For an entire week now, I have been tossing and turning, wrestling with this idea: what do I want to accomplish in the coming year. What? There are the obvious things like “deliver this baby” and “keep the baby alive even though I have no experience with newborns, considering I have only held maybe 4 of them in my life.” But beyond surviving the rest of this pregnancy, safely getting this baby here, and making sure that the baby, and her mum and pup survive, I wonder what it is that I want to do.
When I look back at the past year, I have to admit that I ask myself what in the world I accomplished, if anything at all. It would be easy to say I graduated from college and I have just been doing nothing since, but that is not true. We have had quite the year. Graduated, bought a house and moved into it, got pregnant, was majorly ill from said pregnancy, and then worked hard eating lots of ice cream and chocolate to gain all that weight back. All joking aside, those things have not been easy. Not for me and not for Billy. But we survived it and I am eating again and the little bugger is a little boxing queen.
I often have to remind myself that creating and housing a baby is not a easy job and it is ok that my career goals are now officially on the backburner and it is ok that I spent 4 ½ months in bed. I had no choice. My body demanded it.
So what is it that I want to accomplish in the coming year?
Here is a list. I have put a lot of thought into this list. I really do believe these are things that I want to accomplish, not just a list of “wouldn’t it be nice.” These are things that I really want to focus on and work on until I can put a little check mark next to them. And by telling you these goals, maybe I will hold myself a little more accountable to getting them done.
- Learn to love Eagle Mountain
- Orgainize a neighborhood gallery walk
- Find and visit art galleries and museums in Utah
- Finish the baby room before she is born (you know, those basics like put the crib together and maybe paint)
- Finish the unfinished painting projects in the kitchen (seriously, it would take just a couple of hours)
- Cover our walls with the art that we already have just haven't put up yet
- Reteach myself the joy of running
- Take at least one picture a day (as Erika advised me PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!)
- Take time to write, really write
- Find, attend, and actively participate in writing workshops
- Give up on all this negativity, especially when it comes to myself and my abilities
- Pay off at least 2 of our loans (you know, those mean little student loans)
- Organize our life then keep it organized (things like the budget, food storage, our kitchen and bedroom and office, the bank accounts, and our time)
- Get back into the bimonthly temple visits and maybe even work there a couple of days a week until the baby come.
I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me. I have to be proactive and not scared or timid. And I really need to learn how to believe in myself if I want to get these things done. A challenge but don't the challenges make life interesting for us?
