Keep the House Cleaner
Between work, church, a social life, and the added stresses of pregnancy, the house tends to be the first thing J and I let go. We started off the new year trying to catch up on the housework we had put off, and J created a schedule to help us stay on top of the daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Our hope is developing a plan now will make it easier after Amelia is born.Continue Making Healthy Food Choices
Having the fetus diabetus has actually been a blessing in disguise. It has forced me to look at the choices I make, what leads to poor choices, and where my eating habits came from. I grew up in a "meat and potatoes" household, and as teenagers we slipped into the "fast food" lifestyle to accommodate our busy schedules. I carried this into adulthood, foregoing healthy options for convenience when life got hectic. Not only do I want to continue to make smarter food choices throughout this new year, I want to encourage my husband to make smart choices, so we can teach Amelia to make smart choices as she grows.
Exercise More
OK, so this should probably be titled "exercise at all", as I tend to avoid physical activity. I can spend 8 hours walking around an outlet mall, but suggest 20 minutes on a treadmill and I will look at you like you just cheerfully offered to water-board me. There are exercises I enjoy (yoga, dance, walking on the beach), and I need to make a conscious effort to do these things on a regular basis. We intend to join a gym which offers a lot of options, as well as daycare for Amelia.
Record Family Events and Milestones
So, I just looked through the pictures we took while we were home for Christmas. There were only 21 pics, only one of me face on, and not a single shot of my husband or the two of us together. With a child on the way, I realize we need to do a better job of recording holidays, birthdays, and special milestones. These are not just photos, they are memories, and we are always filled with regret for the things we didn't take the time to capture.
Reward Myself for Small Victories
J and I are naturally critical people. We are hard on each other, and even harder on ourselves, maintaining very high (sometimes unreasonable) personal expectations. We beat ourselves up for what we deem as our failures or ineptitude, instead of rewarding ourselves for successes. This year, and especially for the next two months, I want to focus on rewarding myself for small victories. What is a small victory, you ask? Well, for me, it is managing to remember to check and record my blood sugar results daily, making healthy food choices, and keeping up with the housework. Some days, making it out of bed at a reasonable hour is a victory. The point here is to retrain my brain to focus on the positive instead of punishing myself for minor setbacks. If I can learn to be more positive and nurturing to myself, then I hope it will transfer to a more positive environment for Amelia. I don't want her to grow up in a critical environment where she never feels good enough.
Live More Purposefully
All these goals lead to my final, and overall goal for 2012. I want to live more purposefully. I want to actively make decisions and take steps to create a better life for myself, my family, and a better environment for a new baby. I want to have plans and schedules in place, even if we sometimes deviate. I want to live my life with a focus on what is important, and a determination to make those things a priority in my life.
I challenge each of you to set some goals for this new year, and then develop plans to help you meet your goals. At the end of 2012, I hope we can all look back at our goals, be proud of our accomplishments, and learn from our setbacks and deviations without criticizing ourselves. We can learn to see curves in the road as changes to our direction and changes in our priorities instead of failures. We can make smarter choices and be proud of how far we have come.
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