What is it about humans, me in particular, that we feel compelled to write out a list of goals that we want to accomplish in the coming year? And why do we challenge ourselves to maintain these lifestyle changes for an entire year? I mean, a year is SO LONG. Is that why we so often fail to keep our New Year’s Resolutions? Why do I end every year thinking I’m a failure because of those goals I was unable achieve? Personally, January is the month I’m feeling the LEAST motivated. I keep vowing to exercise more, walking being my exercise of choice, but who wants to walk outside when it’s between 30 and 40 degrees? I also vow to eat better every January, but being cold makes me cranky…and being cranky makes me eat more. BTW, in case you were planning to contact me about how you can help me loose weight, I’m already drinking the “pink drink”.

Maybe I’ve been going about this “better me” thing all wrong. Maybe I should be setting smaller goals in shorter time frames. Baby steps. Maybe focus on a different goal every month. Praise myself more for those achievements, no matter how small, instead of beating myself up for my many, many failures. I’m debating about whether or not to share these goals with you. I don’t like being reminded of changes I’ve committed to making and opening myself to criticism. I know that I should be more willing to be held accountable, though, and I want to be better at that…so I guess that’s a goal I have that I’m sharing with you. Yikes.

So, instead of talking about all of the ups AND downs of the past year, I’ll just focus on the ups. I’ve crossed a couple of things off of my bucket list and succeeded at a couple of personal goals I set for myself. I challenged myself to listen to every single song on my iPod (I refuse to say an exact number, but a few thousand; let’s leave it at that). Today, December 31st, I have just accomplished that. At the end of 2013, I took Jon Acuff’s Empty Shelf Challenge: to read enough books this year to fill an empty shelf in the bookcase. Since half of those were read on my Kindle, it was hard to do this literally. But, I’m thrilled that I managed to read 36 books in 2014 (Here is the Goodreads link to the list of books I read this year: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/24065820?shelf=empty-shelf-challenge). That’s the most books I’ve ever read in 365 days. There were 2 goals on my bucket list that I managed to cross off this year. The first one was to watch all 100 movies on the American Film Institute Top 100 list  (http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx). I’ve been working on this for a few years, and I finally watched the last one this year. The second bucket list item I was able to cross off was seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show with audience participation at the Belcourt Theater. That was…interesting. I can’t really talk about it, though, because what happens at Rocky Horror, stays at Rocky Horror.

There were a few achievements that were HUGE for me, but weren’t necessarily concrete goals. I got a job! I’ve been a stay-home wife and mom all of my adult life. While I’ve had a couple of babysitting gigs along the way and a few weeks helping out as a cashier at a friend’s new business, this is my first real paycheck in almost 19 years. It was just kind of an afterthought; this Fall, I saw a post on Facebook from my favorite garden center (Bates Nursery and Garden Center) that they were looking for help, and I thought it might be fun to work there. I put in an application and had an awkward interview (“What have you been doing for the last 17 years?” “Oh, just being a mom”). I was pleasantly surprised when they offered me a position! It’s a seasonal job, so I’m cooling my heels (literally) for the winter months. But I can’t WAIT to be back there in the Spring! My other major accomplishments this year were a group effort with my amazing chorus, Metro Nashville. Because we won our regional contest in 2013, we earned an invitation to participate in a choral event at THE Ryman Auditorium. WHOA. If you are a fan of country music (which I am NOT) or you live anywhere near Nashville, you know about this iconic musical venue. So many aspiring musicians have dreamed of being on this stage…and we were blessed to have this dream come true for Metro Nashville Chorus! In addition to being invited to sing at the Ryman,  our regionals win in 2013 earned us a spot in the 2014 Sweet Adeline International Competition in Baltimore, where, out of 33 choruses, we qualified to compete again in the top 10 finals for the first time EVER! We placed 7th in the world (which you all know, because I Tweeted, Instagrammed, and Facebooked ad nauseam)!!!

So what will 2015 bring? Do you have a method for following through on your yearly resolutions, or are you one of those people who resolve NOT to make resolutions each new year? I’m throwing around some goals in my head, and MAYBE I’ll give you all a glimpse of those in a few days. I will continue to read more, and be more intentional about listening to ALL of the music I own (why keep it around, if I’m not going to listen to it?!). Going back to work in the Spring will force me to be more active than I have been in the past. Whether or not I succeed in eating better/less and adding some other form of regular exercise to the mix remains to be seen. Check back with me in December 2015. Many blessings to you and yours in the coming year!