Resolutions – A New Year Dawns

As the new year dawns upon us I can only think of one thing; resolutions and goals that I didn’t quite make it to and new ones that I plan to succeed at and accomplish. 

Easier said than done, right?  But most of us, if not all of us, strive for this every year and every once-in-a-while we do finalize the intended goal.  With that in mind let me share what goals I have and how I plan to achieve them this year as compared to other years. 

GOAL #1 – GET A SMOKING HOT BOD 

Now I understand this is the number one goal for people everywhere.  I tried so hard this year to do it because being fit means better health and mind.  Part of the reason was also to attract guys who care about their health too, as it would be nice to have a partner who can share a love of veggies, fruits and peanut butter sandwiches with me and possibly a workout or two. 

In trying to stay fit over the last couple of years I would go to the gym very irregularly or come home and make an attempt to do a workout.  Sometimes I was successful but more often than not, I failed to exercise for the day.  After reflecting on the reasons why, I realize one of the reasons is because I don’t have motivation to be more fit when guys don’t notice my efforts anyway.  Another reason is that I exercise in my room where I can easily get lazy and go to bed after work instead.  And the last and final reason is because it’s not fun and there’s not a lot of room in my bedroom to do some of the exercises I’ve looked into without a lot of redecorating.  Although, realizing that this would be exercise too, I am seriously considering doing it!

After a lot of thought, I have decided to combat my laziness and motivate myself to fulfill my fitness goal for the new year by purchasing an exercise machine that everyone can share.  Everyone in the house has said, year after year, that they would like some kind of exercise machine.  With so many different kinds of machines you would think it was hard for me to decide on a type but after my experience with them all at the gym I know that my heart is already set on a rowing machine.  I actually love rowing machines as they work all parts of a body and it’s a good choice for a quick two-minute workout.  It was my favorite machine to use at the gym during training sessions as it’s fun to time yourself as if you’re in a competition, even if I would feel the burn for days after!  Also, by getting a big machine I am sure to remember to work out even if I never go to the gym, as I’ll have to pass my new goal every time I go downstairs.  

It’s amazing how many rowing machines there are on Amazon but after going through specifications, cost and size I narrowed it down to the “Sunny Health & Fitness SF-RW5515 Magnetic Rowing Machine Rower w/ LCD Monitor“.

The cost is fair, compared to other choices I saw in the same style range, it has adjustable levels for all the members of my family and it has an electronic monitor that will tell us how each workout went.  I see many living room rowing competitions in my future with my family, which is sure to be more fun than fighting over the TV remote.   

GOAL #2 – WRITE AND PUBLISH A BOOK 

It has always been a dream of mine to write a book and publish it.  When I was younger it was all I thought about and then I had a child, and then another child, then a husband (now ex) and a job or two and two more children.  Eventually that dream of publishing was replaced with getting enough sleep to handle four wild and growing children and a full-time job. 

Now that they’re all older I can sleep in as much as I wish on the weekends when I’m not working, but instead I’m furiously trying to churn out words so that my newly revived desire to publish my first book is able to be fulfilled.    

When I was younger I had two choices for getting my stories down on paper, both of which were painstaking.  One was to write them out long-hand.  The other was to painfully type out every single word.  I say painfully because my fingers would slip between the keys and be scraped upon pulling them out.  Ouch!  My long-hand, to say the least, was horrid.  No one was going to be able to decipher that if it was sent in to a magazine or a book publishing agency so I was essentially forced to use the typewriter to appear more professional.  This is because there was no internet.  There were printers and some super expensive computers but these were all beyond me at 17 years of age.  I could barely afford to eat at that age, much less buy a computer and printer. 

Now that technology and free time has caught up to me I have been thinking more strongly about getting that first book out there.  There are more choices than ever for both getting a book completed and publishing it.  There is handy software like Scrivener, which gives you all the tools you need to pull your book together into something readable. Scrivener is available for both Windows and MAC operating systems and it deemed essential by writers to getting your book into novel shape.

