There was a point there when I was pretty sure January would never end and now we are starting February. We had a cold snap that made the days drag and skyrocketed our electric bill as we tried to keep the house above 60. Brrr! So thankful that seems to be over for now. I’m definitely praying for warmer days to be more frequent.
But enough about the weather, what about those goals?
Goals for January
I usually choose one area of life to focus on each month but this month I’m did it a bit differently. This month had the theme of “refresh and renew” because of the new year. All these goals helped refresh or renew something – which is a good thing!
1. Start weekly decluttering projects
Man I’m loving this goal and I’m so thankful I didn’t try to tackle the entire house in one month. Small projects, little by little, we are clearing out the excess from the house. We’ve dropped off several boxes at the thrift store already and already have several more filling up. If you need some motivation for getting the junk out of your house that you no longer want or need then check out the Clutter Buster Challenge and the weekly posts to keep you on track!
2. Drink my water
I hit this goal and then some every day! My goal was to get in a gallon (4 of my 1qt bottles) and I usually got to four around dinner time. Occasionally on Fridays I didn’t get it in as early because we’d be out shopping and I wouldn’t have my water with me in stores. I needed this goal to be intentional about my water and now that I’m back on track with it I’m not going back to slacking!
3. Water before Coffee
I set the goal of drinking one of my water jugs before ever sipping on my morning coffee. This was HARD to start. I’d get out of the warm bed and head to the cold kitchen to drink cold water. Ugh. I wanted warm delicious coffee while I read my Bible and devotionals! But instead of quitting or complaining I figured out a way to make it work. Instead of fully getting out of bed in the morning I started doing my quiet time in bed. Micah gets up to work out so he’s out of bed not long after 6am. I wake up and stay in the warm cozy covers, read my Bible, and drink my water. No temptation to pour a cup of coffee and I still get my quiet time with the Lord. I want to keep doing this as well since it helped me so much in getting my water in during the day.
4. Exercise as a family
This was such a great goal! Because we added exercise to our bedtime routine we needed to change a couple other things too. We used to do toy clean up right after dinner followed by a little tv if there was time. No more tv if we are going to exercise! There was a little pushback at first but now they are all getting used to the new routine.
We discovered Cosmic Kids Yoga on YouTube and they’ve all gotten really great at following along. I just adore it when the little guys join in since most of the time they just want to watch the instructor. We alternate yoga with Just Dance Kids videos that we also find on YouTube. These are shorter so we do three or four at a time.
I want to keep this as part of our routine but probably not every night. There were a couple nights when we had several other things going on or the kids were… special… and urging them to exercise with us did not make it the fun family activity it should have been. I think if we can keep it to at least three nights each week we will be doing well.
Goals for February
It’s a short month (amazing what a difference two or three days can make) plus we have several things on the calendar this month so I’m going to keep my goals on the lighter side. I don’t want pile too much on and fall short of my goals. This month I’m going to focus on things that fill me up and renew my spirit.
1. Mommy-kid dates
We got off track with these once the birthday craziness hit in October and we need to start up again. I really miss that special time focused on one kid for a couple hours. It’s a great opportunity to get to know them at a better level and learn who they are outside of the relationship with their siblings.
2. Color
I got several great coloring book for Christmas along with a fabulous set of Prismacolor coloring pencils. I want to spend some more time in my Psalms coloring book as well as color a little on my own in a journal or something while reading my Bible. I love the idea of Bible journaling but I don’t have the funds for an actual journaling Bible right now. Instead I’ll use one of my many small journals to doodle in while I meditate on my readings.
3. Exercise
This winter has not been kind to me. After I finished p90x in November I wanted to take a week or two off before starting something new. I did that but then every time I started getting in to a groove something would happen. Kids would get sick and my schedules got screwy. I got sick and had no ability to push myself physically. I fell down the stairs on Christmas Eve and I’m still dealing with issues from that. Once again I’m dealing with a head cold that makes most movement so much harder. But I need to push through on the days when I do feel good. So three times each week is my goal. I can manage 20-30 minutes of activity three times each week. I know the difference having the outlet makes so now it’s a matter of making it a priority again.
They aren’t crazy, lofty goals but they are purposeful and important. They will refocus my heart, renew my soul, and realign my priorities. I’m looking forward to all of them!
What are your goals for February? Did you set goals for January? Have you gotten in on the adult coloring or bible journaling fad?