I started writing this blog in my head while lying awake at four this morning. And with 2019 right around the corner, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning.
The past six years have been momentous, wonderful, and difficult: I met and married my husband, I adopted the floofy love of my life and gained another wonderful dog when we got married, we moved four times, my husband fell ill, my sister got sick, I quit a job to pursue the type of writing I love, my husband left a terrible job, was let go from another job, and started a business two months before our daughter was born six weeks early. We’ve had money troubles, car troubles, home troubles, and I’ve had quite a few anxiety troubles, some that left me almost unable to function.
The past six years have been a wonderful, wild, anxiety-causing, laughter-inducing, heart-filling ride.
And because of this, and because of my anxiety, I’ve been feeling incredibly scattered. There is so much I want to accomplish, so much I want to pursue, but I never seem to have enough time or energy. And because I feel so scattered, it’s difficult to focus on one thing, especially when life’s other issues always seem to get in the way. And as anyone with anxiety knows, feeling scattered and out of control can make your anxiety worse.
That’s why I’ve been working really hard on refining and simplifying my goals, both on paper and in my mind. These goals need to be something I can accomplish without driving myself crazy, that aren’t too out of reach, even with life’s everyday demands. Things I can accomplish with ease and clarity.
I also thought that this blog, which I’m evolving into food plus anxiety, parenting, and what comes in between, would be the perfect place to put these goals. I’m not calling them “resolutions,” but goals, because I just like the feel of one over the other. I can update the blog, and if you have any resolutions or goals you’d like to post, we can post updates together and be there for each other as we goal-seek.
So, here are my goals for 2019:
- Up My Writing
Between the baby and helping my husband with his business, I had to put my business aside for a while. I’m finally returning to it, and my goal is to start sending out pitch letters again. I also want to up the number of pitches I send out a week. I also finally sent out a pitch letter to a nationally-published publication, and I hope to continue to do so. (She liked the idea, but already has an article of the same idea in the works, which means I had a good idea!)
- Get a Children’s Book Ready to Send to a Publisher by Next December
In addition to freelance writing, I would love to start writing books, and I want to start with children’s books.
- Go Through the House Gently
Gently is the operative word, here. When we moved the last time, we moved very quickly to a smaller home with less storage, a smaller kitchen, and we also ended up with some of my mom’s stuff and my sister’s. Plus, I didn’t have the time to unpack and put everything away like I had during our previous moves. Needless to say, the house is not where I’d like it to be.
I am a neat and organized person, and the house is far from neat and organized. There’s too much stuff, there’s not enough room, and with everything going on, I haven’t been able to organize and get to things like I’d wanted. But, at the same time, I’m not going to go crazy. I’m going to go through things when I can and not feel badly that I’m not getting it done as quickly as I would like in an ideal situation. I’ll go through one corner at a time and gentlygo through the house over the next year.
- Return to the Blog
I love this blog, but I haven’t had much time for it the past year and a half, here on the actual blog or on social media. I will work to change that in 2019, at least as much as I can. As much as I love this blog, the baby, the businesses, and a little relaxation and self-care for me take precedence. My goal is to post at least once a week, with two healthy, easy-to-cook recipes a month and two non-recipe blogs. I would love to post more recipes, but the process of cooking, testing recipes, photographing, editing, and posting takes a lot longer than I have every week.
Another important goal is to truly remember to put myself first, sometimes, to relax, to give myself time to breath, and to give myself permission to take time for myself. As an avid reader, I would actually like to read some books off my list that just keeps growing. I, like many of you, take very little time for myself. Between everything going on and taking care of everyone, I end up putting myself and my needs last. I work and work and work until I feel like I’m going to collapse, then take a break because I have to, and once I feel better, I start all over again.
I know that balance is elusive, if it even exists at all. I’ve heard all of the arguments that you can’t have it all. So, I will just continue to do my best while trying to give myself time to relax, even if it means things fall to the wayside, or further down my never-ending list, or the house is messy.
So, I hope you all have a happy and healthy 2019. What are your goals or resolutions for 2019?
Happy New Year!