. Practically, it’s helpful for me when I look at my schedule and find a time each day where I have 15-30 minutes and designate that as what I’d call “Quiet time.” It sounds strange but it just means a time for me to be alone and interact with God.

4. Work on conflict resolution in my marriage. Oh boy. Neither of our families really took the time to talk out issues of conflict in a healthy way. I’m not saying our parents were awful or they did everything wrong. They actually did a ton really well. We have been reading books and trying to put into practice healthy conflict resolution. This is something that we really want to focus on in our marriage. And model to our potential children.

5. Rest. My tendency is to skip rest. Last semester, though, I think I over-rested. I became addicted to, you guessed it, PINTREST. I think this website is a great way to search for ideas and keep your ideas organized without eating up space on your hard drive. It is not a great place to create an imaginary world complete with an imaginary wedding, house, and body that you’ll probably never live up to. I want to keep rest in its rightful place. I try to follow the 1/7th rule. God rested on the 7th day in the bible. The Sabbath was traditionally one day a week when everyone took a break. Nowadays, Sabbath gets trumped by our desire for progress and efficiency. But the truth is that I’m more efficient when I’m taking breaks, when I’m zoning out, when I grab a 27 minute nap. I try to think about resting 1/7th of the time. This doesn’t take into account sleeping through the night because I think that falls into a different category of rest. It’s kind of a given. Maybe moms of young kids would disagree with me. I also want to rest in a variety of ways. I think a little time on facebook or pintrest or the blogosphere is not unhealthy. At the same time, I want to spend more time writing, and reading. I want to rest alone and with Philip.


What are your goals for this year, or this semester?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, so my jaw about dropped when I seen that one of your previous goals was to gain 3 lbs. Seriously?? I ask this so shockingly, because I thought I was alone in the 'wanting to gain weight' department. EVERY TIME I mention my wish of wanting to gain atleast 10 lbs ... I get the most awkward stares and grunts ever. Nice to know I'm not alone :b

Chelsea girl said...

Haha yes! Guess we are skinny sistas ;) People don't understand that some of us would be healthier and maybe even look better at a higher weight. Also, there's a stigma against calling people fat but not about calling them skinny. As I kid I was really insecure about being extra thin but that didn't stop every one from calling me Twig or Stick. Glad we can relate on this.

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