2017 Goals (and a look back at 2016)

I only blogged 3 times this year. Which is fine, it’s the season that I am in, and it’s what feels doable right now. This blog use to be everything to me, but today it’s just a nice place to stop in every once in a while.

Doing a New Years goal recap is one of my favorite things. I am a firm believer in writing down goals and intentions, I think it puts them out into the universe and makes them a little more tangible. I always like to look back at the previous year to see how my intentions played out. Here is my 2016 New Years post2016 New Years post:

2016 RECAP:

Whole Family Health

This was a large umbrella goal, the only goal I made last year. Working out, meditating, eating whole foods, etc. Overall I made some really powerful strides in my mental health. I have never felt more confident and strong in who I am and the choices I am making. I just recently had a life altering experience after reading You Are a Badass, which has spurred something inside me that I have never really felt connected to before. I think it could be compared to someone finding religion/god, but that isn’t a word I connect with so I don’t think of it like that. But I feel a power and a connection with the universe in a whole new way. This is VERY new, only in the last couple months, but It will play a huge part in the upcoming year.

Other parts of my Family Health goal that we achieved was finding a physical activity that we love. This year all 3 of us became avid bike riders! This is something I never thought would be my calling, but all summer and into fall riding our bikes became a huge part of our lives, something that brought us abundant time outside, with each other, moving our bodies, connecting with the world around us. Pure magic, I can’t wait until the weather gets better!

There are other parts of this past year that didn’t completely go as I had hoped, and normally I like to pick at where I failed, but I’m not going to do that. This year is not about the past or the future, it is 100% about this moment right now. Success and happiness will always be RIGHT NOW.

I will however share a few other amazing parts of 2016:

1. We took a New Home Buyers class and began what would be a year-long process of purchasing our first home, which cam to fruition on December 10th, our 10 year dating-anniversary when we closed on our new home.
2. My mother in law moved to Bellingham last January, and it has been nothing but a blessing for all of us. We have so much history and ups and downs, but having her here and being able to have her be such a regular part of our family, especially with Vada has been so healing and wonderful.
3. Vada started preschool! Shes a magic little creature that is so so so crazy smart and putting her in school this fall was a perfect choice for her.
4. Vada and I took a solo trip to Portland which was so in the moment and shockingly relaxing. It made me want to take more mother-daughter trips with her.
5. Jay and I rode our bikes around Lummi Island for my birthday, and it will 100% be a tradition I will continue.
6. This year I finally have found balance with work and family. I have let go of guilt, of holding others to my expectations. My work life is far from perfect and there are probably more up in the air questions than ever before, but our business has continue to succeed, and we are all continuing to strive for balance.
7. My mom and I found a really great outside of work rhythm. Spending quality time with her and Vada is one of my favorite things to do. The three of us have a regular dinner date at a local sushi spot, and we have all three been working hard to be supportive, less critical and more encouraging of each other.
8. Jay’s job has grown and he has never been happier in a work situation. How freaking lucky is that! To find work that you are good at, that fulfills you and brings you financial and personal gains. Jay is a bright star, but he needed the right fit, and this job is it.
9. We found a home that was not at all what we thought we wanted, and everything we needed. I knew if we didn’t find the right home at the right time, that leaving our little pink house could feel devastating. The process was hard and long and pushed us to the limits, but all of that made settling into our new home that much more relaxing. I feel so happy about the house the universe placed in front of us. I wake up in the morning and just look around and I feel at home.
10. This year I started a little cookie business which is proving to be the perfect little side gig to let me be creative, but also give me flexibility in a way that I really need it. I hope to continue down a path with my cookies that feels right for me.

Overall I can not complain about 2016, it was a great year for us. And although I am trying hard to live in the moment and not get wrapped up in forcing myself to do things that maybe aren’t the right fit for me, I do have a few plans:

2017 Life Intentions:

1. GO WITH THE FLOW. Not really in the way that I have always said “go with the flow” which was probably based more around the idea of not being uptight, or even being a little lazy about what was happening around me. The “Flow” I’m talking about is based on the words of my new favorite podcaster and higher thinker, Jess Lively, who asks the universe all the time “where should I be going?” “What feels right” “What should I let go of” and things of that nature. It’s about the universe providing abundance to you in the right form for you, and you being open enough to TAKE IT and LIVE IT. Have you ever thought for a while about something and come to a decision, and then immediatly felt so RIGHT in your choice, so much peace, to calm in the path you chose? That is going with the flow. It’s no longer putting rules and expectations and guilt and should-ofs and all the things our EGO throws at us all day long, forcing us to live a life that just doesn’t make us that happy. This year I am actively working on asking my intuition what I should do, and then waiting patiently for a response that is right for me. No questions about it.
2. LOVE THINGS THAT LOVE ME BACK: Eat foods I love, that love my body back. Go places that I love that make feel great. Be with people I love that love me back. Do work I love that lifts me up. And quit all the food, places, work, people who even if I love them, they treat me, my heart, my body or my family badly. #tellemboybye
3. LISTEN, READ, STUDY: I’ve found the best way to stay at a higher level of thinking, a better mindset, to live a more intentional life is to STUDY THE INTENTIONAL LIFE ALL THE TIME. This is where mediation makes sense for me. Taking time to breathe and think about the mood I am in, the space I am in, the season I am in. To listen to podcasts and books that uplift me! The more time I spend surrounding myself with this stuff the more I live it.
4. FORGIVE: This is for every single person, place, job, experience, food, fight, broken heart, accident, missed opportunity. I have nothing but forgiveness for those things. They are done and I am in a new moment that is as happy as I let myself be in it.

You guys are you all woo woo’d out yet!? Ha! I will say that with all of this higher power stuff, I’m totally the same person! I’m still snarky and I sarcastic, and I still poke fun at my life, the world around me, but I’m going to live internally in a much better place, and maybe you wont even notice, maybe you will? It’s not my job to be something to anyone, that’s part of letting go and living in the now. I hope this year is filled with intention and good vibes and strength and joy for every single person. I hope you are at peace with yourself and that if your intuition tells you that you need to change a bit this year, that you will sit quietly, and ask yourself what that change really is. Listen kindly, your intuition is never going to say things like “you need to work out! lose weight! Be nicer! Make more money! Save more money! Clean your house more!” your intuition will say things like “I feel like I need more fresh air. My joints need a stretch. I want to pay myself a little bit first, I want to rid my life of clutter that doesn’t bring me joy, I want to spend more time on me” so listen, carefully. Take time to hear the difference between your EGO which is a fire hydrant of thoughts, often negative and judgemental and fear based, and your INTUITION which is kind and open and freeing.

 

Happy New Year!