I am not one for resolutions, I am more a goal oriented individual. I found years ago that I would write down a list of resolutions and like others, I would be dedicated to them till about mid-February and then that piece of paper I wrote them on would get lost amongst all the other papers on my desk. Ultimately at the end of the year I would prepare for another new year, and still feel as though I was carrying the weight of unfished resolutions, it was kind of a downer to be honest. I decided that my process needed to be revamped, about five years ago I decided that I was going to set two goals. Goals have a different connotation with my type-A personality, they are more of a challenge which feeds my competitive soul, it feels more organic to me to want to achieve a goal than a resolution. I have a few rules for these goals:
- Neither are about exercising or eating healthier.
- It must be something I can learn and expand on, something to better myself – a new skill or a new habit-.
- It doesn’t have to be something I have to work on every day
- It shouldn’t be results driven -that adds too much pressure-
- It MUST Feed My Soul!
My personal belief is that a new year is about personal growth, and my goals and I try to design my goals specifically to be something I want to achieve to better myself and something that when I do achieve, will become a part of me and my tool belt. My desired outcome is that I will have learned something that I will use and become better at as time goes on. It takes the pressure off a requirement of having to meet an arbitrary deadline and the only way I truly get upset with myself is if I haven’t made ANY effort to work towards achieving the goal. We moms have enough guilt we do not need our new year’s resolutions, goals, affirmations, or whatever you are into, to be another reason to feel guilty.
This all said, as a mother we know that carving out time for ourselves is difficult, so when we have free time, we want to make it count and we want to enjoy it. I have been looking around our home and noticing all the messes and million little projects that need to be completed. Before Christmas I had a list of “to do’s” which were mostly about cleaning the house for the holiday and prepping for family we would have in town. There were also home improvement projects that were small enough I thought we could complete them. Unfortunately, that list of small projects did not get touched because I needed my husband to build some things and his schedule became extremely busy in November which limited our time for projects. Enter my new year’s goals which I carefully designed this year in hopes that once I learn them, they will not only be a new skill for me, but they will benefit my family as well.
So, are you ready to learn what my two goals are for 2022? I am excited to unveil them because in writing this, I am putting this all out into the universe and to all of you, so now I must be accountable.
My two goals for 2022 are:
- Learn to use ALL the power tools so I can build, renovate, and DIY whatever I like without needing to harass my husband.
- Learn a new software design program that allows me to create everything from coloring pages to large projects like interior design for rooms in our home and landscaping in our yard.
Neither of these two goals are foreign to me, but the extent that I was using my knowledge, or the resources is limited, I like to say I fell into the “use it or lose it” category and I have lost the knowledge and confidence I once had in these areas.
I was fortunate to grow up with a father who can build anything, I spent a lot of time outdoors learning how to fix cars and how to do small house projects. He shared his love of woodworking and working with his hands with me so much it is in my blood. I then married a man who like my father, can build anything which is great in that I can give him a picture of what I want, and he will make it. But because of this and so much time that has passed in my building anything, I have been paralyzed in fear that I will mess something up? The last thing I built on my own was a bookshelf in my high school woodshop class. That bookshelf still stands in my father’s house I don’t’ know that I could do it again not because I am afraid of the tools but because with time, technology has improved them, I don’t even know if the names of the tools are the same. I laugh but when I say to my husband, I am just going to use the saw and he turns to me and says, which saw the miter saw, band saw, circular saw (yes, he has the gamut of saws) I roll my eyes and say never mind. It is this kind of situation that makes me put off the projects I want to do.
I have two projects that I have plans for to revamp my girls play area. One I have started but it has sat unfinished in the garage for six months, the other I have had plans for a year and haven’t so much as painted it and that is the easiest part. The only two “toys” my girls play with on a regular basis are their kitchen and a little doll table which we have big chairs for, but the table is just for baby dolls. I started to make them this bigger DIY table with storage that they will be able to use for everything from tea parties to art projects. The storage is key to me, to keep things tidy. The other project is a kids kitchen renovation. We were handed down a basic play kitchen which we always thought we would elaborate on, now with two of them wanting to always be in the kitchen it is time to make improvements, so it is more inviting and makes it easier for them both to be in the kitchen.
My second goal while not as overwhelming as learning a new trade if you will, is more about my creative side. I love making things and designing things and I have used the Canva software up till now for everything but my needs are becoming more sophisticated and I feel I am in a place where I can learn a more advanced program. I am still researching what is out there that will meet my various needs, I am open to any recommendations we have both a MAC and Surface Pro so I’d love something I can use across both.
Now that you know what my goals are, I am sure you can also understand how my learning new things can benefit our family. Other than the obvious, mom is doing something for herself, I am hoping that with the table and kitchen renovation that our kids will enjoy playing together and will have those special items to do so, creating less tug of war over their current items and maybe more individual play time which will free me and my husband up to do the other projects we have around our house. As far as the software program, I love designing things but I am a pretty poor artist so I hope that finding the right program I can have the outlet to create and design many projects that I will enjoy but also give me the ability to create projects that our girls can do to give them a sense a creativity too.
The pressure is off! In putting these two goals together I feel excited and ready to embrace what will come of this new year. I think one of the things that makes me happiest and an extra benefit to my first goal, other than making my family happy, is the quality time I will get to spend with my husband learning about his hobby. Spending time together, building something for our children is the perfect excuse to have day dates. That is if the teacher student relationship doesn’t go off the rails with both our stubborn personalities HA.
Happy New Year and I hope you too have special goals set for yourself even if it is something that you can do in one day. Who is to say that a goal or resolution must span the entirety of the year? Take that pressure off and put that energy into something for you!
