December 2017 Goals
Hello from my new corner of the Internet! I am writing a long post about the change, but it’s a lot to talk about and I’m still working through it all. I actually wanted that to be my first new post on this space, but clearly that isn’t happening. It’s already December 4, although I’m not sure how time keeps slipping away, and I wanted to talk about goals before it was any later in the month.
I struggled a lot in 2017. Losing my grandma and figuring out how to grieve her passing deeply impacted my life in many ways, much more than I ever could have anticipated. Goal setting was certainly one area where I’ve struggled. Perhaps it is less the goal setting than the goal achieving. It’s hard to set goals and channel that focused, driven part of myself when I feel a bit lost. I tried here and there since she passed in April, but it was always a half-hearted attempt at best. In truth, I don’t know how well this will go. I’m certainly not feeling back to my old self, but I’m getting there little by little. I’m setting the bar low, extraordinarily low, this month with the hopes that I can notch up successes. If these goal well, then next month, I can aim a little higher with more and bigger goals. That momentum is powerful.
Health and Fitness
Drink 30 ounces of water a day. I used to aim for a gallon of water a day, but there have been days recently where all I drank was coffee. And, more coffee. Thirty ounce of water isn’t much, but I just need to get back in that habit. It feels a bit like an arbitrary number, but I have a 30 ounce YETI tumbler, so I hope that just the simple goal of drinking one of those a day will feel more achievable.
Thirty minutes of daily activity. I exercised a whopping two times in November. TWO. I was on such a roll in the first part of fall, but I took a week off when I was trying to fight off a cold, and things just snowballed. The thirty minutes doesn’t have to be anything fancy, even just a simple walk on my lunch hour is an improvement.
Run 3 miles without walking. I registered for a half marathon and while training won’t truly begin until late January, I want to have a solid base again. While there is certainly nothing wrong with walking during a run, I know that this is a good place for me to be at before I start really building up the miles.
Business
Finish the new website. This will honestly take a lot of my time and energy for the month. I deleted over 1,500 posts before transferring everything to my new site. In the process, I tried cleaning up old content – editing, making it more SEO friendly, and things like that. I only got through a handful of posts in that process as it is a lot more work than I anticipated! I want to finish that process, the design, and make my new health coaching programs available. The current “coming soon” certainly won’t bring me any clients!
Increase my social media following. I would like to reach 1,250 followers on Instagram and 850 on Facebook; currently 1,211 and 827 respectively. Clearly neither are huge increases, but I don’t think the holiday season is the greatest time to really gain followers, unless you have a retail type of business. I started a separate health coaching Instagram account, but I’m still uncertain if I want to really go that route.
The Rest of Life
Finish A Storm of Swords and read half of A Feast for Crows. I started reading the Game of Thrones series in March and these books are a commitment, to say the least. They’re fantastic, but certainly not beach reads. I am currently almost done third book of five and want to finish the series in the early part of 2018. I haven’t had my usually bookworm tendencies much of the year, but I’m slowly regaining that desire. This was probably not the best series to be reading in the mist of an already challenging year.
Write more and write freely. While I have some content planned for here, I want to do more pen-to-paper writing in my journal. It’s cathartic, especially for those thoughts that I don’t want to share with the world. I certainly have a lot that I’m trying to work through and writing helps. The opportunity to process what’s happening in my head and heart, and spend time manifesting my future, are powerful tools.
Get back into meditation. I fell out of the meditation habit long ago and I think that it would do me so much good as I am desperately seeking to feel myself again.
What is one of your goals for the month?
I love all the goals for the month! All very achievable, too. And your new site looks amazing!
I’ve been finally getting back into yoga, so one of my goals is to do it at least 3 days a week. I’ve been slacking on the water drinking, too. That’s a good one (:
Yes, yoga! You know I’m totally supportive of that.
I feel like I have been reading the Game of Thrones books forever as well. I just don’t have good blocks of time to scour thorough them. I should set a goal to at least try to finish Storm of Swords, I have about 1/4 left.
They are certainly time consuming books – not ones you can just read a page here and there! But, they’re so good!
I love the idea of sharing goals to keep yourself accountable, best of luck achieving your goals and happy holidays!
Thanks, Denisse!
These are excellent goals for the month! I too have been a super slacker about drinking water. I blame the creamer companies for making such tasty holiday flavors. I hope you’re able to take on this entire list and dominate!
Thanks, Sami! Those seasonal creamers are a fun treat!
These all sound like great goals and they’re all very attainable. You’ve got this!
Thanks, Erika!
I need to write out my monthly goals. This is a great idea to keep yourself focused on the month ahead. I think all of your goals are great. I think one of my goals for December is to make sure I unplug and enjoy family time during this busy season.
Writing out goals has been an incredibly helpful tool – in addition to sharing them here, I also keep them posted in my home for a constant and visual reminder! You have a great goal for December – so easy to overlook!
I am sorry you have dealt with such a great loss this year. That is so hard–I felt out of place for some time after we lost my grampa to his cancer. 2018 has so much in store for all of us and I’m hoping you have a nice rest or your year and a great start to 2018 <3
Thanks, Cat – same to you!
I am truly committing myself to become more organized and pay more attention to my health. Drinking more water sounds much easier than it is, I struggle more with that than most anything. This post is very motivating, I just have to get to it.
My Type A side loves your commitment to becoming more organized! Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help you in your goals, Cecil!
I’m sorry about your grandmother. Grief definitely has a way of throwing us off our paths for a while, but you know what? It’s okay. Don’t beat yourself up. Sounds like the goals you have set should be achievable and you can work toward getting back to “normal.” I totally understand the snowball effect of taking one week off working out. My snowball started at the beginning of the year. . . . . . Many blessings to you in the holiday season & New Year and good luck with your new ventures!
Trying not to beat myself too hard – definitely had a long season of that this summer and I find myself falling back into that now and then. But, I’ve got the word “grace” tattooed on my wrist and it’s been an incredibly helpful reminder that I need to give myself some grace in this season.
I’ve really been wanting to try meditating. I think it would help me with my stress. Do you use any apps for meditation?
I don’t anymore, but Headspace and Calm were both incredibly helpful when I started meditating.
I hear ya about exercising in November – I was terrible. I just deleted over 200 posts so wow 1500 – that’s a lot! Good luck on your goals this month.
200 is still so many! It feels freeing to delete some of that, doesn’t it?
These are all fab goals to aim for. I would love to do something like this too, although I’m not a fan of running, so may have to substitute with something else! Good luck with your goals and hope you will be able to achieve them all.
Running definitely isn’t for everyone, but that’s the beauty of fitness is that there are so many other avenues!