A New Year, A New Goal and A New Me

So I know that it's now January 5, so technically I'm a little late with my New Year's post, but sometimes it just works out that way. Such is the case here. And I definitely don't want to be cliche because I know most people write about their New Year's resolutions in their blog, but I'm going to write about some of them anyway. But I will keep it brief for those of you who have a short attention span and don't like overly long posts.

I've been thinking hard about what I want to accomplish this year. I'm pretty determined to make it a great year no matter what, and that's the first step in feeling happy and fulfilled. But it never hurts to have some goals that I'm working toward either. I have several but I'm only going to share a few here.

1) Take better charge of my money.
2) Shape up and trim up (I know this is a common goal but please read below to understand why this is significant).
3) Discover and do a new hobby.
4) Find ways to leave my comfort zone more often.

1) Take better charge of my money: I think I need to do so much better at managing my money. I always have enough to pay for the essentials and live on, but it's time for me to find ways to make my money go where I need it to without overspending. I'm talking in generalities here mostly because I don't want to go into specifics in my blog. Suffice it to say, I'm taking control of my money, and it'll be to my benefit.

2) Shape up and trim up: I mentioned before that there are some specific reasons why this is a goal. Of course the No. 1 reason is for my own health and well being and to help me feel good about myself. That's pretty strong motivation. But I have a second and, in my opinion, more important reason for this: I want to do it for my sweet Miss Sassypants. Her heart is failing her, and she's unable to do even regular activities like walk around the house anymore. I have a healthy strong heart, so I need to take better care of my body so it doesn't need to work harder than it should. Basically, I want to be much more heart healthy, in honor of Miss Sassypants.

3) Discover and do a new hobby: Of late I feel a great need for my hands to be busy. I want to be working on something to keep my mind busy (and perhaps to help keep my emotions under control, but let's not talk about that). I decided today that it needs to be something tactile because then I can work on it anywhere and everywhere. I'm up for ideas if anyone has suggestions, but right now I'm leaning toward jewelry making. I know that I have a ginormous jewelry selection already, but even if I just made pieces to give to other people, I'm still interested in taking it up.

4) Find ways to leave my comfort zone more often: I tend to enjoy living in the zone where I'm comfortable and feel safe. However, I know that by doing this, I'm robbing myself of valuable growth opportunities and am not trying new things. I'm not saying I'm going to turn into some type of extremist or anything, but I do want to seek opportunities to grow, and this will involve leaving the zone. I'm not sure of the specifics yet, but I'm sure it'll come if I prepare myself for it.

Those are a few of my goals for the year. Wish me luck as I seek to make positive changes!