How we…. do resolutions

Happy Wednesday!

Today I’m linking up with Shay and Erika for their brand new How we do… link up. This month it’s How We Do Goals/Resolutions.

I have to say before I start that I’m all about making new goals/resolutions/etc. but I haven’t been super great at keeping them. I think part of my problem is that I set my goals to a standard that is completely unrealistic to keep. For example, a few months after my twins were born I famously set tons of 2016 resolutions including working out 4 times a week and waking up early every day before the kids. Obviously, I failed miserably. Those are not realistic goals for a mother of 4 with infant twins.

I started thinking about goals to set for 2018 and I feel like mine almost always follow a similar pattern: pray more, exercise more, read more, etc. Which are always things I need to work on. Although I consistently do a little better each year they are still at the top of my list. This year, I kept seeing all over my social media the ‘One Little Word’ that people have chosen for 2018. Nothing really resonated with me until I thought back to a Matthew Kelly book I read in 2017 called Resisting Happiness. (If you haven’t read anything by Matthew Kelly, you should. I love everything I’ve read of his and I find him completely inspiring. He just speaks my language.)

There was a chapter of the book that he talked about the power of habits. He says that your habits, whether they are good ones or bad ones, are actually what shape our lives. Bad habits are formed easily, but good habits take “great intentionality and persistence” to create.

And so… I found my word.

Habits. This year I’m going to focus on my habits in these areas.

Self-care

Self-care is a constant struggle for me. I absolutely need to work on better habits that allow me to find things for me that I love. This past year, I opened my Etsy shop which has really been a huge bright spot in my life. There is something about design that brings me joyful peace and I have some big goals set for this year.

I want to be more intentional with how I spend my time in the evenings after the kids go to bed. Social media and binge watching shows all have a time and place but it’s my goal to keep them in their place… which is not the entire evening. Haha! I think this is where those exercise more and read more habits come in.

Worry

If we want to talk about bad habits, here’s one for you. I am a worrier. In a bad way. (I just started listing things that I worry about and it was ridiculous, you guys. So I hit delete.) If you can think of something, I most likely worry about it. I would imagine that everyone is a worrier to some extent, but it’s obviously a problem when it starts to consume your thoughts on a regular basis. I think I’m walking a fine line in that area. I don’t think for me that it’s an easy solution to just stop worrying ;), but I’m excited this year to work on strong habits in my faith and prayer life.

Embracing this Stage

This is the stage of a messy house, endless laundry, being needed all the time, and switching back and forth between a referee and a chauffeur. I think I’ve struggled with trying to embrace this stage we are at instead of trying to change it or speed it up. I need to work on accepting that the house is messy and that’s okay. I will literally NEVER be caught up on laundry and that’s okay. My children will probably never stop switching between perfect angels and WWE fighters at the drop of a hat and that’s okay too. 😉 And it’s also okay to be so flipping exhausted at the end of the day and still have nothing really to show for it other than that the kids are all alive, fed and mostly clean. So I’m going to make it a habit to focus on the joy and the fun and try to let go of the rest.

Also, to stop comparing myself to other mommas who look like they have it all together. (Or corner them and ask them their secrets.)

I’m excited to see what 2018 has in store for us. And how everyone else does their goals for this year!

Thanks for stopping by! You can find me on Instagram here.