You can then use a publishing software to get your novel out to the masses.  For this I have already decided that I want to use Amazon’s platform for publishing; Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing or Amazon KDP. 

The reason I’m choosing this over other self-publishing ventures, is simple.  It truly is direct and has everything in one place.  I won’t have to worry about keeping my own accounting or run back and forth to figure out sales.  I can just write, promote and network the heck out of my book.  After all, the hard part should be writing and editing the book to perfection.  In the olden days of 1980’s publishing you would write the book, edit it, print it out, mail out multiple manuscripts with an S.A.S.E. (Self–Addressed Stamped Envelope) and pray that someone, anyone, would send you back a contract.  Whoever chose to publish you would then do all the work in promoting it, so that it would sell. 

Today it is all up to you and how strongly you believe in the worth of your words.  I happen to believe people will love my words, once they are available, so my goal for the upcoming year is to make that happen with self-publishing. 

GOAL #3 – BRING BACK THE FUN IN FAMILY 

This year was a tough one for me.  You would think that life would get easier as your children get older, and in some ways they do.  You don’t have to cook huge meals because, as older, self-sufficient people, they are feeding themselves.  You don’t have to micro-manage them as they have their own agendas for the day.  You don’t have to clean their clothes as they do that on their own. 

But during all this “adulting” there is a feeling of disconnection, as they don’t need you to entertain them anymore.  They have game systems, friends, jobs, education, computers, tablets, phones, books and television to keep them occupied.  This is when you better hope you have a partner or friends to occupy all the space that used to be filled with Barbies and Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.  Or you need to devise a plan that will give you a couple of hours throughout the week to reconnect. 

To make sure I get some time with my children, who are much taller (though not necessarily wiser) than me now, I am going on a mission this year to bring back the fun. 

Since starting my family there have been many board games created.  I mean, a lot of board games!  So many that not all of them are able to make it onto store shelves.   This has actually led to creation of stores that only sell, you guessed it, board and card games.  Lately I’ve been really interested in these newer games as they’re different than anything I’ve ever played before.  Also for some reason I have quite a few Instagram friends who are board and card gamers, peaking my interest with every new board game they post.

Growing up, I played games like Life, Connect Four, Monopoly, Parcheesi, Battleship and Clue.  Nowadays there are games that involve deep story-lines and have huge followings, and even competitions, like “Settlers of Catan” or “Catan”. This is a game of strategy and negotiation against one or more players.  It involves collecting and trading and really looks like fun to me.  I was always fascinated with Dungeons & Dragons (thanks to E.T. The Movie) and this is very similar in the sense that you are an explorer who is trying to carve out your own section of a world and achieve a set goal.  Ten victory points make you the winner in the game of Catan…but it can take a lot of previous experience and up to 4 hours to knock everyone out of top place so you can declare your victory.

IN CONCLUSION OF THIS YEAR

As I said in the beginning, this year was tough.  However, as with everything, it was a learning experience in being human.  I also realized that the only time you age is when you stop playing and having fun with the things this world has to offer you.  Things like taking a walk in the woods once a week or doing things you really love doing for at least two hours of every day.  These are really important to the mind and soul to do.  So is touching other humans.  I never realized how important touching another human being was to the basic harmony of health and higher frequency until recently.  In looking back throughout the year and seeing the course of this basic human need I now have a deeper understanding of why my life has fallen into such a state.  I have also realized the three things I need to do to get it back on track.

1.  Exercise for good health and state of mind.  Hug someone once a day.

2.  Finish a lifetime goal so that there is a feeling of accomplishment.

3.  Play more games, have more fun and spend more time with family and friends.  After all, I choose to be with these people, in this lifetime, for a reason.  By spending a couple of extra hours with them a week I might find out all the secrets in the universe, or at the very least, all the trivia answers to a game.

KISSY

OXOXO